Spore [PC]

There's a strong case to be made that Maxis excels at making software toys rather than games. And there's a not so insignificant difference there, because a toy is something that you tinker with, whereas a game is something with a narrative, goals, or a way to win. That may be why Maxis titles have so much appeal. SimCity let you indulge your inner mayor. Meanwhile, The Sims was the ultimate virtual dollhouse, letting you create your dream house and, by extension, your dream family. But now we come to Spore, the most ambitious Maxis product to date, and one that's as much as a game as it is a toy. Sure, you can tinker with Spore, but there's also a game here, one that involves the long struggle of life as it evolves and advances from a tiny cellular organism to intergalactic space travel. In fact, Spore is essentially five distinct games woven together. And here, Maxis demonstrates a weakness, as a number of these games come off as lightweight or limited. However, Spore is a prime example of something that is much more than the sum of its many parts.

I like to think of Spore as astrobiology in a box. Astrobiology is the field of science dedicated to thinking about what life on other planets might look like. To do that, it has to draw upon a wide range of scientific fields. Astronomy helps ascertain what sort of galactic conditions are needed to find a planet that will support life. Chemistry helps figure out where that life might have come from, while biology helps explain how it might evolve. Even societal studies, such as civics, might explain how advanced life might organize. Like classic Maxis games such as SimCity and SimEarth, Spore tackles complex subjects and makes them relatable to the player in an engaging way. Basically, Will Wright is the science teacher you wish you had in school.

The easiest way to look at Spore is take it apart stage by stage. So we kick off with the Cell Stage. Spore begins with a comet crashing to a planet's surface, seeding it with bacteria that evolve to become tiny cellular organisms, and you are one of them. This is an old fashioned, top-down arcade game, but one with bright, eye-catching graphics. You swim about the primordial oceans, eating as a carnivore, herbivore, or ominvore. Eating gives you DNA points that you can use to evolve your creature in the cell editor. There are also six different "parts" that you can discover, and these parts can give you different abilities. Water jets let you squirt faster through the water, fins let you maneuver better, spikes give you armor against predators, and so on.

There's something to be said about life in the ooze; it's easy, you swim around trying to eat but not be eaten. It's saying something of the game's design that even these tiny creatures are capable of conveying so much expression, particularly in their eyes. You see them panic and flee when chased, or a slight gleam when they see something they want to eat. Even the little chirps and noises they utter are grin inducing. Alas, all good things must come to an end, because as you eat and evolve, your creature becomes larger and larger until you finally fill up the evolution meter at the bottom of the screen, meaning that you're ready to sprout legs and move on to the next stage of Spore. Unfortunately, I found myself wanting to stay a bit longer in the ooze to evolve even further. There are bigger, meaner creatures to be found, and it'd be great if you could evolve to take them down.