Pros: The action-RPG feel to the addition works surprisingly well; The mission creator uses the same tools as the rest of the game, so it’s easy and you already have a feel for it; An endless supply of user-created missions theoretically adds replayability.
Cons: The action-RPG feel doesn’t really fit with the rest of Spore; The mission creator uses the same tools as the rest of the game, so it feels a little shoehorned in; The replayability depends on the general public’s ability to create fun content.
Verdict: Taken by itself Spore Galactic Adventures is a fun casual action-RPG in a sci-fi setting. In the context of the rest of Spore I’m not sure I see the logic.
In the interest of fairness I should review Spore Galactic Adventures, the first of what promises to be thousands of expansion packs for Spore, on its own merits. So I’ll do that first. But I also have to nitpick about the expansion as it fits in Spore as a whole, that’s later.
First the game itself. Galactic Adventures is more or less a sci-fi version of the Creature phase. As part of missions in the Space phase you can beam down to planets and have adventures as your Space Captain, using the same controls as Creature but with better weapons and verbal communication.
And it’s actually pretty good. I had my doubts whether or not it would work but as Diablo Lite it’s actually fun. The Maxis-created missions follow the same vibe as the rest of the game, helping devotees of Spode or escorting a rock star to a benefit concert. And the heavily-advertised missions by the writers of Robot Chicken are…well…from the writers of Robot Chicken. If you’re a fan of the show or a 14 year old boy you’ll love them.
And of course you can make your own missions. It uses the same core tools as the rest of the game so it’s fairly easy to pick up, but if you want a heavy level of detail it’s going to take some time. Those missions can then be uploaded and are automatically picked up by other users. So in theory you could play forever and never run out of missions.
I say in theory because, well, people aren’t very good at making missions. I’ve been playing before release, so the vast majority of user-created missions are from other video game critics. These are people whose jobs consist of 1) playing video games and 2) writing. And not only were most of the user-created missions pretty bland but also poorly-written.
For example, one required me to break into an enemy fort, steal “superweapon plans” and bring them back. I wasn’t supposed to let any of the enemy troops spot me. Who the “enemy” is and why I’m stealing their superweapon was never fully explained. Anyway, I had to fly over the wall, which made it pretty lucky my creature had wings. When I finally brought the plans back to “General,” just General, he said, “Thank you.” and it was over. I got more closure out of Super Mario Bros.
And there’s no easy way to avoid the user-created filler. Sure you can rate a mission once you’re done but it doesn’t flag it as Maxis-created or user-created until it’s too late. It would be nice to know what you’re getting into.
Overall, though, I admit I sunk a little too much time into it, so I’ll vouch for it. It adds an objective-based game to Spore, filling the major complaint and satisfying fans.
That said…why this? Why would Maxis choose this as a first expansion? An action-RPG doesn’t fit in with the rest of Spore. The game was advertised as a tool to create creatures and develop civilizations, and that’s why people bought it. This is along the lines of an expansion to SimCity that adds a GTA-style game to it. If you’re going to expand a game, expand it within the confines of what the original was trying to do.
And possibly more importantly, why would they expand the Space phase? That was the only phase with any meat to it, with the others seeming to hurry you through to get you to the good stuff. It’s essentially the Creature phase again anyway, why not just expand the Creature phase? 80% of the game serves essentially no purpose and doesn’t seem to care and they focus their first expansion pack on the 20% that stands on its own already. I don’t get it.
But, that said, if you don’t think about it too hard, it’s worth buying.