Note: I am writing this review here, but this review is regarding Spore along with the Creepy & Cute Parts Pack and this DLC which is how I recommend you to play as it is the definitive best way to play the game.

Spore, much like life itself, a central theme of the very game, is emergent. Spore is far beyond the sum of its parts. The brilliance of Spore can only be appreciated when you take a step back and see how the simple individual parts work together to form a beautifully fulfilling and imaginative whole.

Spore is perhaps the very first game that I really felt was my own. It was the first game that I was playing that was totally unique amongst my friends. It was the first game I ever followed prior to its release, and it was the first game I ever felt some sense of real hype to play. It was the first PC game I played on my laptop in bed so late I could hear my neighbors waking up and leaving for work in the morning.

As a young teen, I enjoyed games that let me express my creativity like The Sims, Animal Crossing, or custom games in Warcraft 3, but I never really felt like I knew how to express myself well enough. Spore gave me that. Anyway, I explain all of this because I want to make it clear that Spore means a lot to me personally. And I’ve surely got rosy retrospection, but I’ve played Spore enough in 2024 to say this is a game which is still special, even 15 years later.

This fascination doesn’t mean that I am oblivious to Spore’s problems, though. A tribal stage and civilization stage with substandard controls and little core differences, a cell stage which is unduly hard as herbivore opposed to carnivore, and a progression system which, at times, means you cannot fully embrace the creativity of the builder are all things which hold Spore back.

When I first got Spore as a kid, I actually put the game down early in tribal stage because it just made me want to play more Warcraft 3 and it was weaker in nearly every regard. But viewing Spore in this way, in retrospect, is a mistake. Luckily it wasn’t too long before I realized that.

Spore is comprised of 5 different gameplay stages of varying depth and complexity, each with some positive qualities, some lots more than others. The cell stage carries a strong sense of awe and scale, but is ultimately too simplistic. You can and even could find better versions of this on the PC market. The creature stage is when the builder begins to take shape, and the interactions with other species, although limited, provide a real kind of wonder and fascination that I just can’t say I’ve found in another game since. The tribal stage is curious, but the AI is bad and the controls are a pain. Again, you could play better games on the market. The civilization stage gives you great opportunity to expand your creative juices, but provides little variety in terms of the moment to moment gameplay, especially considering the stage prior. Once again, there were better games on the market.

There was not, however, any game on the market, nor is there to this day, which lets you do all of these in one continuous experience, with lasting consequences for the rest of your time. This is Spore’s emergence.

The space stage is the end-game, but you will enter it feeling like a weakling. And although you can’t get out of your ship completely freely, despite this being decently remedied in Galactic Adventures, space stage is full and rich from both a gameplay and creative standpoint. Above all else stands this creativity. Design interstellar ships, planetary vehicles, city buildings. Design creatures, geological formations, and even musical themes!

Create it all!

It is at this stage of the game when the real scale of what you’ve played comes into focus. Creations from around the (real) world and across years will abound to see and interact with. Spore is nigh untouchable at this point. Look at your species timeline and take in the majesty of a multi-billion chronicling of your journey.

It is a game of ambition, hope, and persistence. Become the dominant species in a truly vast solar system, and then learn the punishing lesson yet again that there’s always a bigger fish. Complete that shared childhood dream of reaching the center of the galaxy despite near insurmountable odds. I am irrevocably in love with Spore.

But the game can still be a pain. Some of the reasons being the game itself, and others being its age. For one, I have seen conflicting posts on whether if you haven’t played Spore before now you’ll still be able to access the Sporepedia, where you can see others’ creations and add your own. It appears I can, although I had played through Steam many years ago and already connected, and I had played off Steam through the discs, but it still seems I’m limited by some measures? If you can’t connect, although it’s a unique and special aspect of the game missing, it’s still worth playing in my opinion.

Beyond this though, the game has a pretty brutal difficulty curve on hard difficulty, and not in a fun way. The game (sometimes) punishes you for trying to design the creature you want, even though evolutionarily these shortcomings wouldn’t be death sentences. The space stage provides great enjoyment, but also a fairly heavy money grind that can be difficult without luck on spice, and the trading is not super fulfilling.

Death isn’t really punishing at most stages of the game, and the lack of punishment makes it feel more like an annoyance than a fear. Galactic Adventures are interesting and incredibly creative, but they can be hard to build, and even harder to accomplish without a very considerable grind, especially if you, again, didn’t build heavy carnivore or omnivore.

Other issues, perhaps brought on by age, are ones with alt+tabbing, like causing the cursor to become off-position. Audio pops during space stage and is seemingly unfixable. Recording of the screen causes an incredibly strange kaleidoscope effect sometimes, and, worst of all, the game is not immune to crashing, which can be brutal as there is not a real autosave feature. Save early, save often!

These shortcomings can really cut into your enjoyment. But if you’re like me… there is a mystifying draw to Spore that always keeps me thinking about it again after not so long, and I love it all the same as if it didn’t have these flaws even though I know it does!

I think I’ve only ever played one or two other games so ambitious in my life, one of them being another unsung gem on Steam, Planet Explorers. Spore undoubtedly was a disappointment for some, including me initially, but I think those who wrote Spore off for not being what they dreamed it was, missed what an actual dream the game still is.

Spore is transcendent. There is humor. There is charm. There is strife. And there is creativity. Just… so much creativity. I’d be hard pressed to identify a game which has been more formative to me than this one, even if Spore isn’t an unquestionable ten out of ten.

I recommend Spore to anybody with an unquenchable thirst for creativity, and anyone who loves to get lost in the joys of both the simple and the complex. Spore is a generational game that’s ambition couldn’t take it as far as it wanted, and still took it further than I ever could’ve asked for. However, don’t pay $60 for all the parts. It goes on a sale quite regularly and you can get all three for $15.

8.5/10