Spore

The most anticipated game of the year? Jonathon Harker takes a look at the EA title that has the potential to match the success of The Sims...

The Sims has been a phenomenal success for EA. The Will Wright-created series launched way back in 2000, following Wright’s SimCity franchise. Since that launch eight years ago, The Sims has gone on to become the best-selling PC game series ever, with dozens of different variations, SKUs and follow-ups – including The Sims 3, which is set for release in February next year.

The prospect of a new  brand with the potential to become the next The Sims is enough to moisten the pants of even the most cynical games retailer, but, amazingly, that is exactly what EA believes we’ve got with the release of Spore.

“Spore is most certainly a landmark release on PC,” EA’s UK marketing manager for Spore Claire Ridley tells MCV. “Will Wright and his team at Maxis are delivering a truly innovative gaming experience.

“The anticipation for the game is tremendous, and we’re extremely confident that Spore is going to be an ongoing success.”

The anticipation for Spore has been fuelled not only by Wright’s involvement in the game, but also from the early release of the Spore Creature Creator in June. The stand-alone software has allowed users to put together their own creatures, and has proved so popular that over a million creatures were created within the first week of its release to consumers.

Impressive stuff, but what of Spore itself? Time to sidestep the tricky task of explaining the game and hand over to EA:

“Explaining the scope of Spore has been a challenge. We now describe it as ‘your own personal universe in a box’. More importantly, this translates to asking consumers a single simple question: ‘How will you create the Universe?’

“Releasing the Creature Creator early has proved vital in giving players an insight into the Spore world, and how accessible and fun the game can be. PC and Mac users have embraced the Creature Creator, and players have uploaded a staggering 2.6 million creatures to the Sporepedia – the online database of users’ creations – in just a few weeks. The number is growing daily, and the full game hasn’t even been released yet. When it is, there will be millions of other people’s creations – every single one unique – just waiting to be shared and downloaded.”

In short, Spore is all about evolution, but in an entirely more exciting way than spending endless hours reading the works of Charles Darwin.

Players begin life with a simple microbe just trying to survive. They then get to unleash their imagination with the fun, intuitive Editors to grow their creature into an intelligent being, entirely of their own design.

Their baby then evolves into an entire race, who form buildings, villages, cities – and ultimately an entire world.

All the time, gamers choose whether their creations will be traders, marauders, or just a thoroughly nice bunch to know. When the race is formed they get to interact with the creations of other Spore users via the internet. And the sky really is the limit in Spore, with players even getting the chance to form entire new planets.

EA is already planning for the future of Spore. “With games like The Sims and Spore, it is really important to keep the game fresh and reward players with the opportunity to add more content,” says Ridley. “Players are constantly looking for new challenges and different angles to explore, and it is likely that the Spore world will indeed expand.”

Spore can confidently claim to be one of the most anticipated games ever. With an enviable pedigree plus the ability to draw millions of consumers to participate in the Creature Creator ahead of release, it’s not such a giant leap of faith to envisage Spore replicating, or maybe even surpassing, the continuing and startling success of The Sims.