Buying Colonization, Spore, Both, or Neither?

[ColPaladin]

I was lucky enough to hear the bad news about spore just before I got it (so I didn't). But a friend bought me the game when he bought his

So anyway, I was shocked (and I mean REALLY shocked) how bad the gameplay is. The graphics and animiations are all great, but the gameplay is like shareware games from many years ago. Like for example: Civilization stage has one resourse, 3 different units (total), 3 different buildings (total), and even basics like cueing, grouping (Ctrl-1 for example), and even research are non-exisant.

It's a toy, plain and simple; it was gutted like a fish before release, so if your not really creative (or not a 12 year old) you will most likely dislike Spore (with a passion, after how they hyped and misled what type of game it would be). My Spore game/strategy guide has been sitting on my desk, unplayed and untouched, since the 4rth day I had it (and I have a broken foot, and was/am stuck at home, and I STILL would'nt play it ).

Thanks the game-gods for Civ Colonization. . .

 

[Shylock]

Spore is good if you play once maybe twice.

I've played all of 10 minutes of Colonisation. Since I played Civ4 which CivCol basically is a mod of I know I'll probably like it better.

 

[patrickkrebs]

Spore sucks donkey balls.

 

[Shabnam]

I have bought both, SPORE and CivCol, and at least I have to regret buying SPORE. It's fun when you play it first time. The second time it's routine and the third time you play it it's horrible boring.

I dont know if civcol is a fail buy, too. but the game has less love for details and it's not ready for buying. I cant believe that Sid Meier has autorized this game. It's a shame for Firaxis.

 

[Timos]

I'm afraid to inform that Colonization has got DRM with Securom. I pre-ordered it and installed it this morning. By this afternoon it wouldn't work. The Securom twaddle decided it wasn't a legit copy and booted me out!

I can't be bothered with all the hassle with fixing this - (I'm the customer for God's sake!).

I have removed the game from my PC and sent it back to Amazon.

I wouldn't recommend buying Colonization because of this.

 

[lionheart]

Well, I still play both games, but I have to admit that I've been having more fun with the editors in Spore than I've had with the game itself. I like graphical design and modding (I've modded for Europa Universalis III, Medieval II: Total War and recently for Civ4: Colonization as well), so I can grudgingly overlook Spore's shortcomings in the gameplay department..

Nevertheless, I have to admit that ever since I bought Civ4: Colonization, I've been hooked. I've been playing the game, made a little graphical leaderhead mod to basically suit my own taste (and hopefully that of others) and have started up Spore just a few to times to download new creations, but haven't played it for real for about a week now I think..

So yeah, my interest in Spore is waning and, what with the recent rumours that there may be such a thing as 'purchasing exclusive content for small fees' in the future, I'm not sure if I will return anytime soon..

 

[ColPaladin]

Your dead on: I had some laughs the first time through Spore, but only about 5 hours total play-time. It's like that time in highschool I finally got that date with the hottest blonde cheer-leader in school; after a couple hours, the tight sweater wears off, and the bubble-headed conversation starts to make your eyes droop; like Spore, she was great to look at, but empty-headed.

I think (hope) when they patch Col2, it will be a great game. At this time, bugs and imbalence make it more tedius than fun for me.

 

[wilebill]

Got Col, not Spore yet. Probably Spore never unless they add a lot of depth.

 

[tharg]

Nether are top draw, my opinion download Fall from Heaven for free.

Colonization – not much different form original, which you could get much more cheaply. Full of exploits and holes, intelligent patching could rescue it.

Spore: Centred on designing you creatures, with some fairly simple games to try them out in. Also plenty of opportunities to dress your creatures, and design the buildings that they live work and play in, these designs have no functional effect, but they do look pretty. There are also lots of cute effects.

There are five stages to try your creatures out in.
Cell stage – my favourite, its really an action style arcade game. I also like the way the game scales as you grow.
Creature – Kind of amusing, but least realistic phase. All the creatures are just too sameish.
Tribe – Kind of over simplistic Age of Empires clone. But fits in fairly well with theme.
Civilization – Really too simple to be called a game, could be so much better, but still nicely thematic.
Space – The only real strategy game. Slightly spoilt, because of the semi exploit on only taking civilization and tribe worlds early – there should be political repercussions for this to balance the game. I really like the way teraforming works, and how the creatures are an integral part of this.

Problem with all stages is that there is too much emphasis on making you creatures pretty at the expense of game play. Further apart from three difficulty levels there is absolutely no form of game customisation – e.g. game size.

 

[City Builder]

The thing that I found the oddest about Spore was that it kept pushing me along through the ages. Even when I hadn't completed objectives and actually played very very little, I'd start up a saved game and be told that I could now advance to the next part of the game. In a matter of a very short time I was in the space era without really feeling like I had played the game at all.

Colonization needs some help too. It does have some infuriating bugs in it that just about drive me daffy. Simple things like a Caravel that decided its ok to take a full load of tools to try to sell in Europe, and when the Europe screen pops up, I don't sell the tools (since I need them in one of my cities) so I tell the caravel to return to the new world. The caravel gets placed in the slot to say it's going back to the new world with my tools onboard, only to have one or two turns go by and the Europe screen pops up again with the same damn caravel wanting to sell those tools to Europe. The only way around it was to sell one stack of tools and buy a person to shove onboard and then send it back to the new world. This caravel was originally set to full automatic but where it got the idea to take tools from a city that is not exporting tools and go sell them to Europe and leave me in a pinch, I have no idea. So BUGS are a plenty in Colonization.

If I had it to buy over, I wouldn't buy Spore or Colonization knowing now what I know about both. I find spore to be what others have mentioned about it above in this thread and to be honest, I find colonization to be like half of the Civ game, and I'm far happier just playing the Civ 4 game then even a nicely modded version of the Colonization game.

 

[trytogrowupkid]

I wouldnt blow the 50 on spore, it wasnt worth the less than 3 hours of entertainment i derived from it. Most repetitive game I have played in a long time.

I am a huge fan of colonization as it is right now, despite the numerous bugs. Still playing it over and over and over and over. I love it.

 

[Sorceresss]

I have read hundreds of posts on 3 forums dedicated to SPORE. No way am I going to buy it in its present state !

In 2 or 3 years, when EA releases a "gold" or "platinum" edition (containing a lot of stuff, enhancements, and bug-fixes), I might purchase it.

 

[Rockstone]

Bougth both:
- Spore (for the round archives).
- Col 2 (for the keeps).

 

[Sir Ralph]

Not going to buy Spore mainly because of the DRM issues.
Unfortunately bought Civ4:Col. Unfinished, unbalanced, broken.

Buy neither.

 

[Beginner]

Well I got both, and I don't regret buying them. Colonization is far more addictive than Spore though, so if you're only going to get one, get Colonization. I know it has its share of problems and bugs, but I'm confident those will be fixed by patches and mods. As previously stated, Spore is entertaining the first time around, and it's funny to mess around in the creature editor, but only for so long. You're not going to be doing that for hours and hours.

And by the way, Fallout 3 is going to take over my life when it's finally released!

 

[stryfe]

I played through Spore and while it is worth playing it wasn't the great game I was hoping it would be. As has been mentioned the game play is very shallow involving a lot of repetition that just isn't that fun. The only part I really enjoyed was evolving my creature as I unlocked new parts.

Colonization is a lot of fun but it's currently in need of a patch. I'm sure the patch will come along sooner or later, in the mean time it's still fun getting to know it.

In the long term you'll be happier with Colonization. Especially since you won't be tempted to waste money on the multiple expansion packs there's sure to be for Spore.

 

[Habadacus]

It's like that time in highschool I finally got that date with the hottest blonde cheer-leader in school; after a couple hours, the tight sweater wears off, and the bubble-headed conversation starts to make your eyes droop; like Spore, she was great to look at, but empty-headed.

LOL. Great analogy. Of course, with the cheerleader, if you stuck with it, it would have been possible for you to 'unlock' some really fun 'gameplay'.

Spore, on the other hand, doesn't have anything to offer past the empty-headedness.

 

[Becephalus]

Bought both, and pretty disappointed with the lack of replayability in both. Back to Civ4 and Sword of the Stars fo me.

 

[Onionsoilder]

I bought both.

Now I wish I bought neither. Both horrible disappointments.

 

[PhoenixRedeemer]

My initial response to playing Spore: "Wow, this is awesome and fun!"
After playing Spore for a couple hours: "This is starting to get a little boring..."
After playing Spore for a couple more hours: "Okay, a new thing, this is sort of interesting..."
After playing Spore for a couple more hours: "Outer space? Eh, I could keep playing... maybe later..."
And then I never played it again.

Colonization...
Me after first game where I ignored independence and just let the time expire as I built an economy and such: "This is awesome!"
Me during my second game where I was trying to win by declaring independence: "No so fun..."

Take it for what you will.