GoodGame's Spore Galatic Adventures Review:
My verdict: 7.3/10
Metacritic score:
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/sporegalacticadventures
Caveat: This item is really much more of a game creator software than it is a game expansion. In terms of what it really adds to the Spore gameplay, I rate it about 6.0/10. In terms of the power and fun as a game creator software, I rate it about an 8.5. So bottom line is, if you have very little creativity, or very little interest in creating stuff, then the gameplay value of this expansion is very low.
Pros:
1.
Gives much more control over planets, allowing a lot of detail in the terraforming and shape of planets. (I'll give it a 9.5 out of 10 in this category, though I'm not sure what the effect is on Spore---for instance it's not clear of adventure planets' terraforming influences what natural Spore planets look like).
There are tons of categories and ways that a planet can be modified. Color spectrum, land forms, day-night cycle, percent land mass, etc.. And its all very easy to do, if not completely intuitive at first glance. Other game-makers would do well to rip-off the terraformer tools for their own games.
2.
Lots of room to create adventures. I rate this a 9.5/10. There's tons of options with regards to characters, vehicles, and buildings. That includes what descriptions they give, how they move, how big they are. There's also lots of visual and sound special effects and music cues that work great. And there's smaller game objects for populating details. And there's a robust goal and act system that allows for a lengthy game script. Each linear game-state of an adventure is an act in the larger script, and each act can have up to three goals of a variety of natures (e.g. defend, attack, visit, examine, talk, give etc...)
Also the complexity limits on adventures are very generous, so a lot of potential exists to create a complex adventure.
The are a few weak points though. One weak point is that buildings only overlap on each, so there's a sense of 2.5D rather than 3D; Only by manipulating the height of terrain is it possible to get around this weakness. Buildings don't stack on top of each other, so you can't build a modular skyscraper. You can make a building as a skyscraper by making it large, etc.. but there's not complete control that a full 3D engine has to make like a 1000-room skyscraper.
Another weak point is that vehicles have very limited AI. They also didn't make it so that vehicles are controlled by the player. I smell an expansion there, but it makes it pretty lame and at times the creator has to make buildings that look like vehicles.
Another weak point is that the game play features are pretty limited by the game mechanics and the goals. For instance you can make a Sonic's adventure type game---collecting objects as a goal, and add lots of moving path type building terrain and jump pads, but you can't easily make like say a Poker game, nor a detailed FPS game. You can make a capture-the-flag type scenario, but most adventures are really just disguised versions of quest-RPGs. A lot of creativity is needed to figure out some fun arcade or puzzle game play.
3. Gives some more cool animated parts for taking creatures beyond the space age. This makes creating unique characters easier.
CONS: Doesn't seem to add a lot to the base game of Spore. It might add a little more depth to the archetypes in the Space stage, via the captain parts. And it might be that the Space stage adventures are really good (I'm not convinced though I've not really tried them out in Space).
The pre-fab content really isn't excellent. Robot Chicken crew did a great job of putting out a small number of cool adventures, but not enough. Maxis made some good to great job of making some other showcase adventures. But in all it's really not enough. And the number of genius, user-made adventures to completely junk user adventures is probably around 1/20. Especially avoid the "Clark and Stanley" adventures; Or look them up if you want to see how pathetic a scenario can be made in GA.
Conclusion:
All-in-all, it's like GA is capitalizing on one of the redeeming features of Spore which is the editor creativity 'sub-culture' in the Sporepedia/Forums. The few genius resident artists, and the forum contests are what makes GA a fun product. Most users of GA are making ambitious 12-year olds stuff that is repetitive, boring, too short, etc... So that means that GA is only as great as the community is and as good as the community interacts. This is a pro- if you like online foruming, contesting, and creating/modding, but it's really unconventional for the average gamer.
My litmus test for buying GA is:
1. if you have like 500 creations to your name in vanilla Spore, and are thinking about supporting it for the future, then I'd say yeah, get this expansion, and maybe even "Cute and Creepy" ( "Cute and Creepy" is definitely a rip-off at $20, btw. It's more worth about $10, tops);
2. if you're still having fun interacting online after the 500th creation, then yeah GA will probably be worth your $30,
3. if you don't have time to get into further creating, and expect like 40 hours of great gameplay from the start, then do not buy GA if you value your $30.
All-in-all, I'm enjoying Galactic Adventures, but...your mileage may vary!
