Following in line with its older sibling The Sims, the Spore franchise has appeared on the scene with a blast. EA has already rolled out mobile versions of the full PC game in the guises of Spore Creatures (DS) and the Apple-touted Spore Origins (Mobile).
Capturing such a huge game and turning it into a mobile-friendly form would appear to be a huge undertaking, though with Spore Origins for the iPhone, EA and Tricky Software have overcome this issue by taking a segment of the Spore timeline and turning it into a fully-featured title of its own right.
Set in the ‘cell stage’ of the PC version of the game, Spore Origins puts the player in control of a microbe in its early life swimming in a primordial ooze with one goal – eat or be eaten.
In order to progress through the Evolution game, the main objective is to navigate through the primordial ooze using the accelerometer and to eat weaker species than your spore and fill the DNA bar to complete the different stages. EA has also introduced some variation into the mix; some stages are based around a maze, through which the spore needs to pass through to complete the level – some of these are by far the hardest parts of the game.
Depending on performance, after completing a level you are sometimes gifted with extra DNA points to add new parts to your spore – the feature set is rather limited, but each part is relatively distinct in purpose. This editor mode also presents options to change the spore’s colour, allowing the player to select tones and textures from a palette or from a photo stored on the iPhone itself.
Probably the best feature of the Spore editor is the fact that players can used touch-based gestures to shrink or grow the size of different aspects of their spores, allowing for a certain level of interactivity not even found in the PC version of the game. Though rather limited, during my time playing the game, I have managed to design some pretty interesting creations.
The game also presents a second play mode named Survival, where the player has to keep its spore alive for as long as possible while dodging larger and stronger species. This game is rather limited, but is a welcome addition for the sake of variety and quick playing functionality.
Visually, the game is fantastic and really shows off the capabilities of the iPhone’s graphical hardware. Couple this with an atmospheric soundtrack and effects library and you have a truly immersive mobile gaming experience.
Screenshots:
Verdict:
Pros:
- Immersive graphics and sounds
- Good variety of game-modes
Cons:
- No multiplayer
- Accelerometer control can become a little tedious at times
Score: 7/10
