OANGECRUSH  Wow everyone seems to be complaining about this game. I for one like to step back and take a look at the bigger picture. Sure this game could have been much better but as with any game that really tries to push the envelope of gaming, some hit, some miss and some fall somewhere in between like Spore. Some people like it and some dont but there is one thing that is undeniable and that is that Spore will influence future games just as Spore itself was influenced by previous games and that is a very good thing because these are games that have a lot of thought going into them and they are games that are really trying to make games so much more than they currently are.

Some company, maybe even the company that made Spore will take this concept, look at what spore did and what it did wrong and they will improve upon it. That is the evolution of games and I for one think that this game was a legitimate step forward in many aspects. I wont deny that this game was ovehyped and I wont deny that it has problems. Regardless its still a game that is very cool in many ways and in the long run this game will only have a positive impact on videogames in general.

Just my 2 cents.  
(Version 1.1)

LOTHOS  Days later, the update server is finally active. Updater does not work, giving the vague error message "Some files have changed!"

I changed nothing from the default installation. All I did was play the game. I'm not reinstalling this behemoth of a game just to run a patch. What a shame. Spore had a great concept, nice graphics, and enough fun in the space sim to draw casual players. Too bad EA has to drop the ball on everything from Orwellian DRM to patches. Tempted to ask for my money back. One star on a game that deserves three, because EA is that bad.  
(Version 1.1)

PSEUDO TASUKI  Huh… auto-updater fails because it says some files have changed. The updater can't figure out that I moved it to the Applications folder? Seriously, EA? I need to keep the pointless subfolder just to patch the game?

Amazing.  
(Version 1.1)

LOTHOS  Spore is not self-updating here.  
(Version 1.1)

MAC007  I've found Spore to be a fun little game that due to it's open ended nature allows you to play it again and again with the only limits being one's imagination. Hard core gamers may consider it too simplistic but for those of us who just want some simple entertainment without having to master millions of convoluted commands this one fits the bill. As for the DRM system it's not really that bad. You can reinstall the game on any one computer as much as you want without problems. It's only if you try to install it on more than 3 different computers that you have to get the developers permission.   
(Version 1.0)

NAMAN  Terrible DRM scheme, wish I hadn't bought it. The game itself is mediocre at best. It's like they tried to combine a bunch of different types of games, and essentially ended up with a jack of all trades, master of none. The gameplay is boring and frustrating, and the only interesting thing is the creator.

(1 because the DRM really is that bad; would give it a 3 without it.)  
(Version 1.0)

BRETTD  Infected with DRM (Digital Rights Management). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_(computer_game)#Digital_rights_management  
(Version 1.0)

MARKJ  I have been reading all the negative reviews and I honestly don't get it. Granted I have not devoted thousand of hours of my life to Warhammer, WoW, or StarCraft but I have casually played my fair share of sims.

Spore had an Everest of hype to which it obviously fell short, games with that much hype rarely deliver. But after spend a handful of hours with Spore I am very pleased and addicted.

A vocal minority are screaming that it is "dumbed down" and over-simplified. Well my question is, what are you comparing it to? For a casual sim/RTS it is awesome! The creature graphics are very slick, the bio-mechanics in the creatures is really fun to tweak as you go through the creature stage.

The background graphics are a little shoddy and buggy at times but I am OK with that given cool creatures all over the world.

I haven't had any problems with the DRM but I only have it installed on one computer and I only have one account on the computer.

For someone who is a casual sim player I highly recommend it.   
(Version 1.0)

SHOTGUNWEDDINGS  Nothings but complaints from both Mac and PC users about random crashes.

This game may be fun for my 9 year niece, but it's a rip-off in it's currently buggy phase.

Save your money and buy the kids an ice cream, may occupy their attention span longer than this crap.  
(Version 1.0)

ETJ  I have an issue with the DRM- can anyone get it to run in a non-Admin account? My kids want to play it but so far I can only run it on my admin account. It says "Cannot contact the license server" on a non-admin account. Not cool.  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  The DRM mechanism (for those who care to actually know the facts) prevents the game from being installed on more than 3 systems at a time. If you need more than that, you need to call EA and get them to give you another authorization code (hang on to proof of purchase, etc.). Yes, it's a pain... but we're Mac users, we're not some PC geeks who put a new motherboard in their system every month. More than likely, you will not own/play the game on more than 3 different Macs during the course of your interest in it.  
(Version 1.0)

SOLOSAINT  i hear the DRM included makes this game suck badly... i hope they change it  
(Version 1.0)

CASTLE  Includes highly restrictive and invasive DRM that puts me off buying it entirely.  
(Version 1.0)