This game... Is a lot of things. From what I hear most often it was mostly a disappointment. Spore was hyped up for years and it became my first PC game. That was when I found out it didn't quite live up to the spectacular industry changer I thought it would be. It released in 2008 (geez that feels like an eon ago) at a time where I wasn't allowed to play video games on school nights (parents, right?). I was allowed to play this because I convinced my parents that it was educational and tied into evolution and space exploration which were two things I was studying in science class.
Because of all the hype and my video game starvation I was able to make the most out of this game. It wasn't perfect but I didn't care because like all the people who remember having an NES and a library of 6 games, it was all I had. My old computer was slow and clunky even on the lowest settings, but the game still looked beautiful because it wasn't a sheet of paper or news program. I liken this feeling to how hungry I get at a cross-country meet. After you run the fastest 5K in your life you dive for any kind of nourishment you can get. I used to hate gingersnaps until I finished a race and end up wolfing down an entire box of those rock-hard cookies on the way home. When you're starving for a game it tastes that much better and that's what Spore is to me.
With Spore being my only weekday video game I was able to make the most out of what it did have to offer. A fun creature creator, an amusing cell stage hunting game, and a gigantic galactic conquest system. Even now I can play Spore for those reasons and still have a blast for a short while. Skip over the features I didn't like and dive right into the good stuff. Spore actually has a nostalgic value for me now because of this history I have with it. I wonder if anyone else has a game they forced themselves to love forever?
