Spore Hero

While the original {Spore} was well received by the media and did respectable numbers at retail it did not live up to the massive hype and expectations gamers had. Given that Maxis and EA are responsible for massive Sims franchise it came as no surprise when expansions and spin offs where announced. And this brings us to the subject of this review - {Spore Hero} on the Nintendo Wii.

The first thing that strikes me as a begin is a sense of deja vu. There is something familiar with just about everything. The gameplay and the way the other characters talk to gives off a nostalgic vibe without it being immediately apparent why I feel this way. After a few minutes of exploration I'm finally given the option of giving evolution a helping hand and customise my creature.

I decide to try and make a little dragon as I grew up playing {Spyro the Dragon} on Playstation and that's when it hits me. {Spore Hero} reminds me of the first Spyro game.

There are obvious differences between {Spore Hero} and the original {Spore}. The developer has kept an almost unaltered creature creation tool. This is a plus, but as this game is entirely focused on being a platformer, it feels a bit surplus to needs. The game tells you to create your character as you wish, but this is hampered by the fact that in order to progress you are sometimes required to evolve certain abilities.

One example of this is when you have to swim in order to advance, and in order to swim you are going to need fins. It's not optional. You won't advance unless you adapt your creation to these needs. To make matters worse there are only a couple of different fins to choose from. This also goes for wings and other tools you are going to have to develop in order to progress. After opening up new areas later on in the game you are given more freedom of choice, but much of the evolution feels tagged on simply to remind you that you are playing a {Spore} game.

When it comes to the graphics the worlds themselves look rather good, and the textures are of far better quality than what most Wii titles offer. However, the animations leave a lot to be desired, and clipping is the rule rather than the exception as body parts collide with other body parts or the environment. I also suffered through an "inner body experience" as the camera was placed on the inside of my creature during a cut scene. Evidence that the title was rushed to the market.

Your creature will also leave foot prints behind as he makes his way through the adventure. A nice little idea, but seeing as the prints are the same regardless of what feet you have equipped your being with it seems utterly pointless. Perhaps a feature that wasn't fully developed.

Like I said the game reminds me of {Spyro the Dragon}. There are semi-open areas for you to wander around at your own pace with missions available for non-playable characters. You collect meteor shards to upgrade and unlock new body parts, and you fight off the enemies by raising your Wiimote, pressing the B button or shaking your nunchuck.

The combat is weak and the controls are unsatisfactory, central elements of the game that fail to live up to expectations. You can block attacks, but as you still loose a bit of health your best option is to just dig away at your opponents health with attacks.

If the critter you are facing turns out to be stronger than you are you are going to have to beat up some lesser enemies in order grow your creature. This procedure is repeated with just about every boss. This is not a problem in and of itself, but as there are few enemies early on in the game it gets tedious and levelling up becomes a chore.

As in {The Sims} all creatures use some kind of language, but where Simlish is rather enjoyable to listen to, this language is unbelievably annoying and the volume is turned up a notch above every other sound in the game. After an hour or two of this my head starts to ache.

Another thing that will have your head ache is navigation. There is no compass or mini-map to guide you on your way. You have to revert back to the start menu in order to find out what to do, and even then it isn't easy to find out where you are supposed to go.

{Spore Hero} comes across as a rather sloppy effort, with the creature creation is the one shining exception. The game also offers a battle mode where you can play as different creatures, but apart from this there is not much to recommend here.