There's plenty of Spore-bashing to be had on the interwebs, so I wont place another drop in the storm.

Instead, I'd like to focus on the various games you may have already played that have "influenced" Spore`s 5 stages.

Stage 1: Cell / Microorganism

This stage is short and sweet. Some have called it boring, I found it rather relaxing. Either way, the stage is over in 30-40 minutes.

Most resembles: the Playstation network downloadable game flOw (2006), originally made in Flash, now on the PSP and PS3 platforms

© Nintendo 2006

Runner Up: Electroplankton (2006), the free-form music "game" for the Nintendo DS.

Stage 2: Creature

This stage introduces the social/domination balancing act that threads through the rest of the game. At this level, it amounts to highly repetitive mini-games or mildly chaotic button-mashing action respectively.

© Enix 1992

Most resembles: A lesser known gem on the SNES, Enix`s ironically titled EVO: Search for Eden (1992). EVO is Darwin`s the Origin of Species if it was a 16-bit video game (I wonder if Sarah Palin and her Creationist friends protested this one in college).

EVO was a side-scrolling action-RPG where you play a simple sea-creature that collects points from fallen creatures, upgrade your body parts, and eventually crawl onto land to dominate the Planet.

Sounds kinda familiar...

Runner Up: The creature phase reminds me of some game mechanics in Rare's Viva Pinata (2006). VP is much more sophisticated in execution with its wide array of stock species, but the greet, gather and grow feel is evident in both games.

Reminiscent of: Sega's Space Channel 5 (2000) comes to mind when you play the pattern-matching social mini-games.

Stage 3: Tribal

The Tribal stage was the least enjoyable in my opinion and the least well-received by the interwebs at large.

The lack of depth is the primary reason Tribal flops. It is essentially a real-time strategy game, but there's only one resource (food), and two game mechanics, performing music and giving gifts to secure alliances, and rushing weakened camps to dominate. You'll quickly find yourself repeating these steps ad nauseum.

© Microsoft 1997

Most resembles: The early minutes of Age of Empires (1997). AOE is limited by today`s standards but it blows Tribal out of the water.

Runner Up: The first few rounds of Civilization (1991).

Stage 4: Civilization

The Civilization stage adds a bit more strategy to the mix, but it still doesn`t compare to the dedicated computer strategy titles of the past 10 years.

This stage is essentially the same as Tribal, but adds vehicles. I didn`t give any of the diplomatic options any heed, didn`t create any air vehicles and was dominating the planet in about an hour.

© Microsoft 2003

Most resembles: A hamstrung version of Brian Reynolds` Rise of Nations (2003), contemporary levels.

Runner Up: A limited version of the gameplay from Age of Empires I & II.

Stage 5: Space

Stage 5 is the most deep and satisfying stage of the game. There`s a lot to do and see, but the control interface makes it pretty manageable. I`ve spent a lot of time in space so far, and you do feel a bit like Captain Kirk zipping through the galaxy in your make-shift Enterprise knock-off (yes, mine is one of the thousands out there).

When you boil it down, there are only 4-5 types of missions you can perform making things rather repetitious.

The diplomacy is fairly shallow falling somewhere in between the Sid Meier`s Civilization series and Civ: Rev.

Only the timed missions and random attacks give the stage a sense of urgency.

© MicroProse 1993

A Cross Between: The Star Control (1990) series and Master of Orion (1993) with... tadaa! much less depth than either.

And a Big Shout Out to: The entire economy in the Space stage is laughably based on the ancient game Drugwars (1984). This mostly text-based game started out on Texas Instruments calculators and pioneered the "buy a commodity in one place and sell it for a higher price in another place" game mechanic.

Drugwars (aka.Dope Wars) has been ported to every platform and it`s been skinned in many other ways, including Lemonade Wars, and most similar to Spore, SolarWars (aka. Space Trader).

10 Games in One! What a Deal!

Spore is an ambitious game (from microorganism to galactic empire... yeah, that's pretty big). It's fair to say that it's like five games in one. Of the five main stages of Spore, you will undoubtedly find one or two that you'll enjoy.

If you are a hardcore gamer, Spore may not be for you. Just dust off one of the games listed above and you'll have a better time, and save some cash.

As a casual gamer, or a fan of Will Wright's previous hit, the Sims, you may find Spore's to be a gentle introduction to other strategy game genres.

Perhaps it's unfair to compare Spore to these games though. Like a box of Lego bricks, Spore provides the tools for you to just "mess around" for a long time. There is enough variation in the game that you can make your own fun, provided you bring your imagination to the table.

It's where the gameplay meets the pure play that Spore is being judged the harshest. It's too constrained by the borrowed gameplay mechanics described above to be called a pure sandbox game, and it's too shallow in execution to be called a strategy game. So what exactly is Spore in the end?

Though it's an impressive feat of software engineering, I don't think you should have to pay to play a game that's suffering an identity crisis.

Spore is not a cohesively designed game, but it has its enjoyable qualities. Do yourself a favor and borrow it or play it at your friend's place before you open your wallet.