Jump to content
IGNORED

Spore

Prox

By Prox
in Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

Dimahoo

Dimahoo

Posted
Posted

EA have paid amazon to remove reviews of the game....*

<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronic-Arts-Sp...4060&sr=8-1" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronic-Arts-Sp...4060&sr=8-1</a>

This is the THIRD(!) time that EA has AMAZON remove ALL the reviews on SPORE! I am an AMAZON customer for over a decade and NEVER had I came across such a case of blatant corporate interference ever again.

If one followed the discussion threads in the EA/MAXIS site he would have realized that any topic was welcome - as long it did not mention certain...sensitive issues (such as LIMITED INSTALLATIONS, SecuROM security risks, reactivations, possible RootKits, etc). Every single one of those threads got deleted.

THIS is the behavior one expects from a greedy corporation that for the last decade has sucked the joy from PC gaming. It was their site though and (although it speaks volumes on their practices and ethics!), it was within their rights to act as they saw fit.

AMAZON, however, is NOT EA's property. Having the reviews posted on SPORE removed AGAIN ANDAGAIN because most of them were critical of issues that had been OFFICIALLY announced or because they informed AMAZON customers on certain serious issues regarding this upcoming game is WAY BEYOND RIDICULOUS! And no matter how hard EA tries to keep their costumers in the dark, this will NOT fix their DEFECTIVE GAME.

After all, they tried the same tactics with (similarly DRM-plagued) MASS EFFECT and, guess what: not a month following its release it already sells at half-price!

I, for one, find this unacceptable. Do not hesitate to give a piece of your mind...

*the paid bit might be a lie actually.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Campfire_Burning

Campfire_Burning

Posted
Posted
EA have paid amazon to remove reviews of the game....*

<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronic-Arts-Sp...4060&sr=8-1" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronic-Arts-Sp...4060&sr=8-1</a>

*the paid bit might be a lie actually.

If people are accusing it of having rootkits in it and it doesn't, then it's quite right they're being removed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

Posted
Posted

I never realised people actually read Amazon.com reviews. Reviews on shopping websites are usually the worst in the world, with half the people saying 'OMG GRAET 10/10 AAAA++++!!!' to justify their purchase and the other half saying 'w0t a piece of crap lol 0/10 SUXXXXXXX!!!!11' because slagging stuff off is a great laugh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
spaceyjase

spaceyjase

Posted
Posted

The Civ bit is awesome although a little easy. I had a quick go on it last night and spent an hour completing the stage. I'm going to start a new game on hard!

Also, I'm 'spaceyjase' although the missus is also using my account (I think she could create her own even with the same install game) so that'll explain any odd-feminine creations :(

edit: Amazon reviews get removed if they're generally unhelpful, rated badly and reported.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JohnC

JohnC

Posted
Posted
I never realised people actually read Amazon.com reviews. Reviews on shopping websites are usually the worst in the world, with half the people saying 'OMG GRAET 10/10 AAAA++++!!!' to justify their purchase and the other half saying 'w0t a piece of crap lol 0/10 SUXXXXXXX!!!!11' because slagging stuff off is a great laugh.

I love the reviews of things that aren't out for months or ones that are basically "I liked the previous one in the series so I'm giving this 10."

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Raane

Raane

Posted
Posted

Well what they do, you have to do. If they strike a pose, you have to, if they sing you have to. Each one of theirs will fill their bar a percentage of the total based on the level of the social ability but they will almost always reach the half way mark. What you have to do is have your abilities which you use to mimic them at higher levels so you get to the top or even past it. What really helps is if you've just allied with a hard species take them along as a pack member and it'll augment your abilities and fill in the gaps you have. I made huge progress when i realised this.

Jesus h christ almighty. I'm pissed off now, it crashed whilst saving yesterday and booting it up today i find it has put me back at the beginning of the space stage...

My ship was tooled, i had colonised about 9 systems and had a couple of million sporebucks to my name. Now i've got my home planet and that's all... That was hours and hours of work yesterday and i'm really not sure if i can be bothered to repeat it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JPickford

JPickford

Posted
Posted
Well what they do, you have to do. If they strike a pose, you have to, if they sing you have to. Each one of theirs will fill their bar a percentage of the total based on the level of the social ability but they will almost always reach the half way mark. What you have to do is have your abilities which you use to mimic them at higher levels so you get to the top or even past it.

I'd figured that out but it got to the stage in my game where it stopped working. With some species I could impress two but not the third one, others I couldn't impress any despite having levelled up all my stats. The last little sliver on my progress bar took ages to fill in and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

What really helps is if you've just allied with a hard species take them along as a pack member and it'll augment your abilities and fill in the gaps you have. I made huge progress when i realised this.

Maybe it's this bit, I didn't really pay attention to the pack at all.

I've started the tribal bit but I'm yet to have much fun with this outside of the editors which are amazing. It's quite a shock how mundane and repetitive the actual gameplay is so far. I can see where the reviews are coming from.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Campfire_Burning

Campfire_Burning

Posted
Posted
I've started the tribal bit but I'm yet to have much fun with this outside of the editors which are amazing. It's quite a shock how mundane and repetitive the actual gameplay is so far. I can see where the reviews are coming from.

The reviews have all been positive though, in spite of any failings in the gameplay.

Going back and replaying the first two game stages added a lot to them. Playing as a herbivore in Cell was a very different experience. I felt some kinship towards all the other herbivores as we darted between the bubbles, searching out clumps of vegetable matter while avoiding the carnivorous microbes. I also appreciated the variety in the creatures and the way they interacted. First time through felt like Fl0w or Pac-man, whereas the second time it felt like being a part of a functioning eco system.

It was the same with Creature stage. First time through it felt like WoW. Second time through, I took my time to explore and it felt a little like Grand Theft Auto. Instead of slaughtering the other nests I was watching them interact, seeing one nest raid the other, or two lots of creaures meeting between their nests and cautiously socialising, seeing friendly monkey-like creatures attacking a rogue pea-pod creature that was raiding their nest. I was finding body parts hidden half-way up a mountain, then climbing to the very top ot make a twenty second flight out to see before returning to land, watching planets rise in the sky and thinking "One day I'm going to build a rocket and visit it." It's moments like that that make it an epic experience unlike any game that's come before. More than that, I know I'll be able to visit any planet orbiting any star in the galaxy, and I'll see creatures I've never seen before fighting for food and socialising, and looking up at the stars and dreaming the same dream. I'll be able to help them on their way, or destroy them, transport them to another world - a world of my design - and be their god.

It's a bit annoying to read about all the people who've played Spore for half an hour and declared it shit. It's doesn't follow the usual level-based game structure, ie. Creature isn't level two, Civilisation isn't level 4. The first four stages are pretty much designed to teach people how to play the game. Which isn't to say that Space is perfect, or that the game couldn't have done with extra development and the gameplay rounded out and de-bugged, but if you haven't reached Space, you haven't played the game.

I hated Tribal stage, though. What a piece of shit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sng

Sng

Posted
Posted

Civ stage seemed a bit broken to me. The tutorial told my to get one of those mining places or whatever it is and then concentrate on building my city. I got one of the mining things but then drove to all the other ones on my island so the money was flying in. Built another car and took out a city with just them two, rushed two more, got planes, destroyed the rest. Medium as well!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JPickford

JPickford

Posted
Posted
The reviews have all been positive though, in spite of any failings in the gameplay.

I'd been puzzled by the high scores but critical text of most of the reviews.

Having played it I can see that there's a lot to admire but I can also see why the reviewers found a lot of the gameplay lacking.

I've just completed Tribal and I'm warming to it a bit more. Civ looks good from the brief bit I played.

How come there's no test drive on the vehicle editors? It seems an odd omission. I was hoping it would appear when I reached the Civ stage but it seems not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Campfire_Burning

Campfire_Burning

Posted
Posted
I have sent a bear into space in a cardboard box. This makes me happy.

I'm yet to find someone who gets the reference before reading the sporepedia description, though.

That's brilliant. There are some really good spaceship designs in amonst all the TARDISes, X-Wings and Enterprises. I managed to do a pretty cool flying Delorean and a robot power armour thing, but I'm sure people with actual creative talent will do better jobs once they've got the game.

I've managed to add a couple of people as buddies, but the search thing is really temperamental. The ones I add were only found after a few tries. I think I added Elbo, so it works with people with the Creature Creator.

Is there a way to turn off the automatic uploads? Every iteration of my last race has been uploaded under the same name. It seems silly having six creatures on the Sporepedia who only differ in the kind of feet they have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
therev

therev

Posted
Posted

I've just got to the Civilization stage. The game wouldn't let me save my City Hall until I just stacked three simple blocks on top of each other. Any doors, windows or extra stuff and it gave an error message. Nothing useful, just an unhelpful one saying the building couldn't be saved.

I wish I knew what was wrong there.

It did let me make an excellent car after that, though.

By the way, I'd therev on Spore if you want to see my stuffs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
therev

therev

Posted
Posted

My wife wanted to play this yesterday, but she's getting an error message when she starts the game. Something about an invalid registration code, or something. I've been playing the game fine on the same PC, so anyone got any idea what's up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Use of this website is subject to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Guidelines.

  I accept