Darkspore Previews
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GameSpot (notice the second paragraph):
There are also three hero classes: Ravager, Sentinel, and Tempest. They likewise have their own specialties, with Sentinels acting like "tank" characters in other games, and Tempests akin to mages who specialize in projectile attacks. Each hero class also has its own abilities, with the Plasma Sentinel bearing both lightning and plasma attacks that do burning and shocking damage to enemies. In some recorded demo footage, the devs showed that the Plasma Sentinel also has extra powers like a meteor strike that calls in a hailstorm of rocks at the player's command, as well as a plasma shield that burns any foes within a certain range.
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Maxis has been receiving help on Darkspore from fellow EA studio BioWare, which has its own established reputation in the action-RPG genre.
G4:
There's so much action going onscreen that the game looks like it can be unforgiving. But according to the developers, even if you lose, you'll still get some experience points. You'll level up in traditional RPG categories like health, power, strength, dexterity, mind, critical rating, dodge rating and reflection rating. Also you'll find Obelisks along the way, which act as treasure chests full of loot.
GamesRadar:
The fun part will be taking on the myriad creatures infesting numerous planets by controlling three-creature squads of the living weapons, which are called heroes. They aren't heroes in the typical sense they're monsters designed in the Spore creature creator. In fact, the creature creator has been integrated into Darkspore, but tweaked to fit the game's action-RPG roots. While you won't be creating your own heroes from scratch, you can go in and edit your heroes' appearances extensively. Certain restraints are in place to ensure that a brawler type hero is recognizable on the battlefield (especially important for PvP, so you know what you're fighting against), but the devs say their own players have still sculpted many creative and differing creatures within the class restraints.
PCWorld:
Darkspore promises a strong potential for replayability, according to Mike Perry, executive producer of Darkspore. "Every time you play, you'll confront different [non-player characters]." The enemy-AI may decide to deploy different non-player characters with different tactics depending on how you're playing. Advanced players can therefore expect advanced challenges.
What They Play:
As you travel around the galaxy, you'll find the blueprints for different creatures. Once you have the blueprints, you can make that creature and use it in battle. All of the creatures have their own strengths and weaknesses, and you must strategically choose which creatures to battle on different planets. The game can be played solo or cooperatively with up to three other players, and the team has said the game is really being designed to be played cooperatively, with different people bringing different creatures with different strengths to the party.
And GAMINGtruth:
Each squad member has a unique ability that players can use during the level. Yet having to change squad members in order to utilize an ability can be a slow process that can cost the life of one or more of the squad members. Luckily, Maxis has designed the game to let players use any ability from any member without having to switch. An example that they demoed was using one of the member's (I believe it was the Sentinel) ability to (blink,) or teleport a short distance, around the map while still using the melee-only Ravager.
