Darkspore Preview

EA and Maxis' Darkspore has once again been given the hands-on preview treatment, with Strategy Informer being the source of this latest article.
The randomization is key in this game, as it helps prolong the onset of repetitiveness. Whilst the physical layouts are always the same, the placement of certain objects, the type of monsters that are spawned, and even the loot they drop are always different. There is a grind aspect not dissimilar to what you'd find in an MMORPG, so provided you're at the very least tolerant of grinding, there shouldn't be too much of an issue here.

Which brings us to the other major portion of the game customization. Once collected, you can outfit your heroes with loot in order to make them more powerful for use in PvP or higher level campaign missions. The Editor is not too dissimilar from the one in Spore, although it's improved naturally over the years, although why they don't let players go the whole nine yards and make their own heroes from scratch is a puzzle. Perhaps it would have been too difficult to implement with the items, or maybe they didn't want to associate with the Spore franchise too much, who knows.
They've also uploaded a batch of exclusive screenshots if you're looking for some new eye candy.