Darkspore Reviews
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Such simple resource and inventory management-style gaming is perfectly fine (and is something Maxis have built their stellar reputation on), but in the absence of cracking gameplay it must be camouflaged by a compelling narrative lest it all seem a bit clinical and empty. Here - like its predecessor - Darkspore falters. Given that a point-and-click system by its very nature only allows a certain amount of ducking and diving during combat and that the narrative here is not only thin but is cast off with disinterest, it's hard not to view Darkspore the way Neo came to see the Matrix: pretty and initially exciting, but cold and mechanical just below the surface. Rather than being propelled forward by a gripping narrative, Darkspore players are instead presented with what essentially amounts to an extended arena mode, and that's a real shame.GamePro, 3/5.
As uninspired as the story is, the missions are equally unimaginative. If you're looking for much in the way of objective-based missions, you're not going to find it in Darkspore. Your tasks follow a predictable formula: see bad guys, click on bad guys, kill bad guys until you reach a boss; kill the boss. The hacking and slashing does feel really great, the controls responding as you would expect from this genre, and there's a wide assortment of loot to keep you replaying the stages. The dungeons themselves come in a variety of flavors, e.g. weird rainforest, space deck, or lunar surface. The maps are generally easy to navigate, and I did appreciate how well the levels flowed, encouraging me down winding passageways toward my goal.Feed The Gamer (beta review).
Fighting effectively means switching out heroes from time to time in order to best make use of their individual strengths. As you battle the various minion Darkspores you will encounter sub bosses until you finally get to battle the big boss at the end of a particular stage of a world. While battling the creatures you vanquish will from time to time drop loot. You can also find loot from various so-called Crogenitor archives (chests) scattered over the map. The loot gathered can later be used in the creature editor to customise your heroes, boosting their stats and effectiveness. In order to use the loot you will need to have your heroes be of sufficient level and able to accomodate the gear via a so-called DNA allowance. If the gear you put on your hero exceeds the DNA allowance, then you cannot save your hero until you change its load out to drop below the allowance. The editor furthermore allows you to graphically tweak things on your heroes in a way that's very similar to what Spore offered with its creature editor. If you have gear you don't want to use anymore but like the way it looks, you can strip the stats from it and use it as a part to change the look of your hero.
