Spore Hero (Nintendo Wii)

As a fan of the Spore (PC) game and having played it through, I wasn't sure what to expect with the Wii version, but here's my take on a decent addition to Spore:

Graphics: The general gameplay graphics and sound effects are very cartoony compared to the PC version. It can certainly be appealing to a younger audience. The colors and graphics are smooth and well done.

Gameplay: You start as a small two legged creature going around doing quests and finding new body parts (mouth, feet, hands, etc) with the goal to improve your creature and proceed to new areas / fight harder creatures. There are similarities to creature phase on Spore PC. You make use of the Wiimote and nunchucks by shaking them to break open or kick objects. I like that you can kick just about anything, and it will anger most creatures to fight you. This brings us to the combat, probably the most fun aspect of the game. You fight arena style by punching, charging, diving, spitting, biting, etc. to where the last creature standing wins. There are also other mini type games throughout the game like singing and dancing, where you have to aim the Wiimote at a certain direction and follow the creature's motion.

Controls: In general, the controls are good. Camera is a bit awkward at times and I wish you could zoom out just a little more, like in the PC version. Still, you can look in all different directions with the nunchuck which is fine. The wiimote and nunchuck are very sensitive during some of the activities like dancing, which definitely takes some practice to master.

Multiplayer: You can do an arena style battle with a friend (2 players max). What's cool is that you can use the character you created during the game. You can also create a new character in Sporepedia (another option in the game) and then use it to fight. There is no online play or Co-op in play mode.

The game is quite addicting and I can see it drawing people in from the original Spore fan base including people who have never played it. One thing that disappointed me is that during the main game, you cannot team up with other creatures and adventure with them - as you could during the Creature phase in Spore PC. Still, it is very fun alone as there are tons of quests and creatures to fight.

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I'm writing this from a mom-point-of-view. The Spore game for the computer is a headache! New video cards were purchased, one computer still would not run the program ("it's not fair"). Tech support was needed often. We bought the Wii platform of the game and all of those problems are gone. I haven't played it (Wii Fit is more my speed) but the kids weem to enjoy it, and there aren't any computer problems with it. You just put it in and play. :)

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I purchased this game for my grandaughter for Christmas. It was the top game on her list and she loves it!

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