I've created this blog as a one-a-day analysis of box art in hopes of opening eyes that flashy packaging isn't always flashy product. I will also include a bit of info, a 3-tier review, stating my best, worst, and ugliest moments of said product.
You might say "your web address is "onthetin". This comes from the TV Trope "Exactly What It Says On The Tin", in which a package states what it is on its wrapping.
So to start, I thought I'd give you Spore!
Spore's packaging is a lot less awesome than its box art. It's box art is a space ship in front of a galaxy and surrounded by planets. Its packaging, however, is this.
It's basically a clusterfuck of creatures, sadly.
It shows you a stereotypical green alien, a stupid-looking, club-weilding orange alien, three aliens (blue, pink, and red) which cannot be made in the game due to a parts limit, 2 smaller, "cutsier" aliens, and a bacterium on the floor. Its main color is white.
Now, you may wonder, why were the creatures chosen? Well, I guess its because the EA executives wanted to appeal to children, so putting a group of "amazing creatures" in prominence caught kids' eyes better than "black space, white galaxy, spaceship" did, which is an accptable sacrifice, I guess. More sales means more money.
And my three-prong review!
The Good: A study of Darwinian sciences in progress, if primitively. The fittest survive, the weakest die off.
The Bad: This isn't an evolution simulator, it's a Creationism simulator! You can change any part of a creature at any time up until its "Tribal Stage". So, you may have a horse-like creature in one minute and a bird thing another.
The Ugly: Epic Creatures sometimes don't fit. The game picks a creature from the international catalogue at random, super-sizes it, then releases it and thinks you'll fight it.
VERDICT: Spore might not be the best game out there. Let's put it this way. $30 is what its worth. You get 4 incomplete games and one really epic game. Besides, the first stage is worth it. Cell stage? Swimming around eating and growing. Worth $5 already. Add on $5 per incomplete and $10 per complete, because at the end, it seems a bit lacking.
