Review of Darkspore

In its time, the game Spore caused quite a stir – an incredibly detailed creature editor, gigantic scales of what was happening and… boredom. Because besides creating strange monsters, there was objectively nothing to do. But the game's potential was magnificent; we couldn't let it go to waste. At Maxis, under the keen supervision of EA, they pondered and came up with the idea: to make a Diablo-like RPG using the Spore engine and name it something original… well, fine, "Darkspore" will do. And seriously, it's worth figuring out what came of it – fortunately, the game has recently been released.

Remember Everything

The game begins with our alter-ego emerging from an incubation pod on some strange ship and, of course, remembering absolutely nothing. Luckily, a special program immediately brings us up to speed, speaking in a sweet female voice and showing us everything we’ve forgotten through beautiful cutscenes. It turns out our hero is one of the last surviving Crogenitors, an ancient and once incredibly powerful race that decided to create perfect beings through DNA experiments. As a result, five races with paranormal abilities were created – controlling energy and nature, undead, and much more depending on their genetic code. Genetic heroes were created – extraordinarily powerful beings who vastly surpassed their kin in everything. Unfortunately, the Crogenitors played with their new "exponential" DNA, and the galaxy was consumed by a dark spore – whether it's a plague, a biological weapon, or some other filth that grotesquely distorts the genetic code of living (and not so living) organisms, spawning grotesque bloodthirsty monsters. The genetic heroes couldn’t cope with the threat, the Crogenitors were powerless too, and the last remnants of the once-great scholarly people scattered across the galaxy in ships with cryopods, hoping to awaken one day and attempt to correct something.

Now, with the automatic systems having completed the preliminary analysis of the situation and calculated a strategy to combat the dark spore, we enter the arena. On the ship, besides the autopilot and our hapless Crogenitor, there are also the remains of genetic heroes – the only ones capable of fighting the dark spore creatures on equal footing. The scientist acts as a big brother, looking down from above and providing overall management, while the heroes run around planets, straightforwardly exterminating monsters.

Build Your Own

The gameplay closely resembles the old Diablo – the camera hovers over the battlefield, and we, admiring the top of our genetic hero, wipe out hundreds of monsters in the labyrinths of alien planets, occasionally collecting money (looking like DNA spirals) and equipment items that drop. For defeating monsters, the Crogenitor gains experience and levels up, allowing him to unlock new heroes and expand the assortment of the onboard shop. Before each mission, you need to choose three heroes. Only one can be active at a time, but you can replace him with any of the remaining at any moment. Each hero possesses five unique skills – one works passively, the second is activated by clicking the left and right mouse buttons, and the rest are activated using numbers from 1 to 5. Yes, I didn’t make a mistake – from 1 to 5, since the third skill of the hero becomes available to the other two. Consequently, each of them ends up with seven skills – five unique and two inherited from comrades. Not that many, but with the right choice of characters, it's quite sufficient because the heroes differ drastically – the ancient man heals and summons monsters, the semi-transparent humanoid with a halberd sucks life and hits very hard, the clawed red monkey teleports and shoots lightning, while the battle robot carries out artillery strikes and launches homing rockets. There are several dozen heroes in the game, each with their own story and role in the team.

So where is Spore, you might ask? As soon as you enter the hero editing section, this question is quickly answered. Essentially, what we have is a somewhat trimmed-down editor from "Spore". The equipment items bought with DNA points and found on levels consist of various noses, ears, eyes, claws, spikes, wings, and similar things. Beyond just an aesthetic effect, they significantly enhance the heroes they are attached to. Yes, a battle robot with a pig snout on his head looks silly, but he fights much better than without that organ – apparently, he’s trying to get rid of witnesses to his shame as quickly as possible. In addition to the items available to all heroes, there are also pieces of equipment suitable only for one type of DNA (for instance, scales that can only be worn by necro-heroes or radars that attach only to robots), as well as weapons that are unique to each character – the Ghost's halberd cannot be given to the spider girl Arachne, and so on. And of course, there is the option to paint your heroes in red-green-blue colors with yellow spots. To intimidate the enemies.

The campaign in the game is divided into several stages, each taking place on a new planet. From the laboratory planet, we travel to a dead world inhabited by the undead, then fly to a green sphere covered in jungles and ancient ruins, and so on. At the end of each stage, a particularly tough boss awaits, victory over whom guarantees several truly valuable items. Each stage is divided into several levels, for passing which also grant prizes – and the further we progress without choosing a reward, the greater the chance of receiving an epic quality item.

The multiplayer in the game offers a cooperative campaign mode, which is a lot of fun due to the ability to combine chosen heroes, as well as an arena where players can test their strength against each other.

In summary, I can say: Darkspore isn’t a masterpiece, but it's a beautiful, fun, and interesting game that allows for a good time spent decorating heroes in the editor and watching the resulting monsters exterminate the frightened fleeing spawn of the dark spore. It's best played with a friend, combining chosen heroes and creating effective ability pairings.

Thanks to Rowen for help in creating the article.