Spore Hero Updated Hands-On

During the past few months, we've had plenty of opportunities to check out Spore Hero, including at a recent Electronic Arts press event in San Diego. The game has come a long way since we first checked it out in May, and now that we have our own preview build, we've had a chance to spend some quality time with it. For those who haven't been following our coverage, Spore Hero is an action role-playing game built from the ground up for the Wii. It doesn't play like the PC game Spore, but they do share some similarities. They both have a robust creature creator and excellent animation, which gives the game a ton of personality. But Spore Hero is primarily targeted at an audience that is looking for a lighthearted adventure in which they can ultimately save the day.

Representatives from EA stopped by to walk us through some of the changes that they've made to the game. The opening cutscene was tweaked a bit to help tell the story better. Two meteors, a blue one and a red one, are streaking across the sky, heading straight for a lush and beautiful planet. Each meteor carries an egg, but when they crash into the planet, blue and red meteor shards are scattered across the planet. We learn from the start that the red meteor bits have some kind of evil hypnotic effect on the locals, but the blue ones don't. You play as the little Sporeling that hatches from the egg of the blue meteor and quickly befriend a local creature named Meejee. The creatures around you realize that for some reason you are immune to the red meteor's strange effects, so you're now in charge of helping them with all of their problems.

It's a simple story, told through written dialogue and a garbled alien language. The voices are cute, and the animations add a lot of personality to each of the tribe members that you'll wind up meeting. We were able to create and customize our own adorable little Sporeling, and new parts were constantly being added to the inventory. Fossils are located throughout the world, and by shaking your Wii Remote at them, you can excavate more parts for some cool new upgrades. Each of the six areas that you explore will have a variety of quests for you to undertake. There are quests in which you will need to fight, but not everyone on this planet is violent. There are singing and dancing challenges, as well as evolution quests, in which you help a particular creature evolve a certain way. For example, we came across a creature with no ears or wings who was trying to obtain a delectable moonfruit from the top of a tree. The quest will direct you to the creature creator, where you can provide the helpless critter with the appropriate parts so that it can fly and find its meal. The dancing quest is like a rhythm minigame, in which icons will appear onscreen to tell you what to do with your controller. Singing is similar, but it involves tilting your remote and holding the A button at the right time.

Fighting is not a huge part of the game--unless you want it to be--but you will have to evolve and build up your hero to fight the evil Zarkhator (the guy from the red meteor) who is also evolving. The battle mechanics involve shaking the nunchuk and remote for certain maneuvers, which is fine initially, but you'll have to change up your tactics if you don't want to end up waggling your way to victory. Battle mode was added so that you can create your own creatures and fight against a friend whenever you like. Even though you're limited to a small ring in each of the fighting arenas, there are some beautiful views to check out in several of the stages. As you get new parts, you'll gain new abilities, like gliding and swimming, which will allow you to go back to previous locations and explore further. The level designs are nice too because it feels like you're in a large valley or huge cavern, but in reality, it doesn't take that much time to run from one end to the next. The areas aren't linear, so you'll find a lot of winding paths and higher platforms, which can make it easy to get lost, but a map is available for your reference. All the quest checkpoints are highlighted to help you keep track.

That wheel attachment looks sharp.

From our play time with Spore Hero, we were quite happy with the pacing and were impressed with how it all came together. The music and sounds that the creatures make really add to the overall experience. The game is obviously targeted at a younger audience, but it has a lot of charm, and you're constantly being rewarded, which motivates you to keep going. As soon as you get a new part, you'll want to run back to your nest to access the creature creator to see what you got. With more than 250 parts to find, it'll keep you busy for a while if you're looking to collect everything.

It looks like Spore Hero has taken the quirky and lovable creatures from the original PC game and created a lighthearted RPG on the Wii for those who are looking for more exploration and interaction in the Spore universe. Be sure to check back for our full review when Spore Hero is released on October 6.