Great creature building, but the game becomes too repetitive too quickly.
I have played this game for nearly twenty hours now and it has already gotten boring.
The cell stage is fun the first two, three times, but after that?
The creature stage is considerably more fun, if not the most fun stage, because of the part-seeking and avoiding the huge (and hilarious) monsters that roam the area. You have to really keep in mind what kind of creature you're going for and aim to collect the needed parts for it. And it is quite challenging to try and collect every single part there is. What ruined this stage for me is the camera. I don't play first-person shooter games for a reason. Cameras like in the creature stage in Spore are guaranteed to give me a headache within a few minutes.
The tribal and civilization stages could have been great. It should have been. They were the first time. The humor inserted here made me laugh quite a few times, but... game-wise, it's just too simple. Hunt and kill. May I remind the game developers that I have a brain and I would like it being challenged? I'm not saying these stages should have been like Civilization, Nile, Ceasar or other simulation games, but... come on?! A bit more depth? A bit more planning? A bit more strategy?
The space stage is a considerable bit of fun, I think, but again... it's fun the first time. It's quite good the second time, but at the third time, you're just not interested anymore.
Admittedly, the 'building the buildings and vehicles' never attracted me much. Or rather... I love building houses and shops the Sims where you have a lot more freedom. But in a game like Spore I feel it's just an annoying, time-consuming distraction.
Still, cheers for the creature creator. It's very nice to play with :).
If this game gets a sequel I hope they take it the Sims way. Release the first three stages with a LOT of depth and real strategy and gameplay in the base game, and add expansion packs for the later stages.