GameSpy: Darkspore Review - Page 1 (original) (raw)

By Eric Neigher | May 3, 2011

Somewhat fun-challenged.

Remember when you signed up for classes, and you got a really bad lottery pick, so all the classes you really wanted to take were full by the time you had the chance to pick? Remember how you had to select the best of what was left, and it was between an interesting class at a really bad time of day, or a semi-decent class at a good time? Remember how you chose the semi-decent class, because screw waking up at 7AM in the middle of February in New England? Darkspore is kind of like that class. It's not like you love going, but it's still better than almost anything that was available to you at the time.

So, Diablo 3 isn't out, Torchlight 2 isn't out -- and if you need a point-and-click action-RPG fix, you could do worse than Darkspore. If that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, well... it isn't. The game is competently assembled, but apart from the weird bio-sci-fi setting, it does absolutely nothing new or interesting with the action-RPG genre. You have to hand it Maxis for trying to eke out some new life from the Spore franchise, but Darkspore is almost totally unrelated to the Spore concept at all. You do have a DNA-splicing kind of back story going on, but all this amounts to in-game is that your characters (and you will use up to three at a time, swapping each one in and out), instead of equipping weapons and armor, equip genetic upgrades that have the same effect as weapons and armor.

As expected, you walk around levels, get confronted with swarms of baddies (and the occasional boss), and then kill them via repeated clicking. You've also got a series of unlockable special abilities -- unique for each character class -- that are tied to hotkeys. These have both a mana cost and a cooldown time, so you've got to be a bit circumspect about using them... but the truth is, they don't really make much of a difference to the practicalities of combat. One of Darkspore's big selling points, though, is its huge variety of character races and classes, each with its own unique set of abilities and weaknesses. Enemies of the same genetic type as a given character deal double damage to you, so you've got to plan which three heroes you want to take on each mission.

And here's where Darkspore's biggest failing comes into play: The game just doesn't do a good job of explaining what's strong against what, what abilities do what, and why all of this is even happening in the first place. The semi-Spore-related backstory is primarily explained through expository narration, and it's about as enthralling as a gentle breeze. What items do what, why certain hero abilities are more effective than others in certain situations, and how best (and most efficiently) to work with your teammates, are either glossed over or left totally unexplained... and up to you to figure out. I guess DIY types might be into this stuff, but for those of us who like to know what we're getting into, it's mighty frustrating.

Darkspore does have a couple of nifty metagaming ideas thrown in. For example, after completing a level, you're presented with a choice: Go back to the home base screen, level up, equip new loot, and get stronger... or go right into the next, more difficult level for a bonus multiplier in loot rarity and frequency. But, if you die, you lose it all. It's kind of a double-or-nothing deal, pushing you to push yourself. And to that end, this game really wants you to play with friends -- constantly ramping up the challenge on lone wolves until it becomes very difficult to go it alone. On the plus side, it's easy to hook up with other players; on the minus side, interaction and real cooperation is virtually nonexistent. I never spoke one word to my two random teammates, let alone chained combos or specials or anything. The main thing you get from working with other guys is that they take on some of the workload. It's necessary because of the single-player difficulty level, but it isn't going to rival, say, Portal 2 or Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light for real co-op gameplay.

The truth is, Darkspore's just a mediocre game. If you're dying to run around and smack enemies on the head with your left mouse button, it might be worth a few bones -- but you're better off waiting until it heads to the inevitable discount on Steam before you commit.