A WiiNintendo game review by hattrick.

Game – Spore Hero
Version – Wii (Spore Hero Arena is available on DS)
Time Spent Playing – 3.5 hours
Obtained – From EA (review copy)
Introduction

For those not familiar with the Spore universe, you might be a bit confused as to what Spore Hero is all about. Essentially, you create and control an evolving creature, fighting and competing with other creatures in order to become the best. You gain new abilities based on the new body parts you add to your creature, hence the evolution aspect of the game. Specifically for Spore Hero, you must save your planet, which is being destroyed by an evil creature named Zarkhator. (If you are still confused, check out the trailer below.)

Gameplay
As stated earlier, your basic goal is to track down Zarkhator and defeat him. Along the way, though, you will encounter other creatures you must help, fight, dance with, or even sing with.  All the while, you collect parts for yourself and for the Guardian Idol. In many ways, it is an adventure RPG – a game genre that, in my opinion, has not been touched much lately. Overall, I am a big fan of the gameplay mechanics and the overall premise of the game, even if it can get annoying to fight or dance with the same creature over and over again in order to unlock one part or ability.

A key component included in Spore Hero is local multiplayer battle. This allows you and a friend to fight in a 3D Street Fighter-type arena. Make your own creature or pick from the characters in the game, and then duke it out in a best-of-three bout. This was a good addition to the game, but I believe the best way to play Spore Hero is the single-player adventure.

Controls
The game is played with both the Wii Remote and Nunchuck, similar to Super Mario Galaxy. When exploring the land, movement is controlled with the analog stick, the camera is controlled with the control stick, the A button jumps, and you fight by waggling the Wii Remote. In fact, if I had to complain about any part of this game, I would say it becomes a “waggle-fest” at times. Quite often, I had to sit down the remote and take a break because my arm was tired from fighting other creatures.  This was especially the case after fighting or singing with other creatures over and over again. However, nothing compares to how tiring you will be after battling your friend a few times. Sure, you can fight just as well with small movements, but most players will be swinging around as if they were actually hitting their opponent.  Honestly, there are at least two buttons not used in Spore Hero. I am not sure why they couldn’t have mapped some of the excessive motion controls to one or more of those buttons.

Creature Creator
I feel that, with it being a Spore game, I need to mention the Creature Creator. As with the PC/Mac version, your creature is fully customizable with over 250 parts. You can decide where to place those parts, and change their size and angle. The only thing I saw missing was the ability to customize the spine of your creature. Instead, you have a set number of pre-made body types to choose from. While I think many will complain, this was probably done to keep certain individuals from creating obscene and inappropriate creatures.

The creator is very easy to use, and most people will be able to create a creature to their liking within a few minutes. It is also fun to play around and see what other types of creatures you can make. This is what Spore is really about – customization.

Visuals
This game could be one of the best looking games I have seen on the Wii. The colors are vibrant, and there is a great deal of attention to detail.  From the waterfalls to the blades of grass, the visuals have definitely been polished.  Even the menus look nice and simple. In fact, there is nothing that sticks out to me as a negative. The game is very pleasing to the eye.

Sound
The soundtrack to the game is very adventure-like.  It feels like you are on a trek, and everything flows very well.  When I am in the grassy field, a pleasant tune plays, and when I am in battle, the music ramps up to heighten the intensity.  As with the visuals, I was very pleased with the music. As for the other sounds, everything seems to fit. The creatures speak in random sounds, and there is a good balance of background noise from the water, birds, and such.

Concluding Overall Impressions
Overall, I was very pleased with Spore Hero. The visuals, sound, and gameplay impressed me, and it drew me into the Spore universe. The only complaint I have is the amount of motion control required to fight through the game. While that criticism does hold weight, I am still going to recommend this game, especially if you are a fan of Spore and/or the adventure genre. Just try not to make huge movements, and your arm will last longer.

For my review of Spore Hero Arena (DS), click here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more information on Spore Hero & Spore Hero Arena, visit http://www.sporehero.com.