I have a lot to say about this game. I should mention beforehand that I played on emulator, using fast-forward for grinding and using action replay to beat the Yeti Mother, Yeti Son, and Bolbox.
I'm a paleo nerd and always have been. Spore is my all-time favorite game. So when I found this obscure gem, I immediately got it and went in blind. Though the evolution and portrayals of some species are inaccurate, it's easy to ignore (it's a game from 1992 focused on fun so I don't think it's anything to care about). Seeing non-dinosaur extinct species like ammonites, trilobites, and even some very obscure picks like cladoselache sharks, was incredibly neat.
I think the worst problem with this game is that there's no form of invincibility frames, but you do get stunned. This makes it very easy to get pinned down and demolished when it comes to the boss fights with no chance of escape, most of which are incredibly cheesy. This also goes for enemies. Strategy for the bosses usually goes out the window once you find a way to lock them down and keep them in the stun animation. An interesting trick I wish I learned sooner was to stock up on evo points to do small evolutions like neck extentions to regain your health during these boss segments. Birds make a lot of the bosses broken.
The best parts of the game, in my opinion, are the Chapter 1: Age of Fishes (Devonian) and Chapter 4: Early Man (Pleistocene). The first stage is good at showing you the ropes of the game and has great music, and the last stage is all-around incredibly solid.
Overall, it's a very creative game and incredibly underrated, but it's not for everyone. I got very frustrated with it at times, and I probably would've quit if it weren't for the evolution aspects and the other design aspects. If you can put up with the frustrations I listed, I definitely recommend it.
I'm a paleo nerd and always have been. Spore is my all-time favorite game. So when I found this obscure gem, I immediately got it and went in blind. Though the evolution and portrayals of some species are inaccurate, it's easy to ignore (it's a game from 1992 focused on fun so I don't think it's anything to care about). Seeing non-dinosaur extinct species like ammonites, trilobites, and even some very obscure picks like cladoselache sharks, was incredibly neat.
I think the worst problem with this game is that there's no form of invincibility frames, but you do get stunned. This makes it very easy to get pinned down and demolished when it comes to the boss fights with no chance of escape, most of which are incredibly cheesy. This also goes for enemies. Strategy for the bosses usually goes out the window once you find a way to lock them down and keep them in the stun animation. An interesting trick I wish I learned sooner was to stock up on evo points to do small evolutions like neck extentions to regain your health during these boss segments. Birds make a lot of the bosses broken.
The best parts of the game, in my opinion, are the Chapter 1: Age of Fishes (Devonian) and Chapter 4: Early Man (Pleistocene). The first stage is good at showing you the ropes of the game and has great music, and the last stage is all-around incredibly solid.
Overall, it's a very creative game and incredibly underrated, but it's not for everyone. I got very frustrated with it at times, and I probably would've quit if it weren't for the evolution aspects and the other design aspects. If you can put up with the frustrations I listed, I definitely recommend it.