Spore by EA Review
[starreview]
First Spore Origins came out for the iPhone, which focuses on the first stage of the full blown Spore.
Then on 9/7/2008 the full blown Mac / PC version was released. Not only is it supported for both Operating Systems, but it’s just one disk that has both versions.
There are several stages that you bring your creature through, from an amoeba to a space faring civilization.
Each stage is a different type of gameplay.
- ‘Cell’ stage - Like an old school arcade game, eat the good stuff and avoid the bad guys.
- ‘Creature’ stage - 3D game (almost a first person shooter). You can make friends or make / attack you enemies.
- ‘Tribal’ stage - Real Time Strategy (RTS) game with limited weapons
- ‘Civilization’ stage - RTS with more weapons, vehicles (air, see and land) and spice mining
- ‘Space’ stage - Space exploration and trading. Again make friends / allies and enemies.
I’ve read some complaints that the different stages aren’t as good as other games that do that type of game. For instance the Civlization RTS isn’t done as well as a full blown RTS game. They’re right, it doesn’t and it’s not meant to be.
It’s important to look at Spore as a whole game, not the individual stages.
The most fun part about Spore is you build you creatures and items as you go.
In the early stages you evolve your creature as it grows to make it more adaptable. In the later stages, you build your buildings and vehicles.
Along these lines, there’s also the Sporepedia. This is an online database of things that other players have built that you can download and use in your game!
For me, I played with the creation tool for a while, but in the later levels I would just go to the Sporepedia and browse through the thousands of creations out there until I found one I like.
This game is a blast as you can follow your creature up through the different layers of evolution and shape the path you want the creature to go down - You can have a peaceful herbivores, war-like carnivores, explorers, etc… or any combination of them, it all depends on your (creature’s) actions.
I personally love the game, the Space stage is my favorite but I really loved all the stages.
This is definitely a game I could see myself playing over and over, creating more creatures and leading them down different paths. 
My top ten iPhone App Store applications
I still have my first gen iPhone, and don’t think I’ll be upgrading anytime soon (unless TeleNav comes through with their GPS app).
But I, along with everyone else, have been getting apps off the App Store for a little over a week now… and here is my top 10 favorite App Store apps:
10. PhoneSaber - Yes I had to put it on the list.
As you can probably tell by the name it’s a lightsaber for your iPhone.. remember, the site is ‘Random ramblings of a geek’.
9. Pangea VR
This app is WAY too cool. It lets you view 360 degree photos on your iPhone.
You can scroll around, up, down, zoom in and out of the pictures.
They have a pretty large database and some of the pictures are just breathtaking.
8. eBay Mobile
Everything you’d expect, buy, sell, track your items.. it’s eBay in your pocket and very well done!
7. De Blob
This is a very fun game.
You control a blob (either by tilting the phone, or with your finger) and you have to go around restoring color to different zones of the world.. it’s very addicting!
6. WordPress
This just came out tonight and already it’s on the list.
It allows you to edit existing posts and create new posts directly from the iPhone.
It’s pretty basic, but it’s GREAT for posting on the go, I’m going to be writing to the blog a lot more because of it!!
5. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
This is just plain amazing.
It’s a kart racing game, with everything you’d expect in one of these games, and it really feels like your on a PSP or other gaming system.
The controls use that accelerometer to steer, and simple taps for launching weapons, drifting around corners, jumping, etc..
There’s another kart game calld ‘Cro-Mag Rally’, but this is MUCH better IMHO.
4. Shazam
When I first downloaded this I must have messed with this thing for about an hour.
You ever hear a song on the radio and don’t know the artist or song?
All you need to do is launch Shazam, have it “listen” to the song for about 12 seconds (the default setting), it will analyze it and return the artist, song, album info, etc.. it’s just friggen amazing.
3. eReader
This is an eBook reader app but is getting a lot of crap because it only uses the eReader format, but it does it REALLY well.
You can adjust the font type, font size, go to landscape mode, etc..
It will remember where you are in the book so you don’t lose your place and the books are stored locally so you don’t need an Internet connection.
If you already have a big eBook library this is not the app for you, I have no eBooks so this is working great for me!
2. Blackjack 21
I’ve already been spending WAY to long playing Blackjack on my phone.
I have to be honest, this is not the BEST Blackjack game I’ve ever played, but it’s perfect for the iPhone.
Simple, yet elegant and not overly bloated.
1. Pandora Radio
This is by far my favorite app!
If you don’t know what Pandora Radio is, it lets you create “stations” based on an artist or song.
It then uses an algorithm to automatically play artists similar to your selection.
The best part about it is that it works GREAT over Edge (like I said I have a 1st gen iPhone) with no dropouts unless you get in a weak signal area.
I’m going to cancel my Sirius subscription because of this app!
So there you have it, my top 10.
This is my opinion and obviously I haven’t tried every single app on the store, so if you have any you’d like to add feel free to leave a comment. 
