DS Fanboy: "Spore has been much more than a game over the years - years! -- that we've been talking about it, and it's tough to produce a companion piece in the shadow of such an epic project. From the reception of Spore and the DS crony, it's sadly clear the two were destined to sink or swim together. But Spore Creatures deserves its own time in the sun, despite what you may have heard; for a handheld title, it's certainly ambitious, and the amazing development team at Griptonite Games has done more with less.
Griptonite Games has worn several nametags in the past few years. When last we spoke with them, they were Amaze Entertainment, and their own identity as Griptonite was shelved. Now, Amaze is a part of Foundation 9 and the Griptonite name has been dusted off. In all the chaos of nomenclature, one thing has remained a constant: this little corner of the development world has been responsible for some real gems. We recently sat down with studio head J.C. Connors to discuss Spore Creatures, our Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA) withdrawals, and the unexpected excellence of Disney Friends (yeah, man, Disney Friends)."
Insidegamer.nl: If Darwin had been a game developer, he would develop Spore Creatures .. In this game you explore with your homemade Spore being the wonderful world and try to evolve.
"Now it has become apparent that for all EA's reputation destroying efforts to ensure punters bought Spore, they may have actually acted to entice gamers to pirate the game. Forced between a choice of downloading the game for free, or effectively renting it from EA, punters voted with their clicking finger." - gameplayer reports
About writes: "A spin-off from Will Wright's massive world-builder, Spore Creatures for the DS keeps the creature creating but loses all the awe of Spore. With a seemingly random storyline and a dull fighting mechanic, this is a weak interpretation of one of the biggest games of the year."
Pros
* Spore Creatures has a lovely, comic book-like aesthetic that plays with 2D and 3D.
* Adding wacky body parts to your creature is fun -- for a time.
* The DS's WiFi connection lets you show off particularly crazy creatures.
Cons
* Boiling down a huge, open game like Spore into a tiny adventure just doesn't work.
* Storyline feels random and tacked on.
* The fighting mechanic (i.e. scribbling on the screen with your stylus) is boringly simple.