Darkspore

I don't play many video games anymore. That's not to say I don't spend a lot of time gaming, just that I don't purchase anywhere near as many

A large part of this is that when you play MMOs, they monopolize your time to the point where you don't actively get out and search for something new.

A larger part is that I hate the fact that video game companies are bribing review sites to positively review their games, and as a result I have ceased reading most of them. I considered doing a blog post to this end, but a friend of mine has already covered the topic pretty well. Unless Penny Arcade or a friend of mine recommends something, I generally don't even hear about new games. If something achieves extreme popularity on Reddit, I might try it out (like Minecraft).

Because of this, I hadn't even heard of Darkspore until the other night, when a former guildy mentioned it to me as a way to waste a few hours. Trusting it on his word alone, that it was "Diablo with Spore creatures," I went straight to the download page without even looking into it that much.

His original description of it being Diablo with Spore creatures was pretty apt. I almost dropped it after the first few levels because it was too easy, but then he explained to me some of the features to increase difficulty. Your Spore creatures "level up" when you put gear on them. You can only equip items between levels by returning to your ship. You can, however, chain levels together back-to-back without "leveling up" your critters, in order to increase both the challenge, and the loot potential. If you fail you will lose all of the special loot that you could have acquired.

After I started chaining levels together, I realized that after the first few levels, the difficulty did increase, and I found myself liking the game a lot more. It combines the gameplay of Diablo with the "Collect em all" mentality of Pokemon, and I found the combination to be quite addictive.

So addictive that when I realized that it was the last day of beta, I immediately preordered it, so I could start playing again tomorrow.

In addition to the addiction factor, I like the fact that I can play a quick game and be done in 15 minutes, or that I can chain together level after level. I like that there's a "Quick and Dirty" aspect of the game, in addition to a challenge rating aspect. The ability to play with my friends in 4 person Squads is attractive too. The videos that I have seen of the PVP aspects of the game are fascinating, and although I don't know that I'd PLAY the PVP, it is quite amusing even just as a spectator. I also like that I don't need to "level up" each and every hero I acquire, which is something I often dislike in games like Pokemon. Instead, I can just transfer some gear over, and he/she levels up.

The girl in me certainly enjoyed customizing my critters... er... heroes... with the new gear that they'd gotten, and the Editor is surprisingly fun to play around with. While the basic look of the heroes doesn't change, you can alter color schemes, spikes, weapons, and other things to get a completely unique look (see the screen shot at the top - they are all variants of the same hero).

As someone who has recently stopped playing MMOs, and wants the "instant achievement" feel of an MMO, in addition to the ability to play with my friends, without all the hassle of needing to play in long sessions, I think this game will keep me occupied for a good while.