I got this game because it looked similar to the Sims except with creatures. As it was by EA I just assumed that it would be. I was wrong...it was better!
I began playing and immediately enjoyed the style and the freedom. You start in a a little body of water called 'The Tide Pool'. Basically you eat the color of food depending on what your food preference is. Red being meat, greed being veggies and you can eat both if you have the right mouth. Almost straight away I was frantically eating everything that I could see until I discovered that I cold kill the bigger cells. This should have been obvious really but you can't do what you don't know. I spent at least half an hour just squiggling around killing any big things I saw until I finally got bored (well eaten if I'm honest). I enjoyed the idea of scavenging for food and parts in order to improve my creature. This I would enjoy a lot more later on. So far, I was enjoying the game.

Then, it was time for my evolution to take place. I could advance to creature stage. Now this...this is where the creative can truly reveal the power of their imagination. The world was huge and I enjoyed the freedom to wander around doing what I should please. Really for freedom, this game is brill. I just wandered around looking and eventually killing every race I could see everything I could see (like a boss). It was a little too awkward to control the camera and when I had selected a destination a help just running into trees.

A feature in creature stage and in further stages was the fact that they put creatures called 'Epics' into the fray. Epics, were colossal versions of the spore creatures that fill your sporepedia and more often than not, they were creatures of personal creation. AWESOME! You fight one, 99% chance that you're going to die unless you are, just that pro. Not me, just saying.

So far, the game was impressing me more and more. And it just gets better from here on out.
As you approach the final part of creature stage, most of the parts will have been unlocked and you will have created some form of truly wacky creation. Especially if you have the creepy and cute parts game add-on. But be warned, when you advance to the tribal stage, no more customization.

That's what's coming next. The tribal stage. At first, I wasn't particularly fond of this stage. Just didn't like that general feel of play but it really grows on you.
Here, to increase your power you must extend your tribe by gathering food.
10 food = 1 Tribe Member
You can also use food to create tool shacks and instrument shacks. All costing 25 food each.
The different shacks help you get ahead in your chosen 'Lifestyle'. I found this particularly cool but it does render your previous parts with their sing, strike, dance etc. abilities pretty much useless. This I thought was a bit strange. You can even befriend creatures to protect your village for you from animals and even then you don't use the actions. Just plump some food in front of them and WHOOSH! Friends. But as I mentioned before, a small food sacrifice to them is useful in the long run. Small animals will come and eat your food EVERY time you disappear from your village. SO annoying. Especially when you go to conquer tribes and you have loads of food, then you arrive back to almost nothing!

But enough of that. So far the game is proving very entertaining, and you'll find it hard to leave your computer screen behind. The length of the levels are decent but just not enough as so to bore you. The graphics, with their imaginative style, make it awesome when designing creatures and the game really gets going with a sense of competition. There's also no annoying soundtracks, which in most games add the ambiance to the scene but with some they just get on your nerves.
Next is the civilization stage. This actually gets a little simpler here really. By now you must have either chosen to be violent, happy-hippy or money/diplomatic. Here you design vehicles and buildings to help with the specific purposes of your goals. This was really good idea in my opinion, and the buildings provide a really key element for these last two stages of the game. You either blow your enemies to smithereens (a favorite of my friends), establish trade routes to buy them out or go all religious and convert them. This stage can get addictive in my opinion.

Something cool i forgot to mention is the powers bar at the bottom. This is a really cool feature that changes depending on your 'social status' really. Very useful when nearing the end of civilization and all throughout tribal. Not really useful once you advance to space.
Speaking of space, this is the final stage. When I say it's huge, I mean HUGE!! You have an entire universe to explore with countless nations to communicate with, thousands (no exaggeration) of planets to investigate. You can change planets terrain, alter something called the T-Score.

The T-Score you will either love or hate. It allows you to add more plants and animals to your planet and eventually, cities. Basically, the more cities, the more spice the more money, the more tools etc. Where as though it does get a little repetitive in space, the possibilities are limitless.
Overall, this game is one of my top favorites of all time. I will never stop playing it, even if it's just for the creature creator in the start menu. I can only say that this game is pure brilliance. PLAY IT!