Spore is all that and a bag of apples.
I sat enamored for 8 hours straight in front of my computer screen thinking of how proud my 7th grade science teacher would be of Spore. Watching your single cell organism grow into many multi-celled organisms bent on world domination is one of the most satisfying feelings you can get in a video game. I fondly remember when I didn't equip my creature with eyes and spent my time wondering around with almost no sense of direction…But that was the past and now this is the future. Now, my Spotted Galxite is ready for space exploration!
I appreciate the Spore creators making religion, economics and military the three main ways of controlling your world. Any atheist or agnostic will have a "special" attachment to Spore that most fanatics won't be able to appreciate.
The real gem about Spore is looking at creations of other users while you play the game. The creativeness of some users is amazing and the simplicity of others is well very "minimalist". Other users' massive creatures roam the country side looking for their next meal making all the little creatures run in terror.
I could go on but I will leave you with this conclusion. The first two stages of Spore are a fantastic journey. While the other three are great, but let me make this comparison. Think of the levels of Spore as the Star Wars movies. The first three were great which could be compared to the first two stages of Spore. While the last three were good, but because the first three were so epic the new ones couldn't compare.
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Spore you will not be disappointed. Don't let the negative reviews fool you this is a great game. Go ahead haters click the thumbs down you don't know what you are missing.
P.S. You guys wondering why SPORE is getting such low ratings take a look at this link http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2329934,00.asp
Judge a game not its producers...