Although it has the word "Spore" in its title, don't be misled into thinking that Spore Creatures is just a smaller version of its PC big brother. This is an adventure game with a clear-cut, albeit simple, goal. Your pal Little Oogie is captured by a strange alien craft, and you must rescue him. Your mission takes you to several planets with various terrains ranging from lush jungles to frozen tundras and to burning deserts. These regions are populated by exotic wildlife, which will either be friendly or hostile to you. You have to either befriend or fight the locals in order to survive, and carry out a series of missions to continue to the next region or planet.

While you're not quite a cellular organism, you start off as a limbless, mouthless animal. You have no means to defend yourself or attack anything (or even eat!), so you need to start moving up the evolutionary ladder as quickly as possible. Collect body parts, which can be obtained by exploring the area, fighting or befriending the animals, or completing various quests. These parts can be equipped at a nest, with each part bearing specific attributes. For example, some mouth parts provide more sustenance from food, while certain types of legs increase your attack strength.

In some cases, you need a specific body part to pass an obstacle. For example, you can’t walk across ice without taking severe damage unless you have special legs, which are obtained by doing a quest. Or you may need to equip a certain set of eyes to easily see items buried in the dirt. It’s in this sense that the storyline restricts creature creation. You don’t have the freedom to design your animal as you see fit, since certain body parts are necessary to progress to another part of the map, or to complete a quest.

For a handheld game, the creature editor is actually rather hearty. Use the stylus to choose a category (eyes, tail, arms, etc.), then double tap the screen to select a part. You may then decorate your animal with an array of colors and patterns. Arranging the body parts is very easy – just use the stylus to drag and drop pieces. However, if your animal is too small or if there are too many parts clustered on the body, it’s easy to accidentally grab say, the mouth while you’re trying to place the eyes higher on the head.

Socialization is a key feature in Spore Creatures. Not only does it help to have allies when you encounter more than one aggressive creature, but befriending animals also leads to unlocking important body parts. Making friends involves a two-step process – cuddling and dancing. To initiate cuddling, call out to an animal. A blue smiley face appears over the animal, which you drag and rub over its body using the stylus. Each time you do this brings you a step closer to friendship.

After several cuddling sessions, the animal responds to your call and a flower floats above its head. Dragging the flower toward the creature initiates the dance, which is a rhythm game. Simply tap the flowers to the beat of the music. After a few more cuddling and dancing sessions, you’ll have a new friend, who you can then invite to tag along. You can have up to two friends with you at all times, which is great since they double as your bodyguards. However, they can get in the way sometimes, such as when you’re trying to dig. More than once did I accidentally attack my buddies because I clicked on them instead of the intended pile of dirt.

During your search for Little Oogie, you run into many hostile creatures. You therefore need to equip the right combination of body parts to provide yourself with ample attack, defense, and armor. Fortunately, even if you are killed the penalty is minor; you lose a bit of health and power which you can easily replenish by eating. Combat is simple – just quickly drag the stylus across your enemy to slash at it. If you took the time to make friends and asked them to accompany you, they’ll join in the fray.

With roughly ten hours of gameplay, it’s a decent time-waster for younger gamers. The quests are simple and straightforward, controls are easy (just move the stylus in the direction you want to walk), and the creatures are charmingly quirky. The creature editor isn’t as robust as the PC version, but you can still crank out a good number of oddball creations. For completionists, there are badges to collect for completing certain actions. For example, eating a lot of food earns you the Snackmaster badge, while dancing with many creatures gives you a Dancemaster badge.

Unfortunately, while the quests and mini-games vary from region to region, overall gameplay is rather repetitive. You enter a new area, befriend/fight creatures, discover body parts, and move to the next area. Rinse and repeat. The cuddle and dance sessions are particularly mind-numbing once you’ve done them 20 times or so. If you’re looking for a simple and adorable adventure game to pass the time, check out Spore Creatures. However, if you’re hoping for an open-ended, sandbox game involving evolution, this isn’t the game for you.

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