''Spore Origins'' (also known as ''Spore Mobile'') is the

mobile device A mobile device or handheld device is a computer small enough to hold and operate in hand. Mobile devices are typically battery-powered and possess a flat-panel display and one or more built-in input devices, such as a touchscreen or keypad. ...

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of ''

Spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual reproduction, sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for biological dispersal, dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores fo ...

'', and focuses on a single phase of the larger game's gameplay - the cell phase.

Gameplay

The simplified game allows players to try to survive as a

multicellular organism A multicellular organism is an organism that consists of more than one cell (biology), cell, unlike unicellular organisms. All species of animals, Embryophyte, land plants and most fungi are multicellular, as are many algae, whereas a few organism ...

in a

tide pool A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. These pools typically range from a few inches to a few feet deep and a few feet across. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only ...

, with the ability to upgrade its creature as with the main game. The basic gameplay is similar to '' Flow''.1Up ''Spore Mobile'' preview
''Flow'' designer

Jenova Chen Xinghan Chen (; born October 8, 1981), known professionally as Jenova Chen, is a Chinese video game designer. He is the designer of the award-winning games '' Cloud'', '' Flow'', ''Flower'', and '' Journey'', co-founder of Thatgamecompany as wel ...

attributed Will Wright's first demo of ''Spore'' as inspiration. Unlike the full version of ''Spore'', the main game is roughly an hour long, and divided into 18 separate sections, or 30 sections in the iPhone and iPod touch version, with the player attacking and eating other organisms while avoiding being eaten by superior ones. On some devices, movement is achieved by pressing the phone keys in

ordinal directions The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four main compass directions: north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). The corresponding azimuths (clockwise horizontal angle from north) are 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The four o ...

. Other devices also support touching the screen to move the creature. Certain iPod devices use the

click wheel The iPod click wheel is the navigation component of non touch-screen iPod models. It uses a combination of touch technology and traditional buttons, involving the technology of capacitive sensing, which senses the touch of the user's fingers. Th ...

as an input method, and users of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPod Nano may use the accelerometer. Creatures are eaten by attacking with the mouth (if the creature has one); group-eating combos can be achieved with the OK button or center button on the wheel. A section is completed after the player eats a certain amount of DNA material from other life forms. Every three levels is followed by the creature editor, in which the player may add an upgrade to their organism in four categories: perception, attack, defense, and movement. The 3rd upgrade in each category is a "superpart". The player also unlocks a mode called "Survival", in which the player is on a single screen collecting pellets while dodging creatures.

Issues

The

iPod classic The iPod Classic (stylized and marketed as iPod classic and originally simply iPod) is a discontinued portable media player created and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. There were six generations of the iPod Classic, as well as a spin-off (the ...

had lockup issues which took place on the game's initial loading screen on 1.0.x and 1.1.x software. The bugs were fixed and the game was re-released on August 31, 2008.

Reception

Spore Origins Mobile Review

Awards

During the

12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' was the 12th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2008. The awards were arranged by the Academy of ...

, the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

awarded ''Spore Origins'' with " Cellular Game of the Year".

References

External links