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Darkspore

Darkspore

Rasmus has been playing a bit of Darkspore at Gamescom in Cologne and shares his impressions in this preview...

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When Darkspore was announced back the the EA Summer Showcase, just prior to Comic-Con, I had a hard time getting to grips with it. It seemed like a Diablo of sorts set in space, and it had the creature creator technology from Spore, and co-operative play always has its appeal, but I just didn't know what to make of it.

Sometimes you have to see a game with your own eyes, and as I did just that at Gamescom I suddenly got what Darkspore is all about, and why it's a game you should be interested in.

Yes, it does appear to be Diablo in space. Producer Thomas Vu compares it to both Diablo and Torchlight, so there is no hiding the inspirations. But unlike those games Darkspore is set in a science fiction universe, that takes us to a range of exotic planets. The demo level we try consisted of giant ice island floating on an ocean of burning plasma.

Darkspore
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But the universe is secondary to the core gameplay, and in this respect Darkspore also differentiates itself from other action RPG's. While you have one character in Diablo and Torchlight, that you level up and equip through the adventure, you have a lot of characters in Darkspore.

These are divided into five categories, that defines their abilities and roles. These are Quantum, Plasma, Cyber, Necro and Nature, and while I won't provide you with all the details of the specific classes (because to be honest I didn't commit all of it to memory), but some are better in close combat, others at ranged attacks, some are better at supporting, while others have underlings who do their dirty work.

You expand you collection of characters throughout the adventure, and you can freely move weapons and items between them in order to optimise their abilities. And the possibilities to customise and adapt are incredibly deep - system design Paul Sottosanti has been working on Magic: The Gathering, and Maxis are creating something just as flexible with Darkspore.

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You choose three of your characters before each mission. You only control them one at a time, but you can switch between at will with only a cool down of about 30 seconds limiting your options. They all have special abilities - one may be best equipped for close combat, while another one is best at ranged attacks. But they also have something that's called squad ability, an ability you can use regardless of what character you currently control. It can be a powerful healing ability, or an ability that freezes enemies in place. If your character dies during the mission, you will switch to one of the others, and you won't have access to his squad ability any more, however the character does get resurrected after mission ends.

Much like Valve's Left 4 Dead, Darkspore will have a so-called AI Director, and the artificial intelligence will adapt what enemies you will face on your mission, and when they appear. Thanks to this you will get a new experience each time you play a level. At the start of each mission you can see which enemies the AI has chosen, and you need to pay attention as they are also sorted in the same five categories as your characters and each class is immune to attacks from its own kind. If you are up against a lot of Plasma enemies in a certain mission you better leave your Plasma hero at home.

Darkspore

As you come to expect from any Diablo clone, there is loot and lots of in Darkspore. Apart from the weapons and items fallen enemies leave behind, you are also rewarded with random loot after every mission. Depending on how well you have performed, or if you have cleared certain objectives, the possibility of getting rare items improve.

You can also turn the reward down, and try and clear two missions in a row for a greater reward. After the level we played through, we were rewarded with a level 14 item. A number that doesn't speak volumes, but if we would have chosen to turn it down and played another mission, we could potentially have been rewarded with a level 21 item. Sneaky and addictive. At the end of the day it all comes down to your patience. A mission lasts for about ten minutes, so if you are just in it for a quick fix, you can claim the first reward. But, if you have an hour or more to kill, it's very tempting to try and string together, three, four or fives in a row, in order to an even greater treasure.

Darkspore doesn't just look like a solid and entertaining action RPG, but it also has the potential to offer a far greater depth than what has been the case previously in this genre. In a similar fashion to World of Warcraft your characters are saved on a central server, so you can pick up your game, regardless of where you are as long as you have an internet connection. We played co-operatively with four players, and it was great even if we were completely new to the game and a bit confused by all the abilities and things we quickly had to learn.

While Darkspore may look a bit predictable at first glance, what we have seen so far shows tremendous potential. Keep an eye on Darkspore - it could be one of the big surprises of 2011.

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