Darkspore Beta

So I got into the Darkspore Beta by using the "click here" link on the steam page and I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts on the gameplay. The first thing I noticed was that the game was actually and action RPG, which I didn't really expect. I saw that it was from Maxis (known for simulation games) and I expected something kinda like Spore. It was a very pleasant surprise to find that the core gameplay is essentially a hack and slash class-based RPG much like Diablo, or Torchlight. Without going into too much detail on other games, Darkspore stands out in the genre by having 100 different classes to choose from. That is actually a slight exaggeration I believe because they reuse a lot of the same types of skills but mix them up differently for the different classes.

A feature that Darkspore borrows from the original Spore game is the character editor, although it is much more restricted in Darkspore. Each class has a preset structure to it, but the player can customize many of the features in the same way that creatures in Spore could be modified. The textures on each monster that you control can also be varied, making it possible for each player to use a set of avatars that are entirely unique to that player. The one downside to this huge level of customization is that, with 100 classes, the player can quickly feel overwhelmed with the huge number of things that must be done to play all of the classes.

Another interesting thing about Darkspore comes in the way you choose which classes to use in a given level. Each player chooses 3 classes, and those classes can be switched to from whichever is the active one on a relatively short cooldown. That means that there are 100 choose 3 possible class combinations for a player to pick from on a given level. It also means that for a player playing the game alone, he can bring a healer, and tank, and a damage dealer class all together and switch between them as needed.

Probably the best thing about Darkspore is the automatic matchmaking system. If you want to play a game, you can choose to have the game pick people for you to play with, and the game quickly forms and starts. That also means that you don't have to dig through pages of password protected games just to find one that you can get into. I believe that automated matchmaking is a must for a title to be a quality multiplayer experience these days. Maybe I'm just spoiled because of how easy it is to get a good matchup quickly in other recent online games.