When I was younger, I played a lot of the “SimSomething” series: SimCity, SimEarth, SimAnt, SimCity 2000, SimTower, SimIsle, and yes, even SimCopter.  I also played, as a young adult, Civilization II, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri (and the Alien Crossfire expansion), Civilization: Call to Power (which wasn’t made by Firaxis and wasn’t as good), and Civilization III.  Now, as an “older” adult I love Civilization IV (when I can make time for it, that is).

Somewhere in the middle of all that, perhaps around the time that SimEarth and SimLife were out, Young Andy dreamed that some clever soul would take all the “SimSomething” games and make a “SimEverything” game.

It took 16 years or more, but I think Will Wright may have done just that.  Now Old Andy is on pins and needles.

I have spent a few hours playing with the Spore Creature Creator and I am, in a word, impressed.  No matter how many weird appendages I added or how insanely I proportioned the body, the end results all looked like they belonged in the same universe.  The art direction clearly took care to be sure the hands and eyes and miscellaneous widgets were consistent with each other, and the animation and rendering obviously used the same engine, but there is still something impressive about this unified look and feel.

I can hardly wait until I can take my ravening horde out of a real spin around a planet I can terraform from orbit.  T minus 17 days, and counting…

Oops… I think I may have just wet myself a little.

Of course, that 16+ years later happens to coincide almost exactly when my first child is due, so I think I’ll probably be playing SimPoopyDiaper for a long time before I get to play any Spore.