Darkspore Preview and Interview

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Written by BuckGB on November 9th, 2010

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The single-player campaign (which can also be done in co-op) is relatively simple, and even the story is fairly robust. The galaxy has come under threat from a mutated life form called the Darkspore, and you must travel from planet to planet (each planet is a level) in order to stem the tide. The dynamics of the campaign are interesting, as they involve a kind of risk/reward system that can help keep things fresh. There are a set number of planets, but the order they appear in is randomised depending on the difficulty level you choose. You play through the characters you collect, and at the beginning of every level you can choose your squad of three to take down to the planet based on the information available, and when you win, you're presented with a choice.

You can then either keep the loot you get at the end of the level, which would effectively 'end' that campaign, you can forfeit it and do another level with the chance of earning even greater wards, effectively 'chaining' your campaign. Obviously you'll need to be smart about this because, especially at the beginning, they'll just be some levels you can't do. But as you and your squads level up, you'll be able to take on greater challenges. There is a finite number of planets and heroes, as well as a linear story that has a start and an end, but the guys over at Maxis envision players going back time and again to grind through those levels to get all the loot they can, as reportedly there are hundreds of thousands of collectable items and upgrade to collect so you can customize your characters.

Strategy Informer: The single player is very dynamic and unique. How much average game-time could a person get out of it? What's the de facto 'end game' for the single-player mode?

Mike Perry: That's a great question because there really is no end point with a game that has so many different kinds of loot. Now, we have a fixed number of characters you can collect, but the amount of parts to them is nearly infinite. We've got a system that can generate hundreds of thousands, if not millions of different loot combinations, so you could continually play this game over and over again to grind that loot. The campaign though does have a mission end, and we do tell a story as you play through a linear set of planets, and after you finish the last one you'll see an outro movie and a conclusion movie, but as you unlock those planets you can keep going back to them and continue to play them. The game just expands itself as you continue to play through.

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