Spore Hero Arena

Spore’s main ‘hook’ – the whole ‘design your own peculiar/amusing/offensive-looking creature’ thing – is a bit lost on DS, where the small screen hampers your foul creation’s visual impact. But the main problem with Spore Hero Arena isn’t that the detail of your creature is lost in a haze of pixels, but that the whole game is rather dull.

Having birthed some funny-looking animal, you jet around a galaxy visiting planets in search of new body parts and other collectables. There’s an emphasis on combat against other, similarly unsettling animals, but the scrappy D-pad controls feel all wrong. There are optional minigames, but they’re short and uninspired, and seeing your own bizarre creature-child galloping through them can’t change that.

Nov 2, 2009