I was excited appromixately two years ago about Spore — when the graphics and art style actually looked decent, and I wasn’t busy playing and anticipating next-gen games. Now I’m already behind on the games I own, and the massive holiday flood is imminent, bringing along with it Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Rock Band 2, Prince of Persia, Left 4 Dead, Red Alert 3, etc. The more I see and hear about it, Spore seems like a more ambitious version of The Sims. Maybe if I were a little kid again, I could get into such a game, but I’m going to go out on a ledge here and declare that the game can’t be all that deep. I rather spend my time playing and learning Civ 4 or Company of Heroes. There’s just too much gaming out there — too much gaming I need to catch up with — for me to bother with Spore at this point. I rather blow guys arms and legs off in Fallout 3 than wage war in a G-rated colorful world more childish than a Pixar movie. I rather fight in the online co-op zombie game that is Left 4 Dead than decide where I’m going to put the eyes on my new creature.

Maybe I’m finally becoming one of those “cool gamers” who think they’re too old for light-hearted “fun” games. Or maybe I just don’t feel like wasting my time with a dumbed-down RTS with an admittedly impressive character creator. Especially when you can buy (or *cough* download *cough*) the latter for much cheaper than the entire game.