New Details on Spore Hero

Maxis and Electronic Arts are still working hard on adding new members to the family of Spore videogames, after the rather limited impact made by the release of the original game in late 2008. New details have just been offered on Spore Hero, which is set to arrive on the Nintendo Wii, and Spore Hero Arena, a spin off that is being designed for the handheld Nintendo DS.

Spore Hero seems like an action adventure title built around the concept that the creature controlled by the player needs to save its world from the attacks of mysterious aliens. The world will have the same look as the rest of the Spore universe and the basic mechanics of collecting ever new body parts is still there.

Some of the missions will be built around puzzle solving, some will involve social aspects and some will be all about fighting. It seems like Spore Hero is a beefed up version of the Creature stage of the original game. And, of course, it's all designed so that players can take advantage of the unique controls of the Nintendo Wii and one of the main parts of the videogame is using the Spore Creature Creator to build the most powerful, interesting or weird character.

Spore Hero Arena is building on the same concept of focusing on a single player experience, but strips down the open world aspect of the Wii game and offers a series of arena battles in which the character controlled by the player takes on a local champion. Each new fight introduces new abilities and combat upgrades that can be used to customize a fighting style unique to every player. There's also the option of using the creature in multiplayer, either locally or over Wi-Fi.

Lucy Bradshaw, who is the general manager at Maxis, said that “When Maxis first considered bringing Spore to console players, the Nintendo platforms jumped out as a perfect fit. Whether it is the stylus-driven action of the Nintendo DS or playful controllers of the Wii, the massive Nintendo audience is the ideal home for Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena. Nintendo fans will love the humor, ability to create their own Hero, fun gameplay and immersive storylines we’re creating for these two games.”