Review: Spore 605
- Title: Spore
- Developer: Maxis
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- System: Windows / OS X
- Reviewer: Soulskill
- Score: 4/5
The game has five stages: Cell, Creature, Tribal, Civilization, and Space. It's best to think of the first four as mini-games, or as a four-part prologue. Each has its interesting and fun parts, as well as varying degrees of replayability, but the time each of them occupies (from a gameplay perspective) is dwarfed by the amount of time you can spend in the Space age. You can also spend a great deal more time playing around with the content creation system (and you will), but the main plot itself is fairly short in those stages. If you're going in with the expectation of playing around in the Cell stage for hours and hours, you're probably going to be disappointed — but that's not to say it isn't fun. I think each of the stages are appropriately paced for what they involve.
You start out as a cell, hitching a ride on a meteorite that delivers you into a planet's primordial soup. From there you wander around finding morsels of food and other critters who will compete with you for it. The way in which you go about that is up to you. You'll gain access to attributes you can use to customize your microbe, all of which have a "DNA budget." You can make a very efficient killing machine to keep your competitors away from your food, or you can simply make a very efficient eating machine. The editor that allows you to add and remove these attributes also lets you change the size, shape, and coloring of your microbe. It's a combination of very simple components, but the interactions between microbes allow for some cute moments. You'll occasionally run into a big piece of plant life that's swarming with herbivores, and the herbivores will attract a ton of carnivores, making for a frenetic scene of feeding and fighting. You can make your species into what is essentially a tail and a mouth, and have fun zipping around and stealing food out from under fat, slow enemies. You might even see a copy of yourself beating up some bug with way too many mouths. One of the coolest parts about this stage is the background visuals. The focus is on your microbe swimming through the water, but underneath you can see that you're swimming by larger pieces of debris and more advanced life-forms. As you feed, you'll grow into these background layers, so the huge, blurry, tentacled abomination you swam by a minute ago might now be trying to kill you.
Another thing you'll notice is that referring to your species' growth as evolution isn't really accurate. "Stylized evolution" or "not evolution" would have been more precise, so don't go in expecting it to hold up to scrutiny from PZ Myers. It's a decent metaphor for modifying your species, however. The editor is versatile and completely forgiving. Did you put that spike in a useless place for stabbing rival microbes? No worries, you can move it anywhere. Or remove it for a full DNA refund. This may bug you if you want every decision to matter, but as I said earlier, the first four stages are more about setting the table for Space colonization. Also, some decisions do matter. The way in which you interact with the environment determines your initial disposition in the Creature stage. Between stages, you're given a detailed history of your character, including physical revisions and eating habits. Carnivores start the Creature stage with an intimidating roar, while herbivores get a soothing song. Between stages you'll get to see cut scenes; they're short, but they all managed to make me smile. On a related note, I've got to give credit to Maxis for making the most interesting loading screens I've ever waited through. Instead of a progress bar, a series of cards gradually appears at the bottom of the screen. On each card is a different species (or other creation), some of which were made by other players. It's fun to see what they've come up with.
Going into the Creature phase, your microbe is given a set of legs. Your attributes from the Cell stage are mostly useless, and you'll have a chance to completely change how your species looks. You get a nest and a group of compatriots, and you're soon off to seek out new life and new civilizations (and food.) Other species are nearby and easy to find. There are two stances in which you can approach them; social or combat. If you started out as a herbivore, it'll be a bit easier to remain so, but it's not too difficult to change your mind. As you find other species, you're given quests based on the stance you choose. Kill them or impress them. Should you choose to kill them, you mash the attacks available to you until one they die or you do. To impress them, you get their attention and then mimic whatever they do. You'll get some friendly abilities — dance, pose, charm, and sing, each of which has its own animation — and you simply repeat the other species' actions. If they like you enough, they'll ally with you, which progresses you through the stage and allows you to venture out with a group rather than an individual. As you ally with or destroy other species, you gain access to new and more powerful bits of biology — a bigger claw, quicker feet, wings, etc. There's a much greater selection in this phase than in Cell, and it's worth collecting as many as you can. You also get a few cosmetic options. When you exit this stage, your species' physical form does not change for the rest of the game, so make sure you've got what you want. If you go the combat route, you may be annoyed trying to hunt down species that are faster, flightier, or more nervous than you. There were times that I ran so far away to catch Lobstermonkey #4 that I got lost and couldn't find my way back to the nest to kill Lobstermonkey #5 and complete the quest. And this brings me to a gripe...
...The controls. The key-bindings for Spore are fairly simple. They increase a little bit in complexity with each stage, but even the Space controls are straightforward. The trouble is that they aren't alterable, and they aren't what I would pick. They aren't bad choices, and you can do just about everything with the mouse, but if you're the type of player who rebinds WADS to ESDF in every game, or if you like an inverted mouse, or the ability to strafe, it will bother you.
The Tribal stage turns Spore into a miniature RTS game. You won't find Starcraft-level depth or gameplay, but if you've ever played another RTS game, your goals will be intuitively obvious. Your abilities from the Creature stage don't matter anymore, so you're free to design for looks alone. Wandering bands of non-sentient creatures still exist, but they're mainly just food (or pets if you're a herbivore). In addition, though, there are other tribes that you must conquer. You gather resources, pump out peasants, and put up buildings. Rather than creating tribe members for a specific job, you use the buildings to give them a particular task, and you can switch their task at any time. Want this guy to fight? Send him to the axe shop. Need him to impress another tribe instead? Trade in that axe for a horn. Or a Shaman rod to heal others. The focus in this stage is mostly on resource gathering; unfortunately, you have to send tribesmen out each time you want them to kill something, rather than setting them to harvest and forgetting about them. The gathering gets somewhat tedious, but the Tribal stage, like the ones before it, isn't too long. It's fairly easy to win over or beat down your enemies, just keep an eye on your raiding parties around hills. They sometimes get stuck. The AI isn't too hot, but enemies will try to take out your chieftain if they can. The editor in this stage is also less complex. Your species form is set, but you get a variety of hats, clothes, and accessories to outfit your tribe. Not as much room for creativity as in the Creature editor, but there are still myriad ways to customize.
When you reach the Civilization stage, you'll encounter a host of new creation and design tools. You'll be asked to design a city hall, a house, an entertainment facility, and a factory, as well as land, air, and water vehicles. If that sounds a bit overwhelming ... it is. At the start of the stage, I spent perhaps an hour tooling around with designs for a city hall and a land vehicle. You don't need to design the others until you build them, but it doesn't take long for that need to arise. Now, don't get me wrong; designing things is one of the best parts about this game. But after a certain amount of time you'll probably just want to get back to the actual game. Fortunately, there's the Sporepedia, which includes hundreds upon hundreds of designs from Maxis and from other players. Some of them are just phenomenal, and I'm sure the selection will only get better as time passes. Expect to see things out of sci-fi and other games. Expect to see anything Maxis doesn't specifically remove, really. Pick whichever constructions you want out of the Sporepedia to fill out the things you don't want to design, and you're ready to fight for control of the planet. Don't waste your time with the anthem composer. It sucks.
Civilization stage is like another, slightly different RTS. The focus is gone from resource gathering; you point a vehicle at a "spice geyser" and forget about it — once a mine gets built, you even get the vehicle back. It's more focused on vehicle tactics and managing your cities. Other civilizations pop up throughout the world (which is an actual globe now), and you try your best to cajole, scare, or apesmash them into seeing your point of view. You can set yourself up as a religious society to convert the populace of other cities. This stage, like the tribal stage, is straightforward and easy, but entertaining. Your species' history continues to fill out, setting your early disposition for the next stage. Before you think about bumping the difficulty setting up to "high," though, you'll want to give thought to how it will affect the Space stage, since that's where you'll spend most of your time. It has a bit more to throw at you.
Getting to the Space stage is reaching the real meat of the game. You'll be given some starter quests and tutorials to teach you how everything works. Pay attention to them, or you'll regret it later. Really. This stage plays like another RTS, yet is completely different from the previous ones. It isn't about pumping out units to stomp your enemies; you're limited to just one ship to start. As you get promoted, you can add more to your fleet, but not very many. Your colonies will harvest spice for you to sell. How much depends on how well the planet is terraformed. Terraforming a planet is somewhat complicated to learn, but it lets you set up a good financial base, which makes dealing with aliens much, much easier. And believe me, you'll deal with them a lot. Regardless of the way in which you interacted with your foes in previous stages, I'd recommend playing nice at least for the first few encounters of the Space stage. You can run some simple quests for other races to increase your standing with them. You can also bribe them. Once you're in their good graces, you can establish trade routes and alliances, which are much better than the alternative. When you run into a hostile society, you'll see what I mean. They like to raid your planets. A lot. They also like to raid your friends' planets. And your friends will occasionally have crises they need you to deal with. The demands on your attention range from "keeping you busy" to "driving you to distraction." This stage could really use a Leave-Me-Alone slider in addition to the difficulty setting, although cheat codes can accomplish that now. But, if you start out surrounded by friends, it's a lot easier to find time for developing your empire. Again, terraforming is important to learn. It's also the basis for creating custom planets. You get a variety of tools to alter the atmosphere and temperature, and you can bring in flora and fauna to make it more prosperous. But you also get devices that will shape, sculpt, and color the planet to look however you want. Once again, Maxis has provided a huge sandbox to play in. You can control the look and feel of literally hundreds of thousands of star systems.
The combat system is simple, but a bit clunky. Some of your weapons require Diablo-style button clicking, which can be a problem if there are a ton of ships flying around. Battles tend to be lopsided, but the more often you fight, the better weapons you'll have access to. Enemy ships will occasionally beat a hasty retreat when low on health, then stop, heal to full, and turn on you. It doesn't usually change the tide of a battle, but it can be annoying to track them down and finish them off. Other aspects of the game give you more tools the more you participate as well, which is why Spore is so open-ended. Don't want to run around blowing up enemy ships and cities all the time? Do a bunch of terraforming, get good at it, and then cause an enemy homeworld to turn into a burning, hazardous rock incapable of supporting life. Want to explore the galaxy or collect rare artifacts? Feel free, just watch out for the mysterious and powerful Grox. Make sure your borders are secure before straying too far, though, or enemies will pick your empire apart. The Space stage will keep you occupied as long as you're still entertained by it. Building an empire is a job with no end.
Spore isn't about deep, innovative gameplay. If you're looking for a next-generation RTS, look elsewhere. None of the stages, individually, would hold up in today's game market. But all of them combined, in addition to the almost limitless capacity for creativity, make Spore into a good game that will only get better with time and participation. The low learning curve and the ease with which you can pick a point in the game and find something to play around with makes it very appealing to the casual gaming market, while still offering a ton of achievements and ways to squeeze out every last bit of efficiency for the hardcore gamers. Despite the DRM fiasco, it's definitely worth picking up.
It's a pretty good game... (Score:5, Interesting)
But I have a major complaint - while you are exploring the deep stretches of the galaxy and traveling to unknown locations using blackholes, you get these fucking annoying alerts
"Please eradicate diseased stuff on Planet X" - I can totally keep doing that when I am near the planet but on the other side of the galaxy? Fuck you . You get penalized for ignoring those requests/quests.
Your homeworld gets attached by alien UFOs - I mean what's the point in having your homeworld surrounded by 50 allied alien races if they cannot come to your aid while you are on the other side of the galaxy?
Those gripes aside, the space age is pretty much as is the rest of the game.
No Mention of Creature Creator (Score:3, Interesting)
Looked for a rootkit on the Mac version (Score:5, Interesting)
Unless the couple of *nix-based rootkit detectors I've run are totally clueless, they haven't found anything. There *is* a Securom folder under: /Users/Chris/Library/Preferences/SPORE/Creature Creator/Preferences/p_drive/User/Application Data/SecuROM
but it looks more like a remnant of Cider's emulation than anything.
If all Securom does on Mac is DRM-ize Cider, I could care less. It's like getting a virus in a VM.
Oh, and the game rocks. Very enjoyable (as long as you're not looking for Civilization -- if you are I recommend FreeCIV or any number of commercial alternatives).
Multiplayer (Score:5, Interesting)
DRM should be mentioned in reviews (Score:3, Interesting)
It is the only way to get the word out there - any reviews should mention the type and invasiveness of the DRM scheme.
Otherwise the review is a disservice to the potential buyers of the game. Maybe even mention some of the side effects of the rootkits - which they effectively are - such as meddling with the ability to burn cd's on some PC's/drives.
Re:Worth picking up, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Worth picking up, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Does it work in a virtual machine?
Otherwise, you can play it and then reformat the hard drive.
Re:It gives you something just as bad... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm interested - do you guys complaining about the DRM (and I don't like it either) have an issue with buying the console versions?
Re:It gives you something just as bad... (Score:3, Interesting)
Game vs. Experience Score (Score:5, Interesting)
As a pure game... the 4/5, 8/10 ratings are about fair. It's a good but not amazing game that leaves you with a sense you'll have seen pretty much everything within a few days and then be left kind of tweaking around before letting it gather dust.
But...
It's also one of those games that just has "landmark experience" stamped all over it. Black And White was a slightly worse game yet, even with a more limited scope, is still discussed as being a key moment in gaming history where people's eyes were opened.
There has never been a game with this quality level of procedural animation and texturing. There has never been a game with such a stunningly easy to use editor that lets you build incredibly complex vehicles and texture them in a couple of minutes with absolutely zero experience in modelling and texturing. There has never been a game with cross pollenization of content like Spore.
I've been gaming for way too long. I still count Elite as my greatest game of all time for just how utterly beyond what anyone else even contemplated at the time (3D, huge universes, flight, you name it). I still remember the ultimately kind of boring but amazing for what you could create Disney's Stunt Island. I remember the movie feel of the original Wing Commander and finally having characters that felt like they mattered getting killed off. I remember Dungeon Master finally giving a real feel of being in actual dungeons even if it was 90 degree block movement. I remember Sim City and Sim Earth blowing me away with their depth. I remember the Lemmings taking the 2D everyone thought was dead and slapping it upside the head with its new mechanics. I remember getting blown away by the scope of Ultima Underworld, my first time on a MUD and stepping in to EverQuest for the first time...
This game is going to be one of those memories. Even if the game itself gets old kind of quickly, the sheer volume of new things it introduces, that are going to be copied and used in differing combinations in games from here on out... For me, it makes it unmissable.
In several years time, when I pick up Doom V, I'm expecting to see an editor that doesn't take a degree to master but instead lets me quickly throw in corridors, rooms, doors, gun turrets with the ease of Spore's building editor. Instead of dropping in generic creatures or spending weeks building them, my NPCs are going to take me five minutes to drag custom shapes on to, slap on a few cybernetics that already have properties assigned and then drop on a bigger gun that it already knows what to do with. I'll drop a tank that I threw together in five minutes in... then decide I don't like it and quickly change it out with a six legged walker. In two or three hours, I'll have a huge mod, completely different to anyone else's, with all new creatures, weapons, vehicles, buildings, etc.
At that point, gaming will be take as big a leap forward as it did when Doom first introduced WAD files and modding.
And I've no desire to have missed that moment's birth because I thought Spore might get boring after a couple of days.
So...
Game: 8/10, maybe even 7/10
Innovation/had to be there: 15/10
Ultimately: No brainer purchase for people who like being a part of gaming, not just playing the latest flashy shooter.
Re:It gives you something just as bad... (Score:5, Interesting)
He's the fundamental difference: on a console you put in the CD which is needed to authenticate that you have the disk, but it doesn't actually update the firmware of your system. When you eject the disk, the system is exactly the same as it was before.
On a PC, if the grandparent is correct, then the DRM appears to be fundamentally altering the way your operating system works, possibly making it more unstable/insecure. Installing rootkits is just plain bad.
If you can do DRM without breaking the host operating system, fine. But if you can't, then everyone should yell very loudly about why you shouldn't buy this game.
This is like buying some bling "Type R" headrests for your car and having to pour sand into your engine to make sure you don't also put the headrests into a different car. It's stupid, and shouldn't be tolerated.
Cheers
Re:Controls Correction (Score:3, Interesting)
My problem with the controls is that they change between phases. In the creature phase, you move using WASD and look around with the mouse. In the tribal phase that's reversed -- you rotate and move the camera with WASD and move your selected units with the mouse. And, as stated, the key bindings are non-customizable.
Design decisions like that have diminished this game for me. The reviewer says it has a 'low learning curve', but it has you climb up the learning curve over and over and over again. And the penalties for not being a master of all the controls and tactics can be harsh, especially in the space stage. I worry that kids who love the creature stage will bawl with frustration when they set foot into the galaxy.
It's an okay game. I'd give it 7/10, and will probably stop playing it much after a week or so.
newerakb (Score:1, Interesting)
If the DRM is preventing you from buying the game, just go ahead and buy the game, but don't even bother opening the package. Download a pirated, cracked copy and play that one guilt free, knowing that you actually paid for the game.
Re:If EA is reading this (Score:2, Interesting)
Here is a neat idea: Don't play the game at all.
Anyone finished the game? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've got to the space stage and even got to the end of the evolution meter on it, but there doesn't seem to be any end to it other than the shiny medal flashing on the stage. Has anyone managed to get a completion that was rumored for the "hardcore"? Somehow I think it has something to do with the "go to the center of the galaxy and find the grox" -- which I did only the mission never was marked as complete.
Re:Don't Play On A PC (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It gives you something just as bad... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sure someone will spout off that consoles are "ultimate" in DRM or something similar. It should be noted that so far I haven't encountered any DRM in a console that's restricted my use of the game. It runs on the platform it was compiled for. Even better, if I give the disk to my wife to toss in her own console it does not complain, nothing "bad" happens (ie there's no "number of installs"). I can resell the game if I like and anyone who buys it can play it provided they have the right platform (something many forms of DRM try to prevent). I can even hang onto it for ten years, pull out the console, and still play, just like my old SNES games or Dreamcast games (ie they never "expire" or require activation). If my console is networkable nothing happens to the console or my network just by putting the game in my console (ie SecuROM, Sony's rootkits, and many, many more that brutalize a system or otherwise). Best of all I am guaranteed the same experience as everyone else with the console which is a bonus for me (ie we're all seeing the same presentation...this can sometimes be a problem, like multiplayer Doom 3 was when some people turned off the lighting to gain an unfair advantage).
Basically no "DRM" on a console has yet stopped me from doing anything that I wish with a game I've purchased, including playing it for as long as I like whenever I like, regardless of whether the company's still in business. If that's really DRM in all of its glory, I say for console games it's not so bad.
Re:Anyone finished the game? (Score:1, Interesting)
you have to go the the centre of the galaxy and use the wormhole key to enter the blackhole at the centre.
Re:Sure (Score:2, Interesting)
If it's delusional, where's the Vista review or the review of Bioshock or even the new Civ? which is far more topical to /. (ubiquitous enough to be mentioned in the Spore review!)
This "review" is very unusual and suspect at the least. It's very positive (without talking about actual gameplay) while being critical of interface and mechanisms from other games most readers are familiar with. All in all a template review. Delusional is a strong word and you should do your research before throwing it about.
Re:Worth picking up, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
SecuROM disallows me to play any game, unless I physically disconnect my Plextor DVD burner... Went through lots of pains when trying to install/play Quake 4.
Re:If EA is reading this (Score:4, Interesting)
No, it doesn't. I've worked with Securom (though I argued against it), there are no drivers installed. The service is solely to handle launching of the executable on non-admin accounts because of the encrypted executables.
Please provide a link to your source that claims it does.
Securom is NOT Starforce. Yes, it limits installs, it installs a ring 3 service if installed on non-admin accounts, and a version was incompatible with Process Explorer (since fixed by a newer version of PE). However, people keep making up all these extra evil things it does, and it's all hearsay and rumors, with not a single solid source or citation.
Re:If EA is reading this (Score:4, Interesting)
Um no, that's not a good analogy at all, because you haven't bought the candy bar. The better analogy is that people all around you are stealing candy bars, but because you bought one, he puts a GPS tracker on you and takes down all your information to make sure you're not giving the candy bar to anyone else.
Classic (Score:3, Interesting)
The road to hell is paved in good intentions.
The road to a crappy game is paved in good intentions.
The road to DRM is paved in good intentions.
Good intentions do not equal a good game, let alone a great game. This is hardly a game in a classical sense and I must agree that it is more toy then game.
Spore is now the poster child in my opinion of how game play has been dumbed down into an over glorified "Simon" game.
A challenge implies failure and that is what many feel is the core of a game versus a toy. You cannot fail at toys. Games you can fail at because they have some measure of success.
A comic book isn't a game nor is a book. Proceeding from one page to another, or in short having an objective, doesn't imply there is a measure of challenge or risk of failure.
Few health people get excited when they check the mail, objective: yes, challenge or risk of failure: 0.
Now if you had to solve a puzzle to open your mailbox, you've just made checking our mail a game.
If Spore passes as a video game I'd wager that a superman comic is passing for conteporary literature at the local colleges.
Like Ewoks, no good can come of this...
Re:No Mention of Creature Creator (Score:3, Interesting)
It actually ties very poorly since the creature creator doesn't use the same rules for determining stats that the game does. More is better approach no longer being valid for example makes it so that placing 5-10 spikes for charging is no longer the valid equivalent of using a set of antlers. It's really a bit of a shame, the more is better technique really gave you a lot of creative freedom.
Re:It gives you something just as bad... (Score:4, Interesting)
Apparently you haven't been paying close enough attention. All those downloadable content packs, and other micropayment things are busily tying your games to your console and/or your account. You can't separate them, or resell them, or lend them to your friends.
In the case of the Wii for example, if you buy a downloadable and your wii dies and you use N's repair service they'll transfer all your rights and games to the new wii. But if it just dies out of warranty and you've got the games backed up on an SD card, and you buy a used wii cheap from one of those PS3 fanbois who proclaim all theirs does is collect dust, you can't use those games, etc. Console DRM is fast becoming more than just 'dont make copies of our games' to 'you are licensed to use this game, and no one else is, you can't transfer it or sell it, and if your hardware dies you better hope we still care.'
I'm not entirely sure what the restrictions are on the PS3 or Xbox360, but you can bet your ass they are there too in some form or other.
Re:How often do you play Go? (Score:3, Interesting)
More often than most. Why do you ask?
Re:Snake oil (Score:4, Interesting)
Cubase 4 was cracked a week and a half after release with a syncro-faker. I'm using it in conjunction with Reason 4, TYVM.
If man can make it, man can break it - no exceptions.
Re:It gives you something just as bad... (Score:3, Interesting)
Also as far as people who have a 360 goes, how many of them download games from the Internet then disconnect the console from the network? Nobody I know.
I agree. Probably not very many.
But the point stands: If I give away my copy of Guitar Hero... can I give away all the add-on tracks with it? If I buy a title on XBL, and decide I don't care for it; but since you like it, can I give it to you?
My original point was that DRM =is= starting to make using things you bought for your console a lot more of a hassle than "He who holds the disk can play the game" model of the past. And its getting progressively worse. Within a generation or two you'll be straight up required to have internet access offline won't be an option; at that point the games die when the server is turned off.
Again, I don't see any need to grand stand about copyrights on this. If I pay $5 for a copy of Galaga, I'm not going to whine about it not being around forever.
And what if you couldn't buy Galaga because 20 years ago when it was made, it was locked up on some DRM platform that expired, there were no emulators, no copies of the rom floating around for fans to play, and the company went under or got bought out by a pharmaceutical company for some patent that just shut down and ignored the game rights it ended up with.
Then there'd be no Galaga anymore. How is that a 'win' for anyone?
If you don't like it, don't buy it,
Not buying it doesn't solve the problem. The game is still lost. A piece of our culture is still gone forever.
You can buy most titles on different platforms and if preservation is your goal, get the original arcade roms and PC versions.
The original arcade roms and PC versions are all heading down the same DRM / internet phone home path. There, very soon, is going to be a lot of stuff that's online only.
Right now, you can still go back and have a retro moment and play something from your old NES. 20 years from now, you likely won't be able to legally do that with a lot of the stuff on your xbox 360. You might not give a shit, but a lot of people do.
Re:I personally find it amazing (Score:3, Interesting)
They better get busy, there's a lot of mods required. [slashdot.org] Still, you don't think there's just the tiniest chance that the posts of which you speak could have been moderated better if they expressed their discontent with the score and review without crying 'shill' and 'sellout' like some flamebaitey troll?
Re:I am more comfortable wtih Reloaded, than EA. (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh God. I just realized that it's true. I -do- trust Reloaded a lot more than I trust EA.
My stance on cracked EXEs was locked permanently in place when I -needed- one to run NeverwinterNights. Without the crack, my legal discs would quit every 5-10 minutes. Not crash or have some issue, just quit with no warning. I thought it was crashing and just not giving an error, until someone figured out it was the copy protection. It didn't like my super-expensive CD drive and couldn't read the invalid data off the CD the way it wanted to. (It was one of the ways they verified the disc was real... Bad data on purpose.)
The crack fixed it instantly and I was playing easily, and didn't even need the disc in the drive. Since then, I've found a crack for every game I've purchased since.
And Reloaded has made the majority of those cracks I used.