EA evolves Spore Hero Arena into a DS battler

It took Will Wright and his Maxis team years to come up with the Spore concept, so it makes sense for EA to make the most of it now it's got it. So while the PC and Mac get Spore Galactic Adventures expansion pack, the Wii and DS are getting their own evolutionary branch of the franchise in Spore Hero.

The DS has already seen a Spore game, of course, in the form of 2008's Spore Creatures.

Despite sharing the same main title though, the DS and Wii versions are different games, with DS's Spore Hero Arena being more of a Spore meets Spectrobes meets Pokemon-type experience.

Think of it as a collection and combat game designed for a young, male audience. (Wii's Spore Hero version is more about exploration.)

Spore Hero Arena starts with you crash-landing your spaceship onto a mysterious planet. Before you get to see what's happening outside however, you have to build your creature. Unlike Spore Creatures, Spore Hero Arena is a 3D game, so the creature creation menus look and feel much more like the PC version.

You can choose various limbs and appendages until you've filled up the DNA complexity meter. As with previous games, your creature will be defined as a herbivore, omnivore or carnivore depending on what mouth parts you select.

Significantly though, you also get options when it comes to special skills. In keeping with the game's heavy combat dynamic these include elementals such as fire, lightning, ice and wind attacks, plus moves such as confusion and tailspin. Then name your creature and you're good to go.

The main mode of the game is linear and level-based and has you following the story of the inhabitants of the planet, one group of which are being wiped out by the other. Of course, this enables you to get all combat-y on the bad guys without moral ambiguity. So you'll wander around, eating things and collecting blue shards to build up and evolve your creature, and fighting.

Movement is stylus-based. You just drag it around the screen and your creature follows on. In combat, you'll use the D-pad, which triggers moves such as spitting and striking, and you can hold down the D-pad to power up super moves.

As well as the planetary activity, you'll get involved in the arena-based battling which give the game its name. These have you fighting against multiple enemies (up to three); either computer controlled, or against your friends in multiplayer mode.

The types of games include activities such as Capture the Egg (like Capture the Flag but with an egg) and Battle Royale, in which you have to push your opponents over the edge of a platform. The arenas will feature in game's main mode, but you'll also be able to select them individually from the main menu if you just want a quick blast. Lots more battle types are promised, but EA is yet to reveal them.