It's been called a "God game" because you're given God-like powers to create organisms and mould them on their way to galactic domination — and possibly because of the stature of the game's creator.

Forgetting for a moment the interesting dichotomy between playing as God and the clear punting of the evolution theory, 'Spore' seeks to do for strategy gaming what 'Doom' did for first-person shooter games.

Its premise is quite simply astounding: you begin with a single cell organism, evolving it through various stages, building a society around it, elevating the society to a civilization, and finally building a galactic empire. While progressing through these stages, the gameplay is supposed to change dramatically, incorporating almost every conceivable strategy gameplay type.

It really sounds great on paper and with Will Wright (the creator of 'The Sims' series) behind it you expect a delightful micro-management game that delivers on all that it sets out to do.

The hype surrounding it grew into a monstrosity, forming a bubble that continued to increase in size every time a delay was announced or a screenshot released, spurred on by eager gamers slurping up everything that comes out of Wright's mouth.

And then the bubble burst — at about an hour into playing the actual game.

What is at first a delightful mini-game pastime — getting your single cell organism fed — soon becomes a bland experience when you pull back the layers only to discover that there's not much left under the initial wrapping.

Yes, the gameplay does change dramatically as you progress and yes, there is considerable charm that should appeal to those who enjoyed 'The Sims', but the strategy that we expected is seriously missing up until you reach the galactic empire stage. From here the strategy does pick up, but I'm not convinced that most gamers will reach this stage, having given up long before this.

Ironically, my single biggest gripe with 'Spore' is that it leads you by the nose. Yes, it is possible to go off the highway, so to speak, and play with the things on the side before fulfilling the requirements. But where other strategy games give you the leeway to take your time and play the game the way you like, it takes considerable effort to do so in 'Spore'. You have to almost force your way off the laid-out pathway to not get pulled forward.

Some deem this as shrewd planning by the developers in that it keeps the gameplay moving forward, but when you think of the potential that one imagined when first hearing of 'Spore's' premise, much of that is simply not to be found here.

As basic as the gameplay is, it can be absurdly frustrating at times too. This is mostly due to being bombarded by information whenever you move up to a next stage, only to be let loose with no further help. Inevitably, if you don't listen carefully at the beginning of a stage — even taking notes — you could end up bumbling around until you eventually figure out what's required.

Speaking of basic and bland, the same can be said of the visuals. Although it's not as important in a game such as this, it always helps to give the gamer something else to look at, other than the gameplay. Being aesthetical creatures for the most part, pretty-looking visuals makes it easier for us to ignore the broken bits.

But in 'Spore' very little effort went into creating a breathable, exotic and colourful environment for your creations to run around in. On the flip-side of this, the creature creator tool does work wonderfully well and you can create hilariously looking oddities.

The biggest area in which 'Spore' does score points is in the longevity of the game. As is the case with a game like 'Civilization', one "mission" can take anything from six to 12 hours to complete, depending on how much you dig your heels in.

But when you add a mediocre sound department (there's very little in the way of aural atmosphere) and a camera that oftentimes simply sucks, you're left with a game that could have been so much better.

With 2007's equally over-hyped 'Halo 3' I made the argument that when you expect a 10/10, a 9.3 is disappointing — even though it's actually a good score. In the same way, a 7.7 is not really all that bad, but the disappointment is considerable.

And when the premise threatened to pop your brain only to have it deflate by the lack of execution, then one feels like walking away in disgust, dropping the game in the bin as you head outside to play with your real dog.

7.7/10