Spore Hero does quite a lot right-  a clever hook (the creature creator), bright, clean graphics (weirdly evoking Rayman), and decent controls. Unfortunately, Hero immediately reveals itself as ‘Spore: for kids’ and whilst this isn’t necessarily a bad idea, it doesn’t excuse the dull, repetitive combat, the uninspiring missions, or the awful mini-games.

Spore Hero is far from an unmitigated disaster- it is an above average action platformer in nearly every respect- but a stultifying lack of ambition and creativity mean that this is very difficult to recommend. Children deserve better, Maxis.

A copy of Spore Hero was provided by the publisher.