You're the creator in 'Spore' universe; try it for free

— -- Spore, the latest game from The Sims creator Will Wright, is evolving into a sensation — months before it hits stores.

The highly anticipated "god game," in which you are the creator of life forms, is not due until Sept. 7. But two weeks ago, publisher Electronic Arts released Spore Creature Creator, a portion of the game, to build interest. (A free trial version is at spore.com; a $9.99 full version online and in stores has more features.) Already, players have created more than 1.3 million creatures (on display at youtube.com/spore).

Enthusiasm is high among hard-core and casual players alike, says Kristen Salvatore of PC Gamer magazine. "I think that speaks to how popular Will Wright's games are and how great he is at making them. They're accessible and deep at the same time. Each piece of the game, and there are many, is easy to play with and understand, but all of the pieces fit together into a very elegant and complex whole."

Justin McElroy of the video game news site Joystiq.com has designed creatures ranging from a "pretty convincing Grimace of McDonaldland fame" to a "living guitar with antennae for tuning pegs and a mouth where the sound hole would be."

Spore starts at the very beginning: Players begin as a simple, single-cell organism that must make its way out of the primordial mire and onto land. You help your creature evolve, from a slug into a creature with arms and legs, ultimately intelligent enough to venture into space.

McElroy's experience with the Creature Creator "has taken me from being sort of conceptually interested in Spore to being really eager to see how all these creations will function in a game setting," he says. "We in our industry have become predisposed to eye-rolling whenever someone says the only limit is your imagination. But that really doesn't seem to be far from the truth."

Releasing Creature Creator early not only gives players a taste of the game but also helps the developer, Wright says. Players get nearly three months with the drag-and-drop editing tools — similar features will be used in other parts of the game — so they feel comfortable when the full game is released ($50 for PC and Mac; $80 for a Galactic Edition with DVD, book and poster).