Coming from the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, GameSpy spent some hands-on time with the final version of Spore.  They concentrated on the “Civilization” stage of the game:

The civilization phase kicks off once your tribal creatures have gained intelligence and founded a successful culture with a capital city. After a celebratory cut-scene, the camera pulls out to reveal your walled city in all its glory. Moreover, the entire planet is now your playground. The level kicks off with a short tutorial demonstrating how to maneuver around the spherical play space and play with the camera. We found it a little bit disorienting to play across the whole of the globe (it was very easy to get turned around), but after 10 minutes of play finding your way around becomes second nature.

Head on over to GameSpy to read the rest of their 2 page preview!

GameSpy – Spore Civilization Stage preview