After spending the better part of three hours reaching Crogenitor level seven it was finally time to put my newfound skills to the test in Darkspore’s 1-on-1 battle arena. While 2-on-2 battles will be the game’s primary focus, 1-on-1 battles give players a chance to test out their customized squads against other players in a more relaxed setting.

The setting wasn’t so relaxed for Darkspore’s lead producer, however.

Thomas Vu and senior systems designer Paul Sottosanti were the only two people left with me on the voice chat channel set up for our little beta test by the time I got around to trying PVP. Thomas walked me through gearing up my squad – I stuck with Sage, Blitz, and Goliath – and once he knew my Hero levels he set his up to match mine. It’s a nifty feature of the game, allowing even the most advanced players to bring their battlers down to earth to take on the little guy, should they feel the need.

preview here