Spore, The Year's Most Anticipated PC Game

Smashing someone to bits during the Civilization Stage boils down to slinging military units at a city en masse, but achieving an economic or religious victory requires subtler strategies. You�re initially limited to one of these three options, and your choice dictates the units you can and can�t build.

A military player will build units with weapons while an economic player will build trade caravans. Not to worry, you can toy with any of these units as you capture competing cities and (if you wish) add their traits to your burgeoning terrestrial empire.

Going religious offers the most amusement: Giant virtual versions of your species hover over cities and preach them into submission. Economic victories seem to be more difficult to achieve, as they involve maintaining good relations with target cities long enough to establish flourishing trade routes that convince a city to sell.

Unfortunately, success via the economic route is also the least satisfying, since you just buy everyone out after passing a certain threshold.