My optimistic hope is that it will pull a Neverwinter Nights 2, and will improve greatly with patches...
But I will shove my criticisms onto it.
All of it:
1. Optimization: It may just be that my graphics card sucks... But it's really inexcusable when I have the graphics at the lowest settings, have 3 times the amount of RAM needed, and it still lags like fucking hell.
2. Lack of herbivores: With Maxis creatures only, and especially with player content... I find it to be this because how much it sucks to be a herbivore in the cell stage, which is even furthered in the creature phase due to tons of the creatures being initially hostile, and the ones that aren't have high social stats making the nonconvertible. Which in turn will lead to even more carnivorous creatures to be made...
Cell Stage:
1. Mating Cells: It doesn't lower the quality that much, but it makes no damn sense at all from both a realistic standpoint , and a programming standpoint... I mean the only thing that it benefits from is that it prevents cheap escapes from death even though that can still, and often does happen using this system. So the point is that they (the developers) could of just let us lay the egg, and spend more time on something more important.
2. Being a herbivore sucks: There's a hell lot more meat than plants.
Creature Stage:
1. Lack of blood: OK there was "blood" in the cell stage, blood in the previews... But where is it here?
2. Friend System: ....... The whole bloody thing sounds, and is ridiculous. Along with the problem I pointed out in the lack of herbivores section, the thing is also pretty damn unrealistic, and I was expecting this kind of shit to only start happening in the tribal stage, and above.
3. Unlocking Mouths: Why did I only get fucking mouths for carnivores, when I need one for a omnivore? (It seems to be based too much on your interactions with other creatures.)
4. Hunting to extinction: May I actually kill all of them instead of killing a certain amount then have them all float up and disappear in a bright flash of light?
6. Health gained from brain levels is ridiculous: Say what happened to the idea of good creature design?
7. No need to defend nest: I would understand this happening on easy mode... But the fact I don't have to defend my home from hordes of nasties that want to eat my precious eggs is really disappointing. (I'm playing hard.)
8. Action is focused too much on nests: This one by far is the biggest disappointments for this stage so far. I want to actually hunt creatures, I want to be in constant danger whenever I go to eat food as a herbivore, IO want to see herds of creatures traveling the plains of the planets, I want my evolution points to be based on eating instead of this interactions with creatures shit!
Editors:
1. Stats are based on the strongest part instead of adding: I can make a one armed, one handed creature that's just as strong, and fast as a creature with 20 legs, and 10 arms. What were you thinking EA...
2. Stats cap at 5: I do want to make mega creatures... I'm sure the complexity meter could balance things out quite fine.
Criticisms:
1. Based way too much on DRM.
*Sigh* (I've only played the 2 phases so far.)