Although it took a while to reach the depths of space, Spore players know the wait was worth it. The first mission expansion pack, Spore: Galactic Adventures, includes more action, missions and a new title for your favorite creature -- Space Captain.

While players of the original Spore were tasked with journeying to neighboring galaxies that showed signs of intelligent life, creating trade routes, buying goods, performing missions or just conquering the next galaxy, Galactic Adventures finally lets them beam down to take on missions on terraformed planets.

Yes, there's even a booth where you get to throw pies.

Yet, Galactic Adventures takes the safe route. Puzzles, protecting holy people, aiding allies against invasions, breaking into a spy facility and working to stop a war that retells Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet (all the speeches in the mission are done in rhyme too -- nice touch), the planet bound missions stick closely to original game's vibe. Essentially, they're similar to the missions performed during the Civilization Stage, only on other planets.

Spore's always been a learn by doing (or learn by asking other Spore players) affair and Galactic Adventures shows that while it wants to be an open-world game that's fun and engaging, players will occasionally find themselves in missions that appear impossible to complete since their Captain needs to level up or obtain new accessories or power-ups before beating them. As always, clearing a mission results in the always gratifying pose, song or dance from your mission giver and more badges to help advance to Captain.

Interstellar travel and mission rewards operate the old-fashioned way, as you'll still need to trade spice and other items for funds to establish colonies, terraform planets and buy weapons (of course, the "moreMoney" cheat code works). To make your way around, planets still function as skipping stones, and rather than automatically credit you with funds after completing a mission, you'll still need to return to the initial planet. In addition, despite enemies shooting you in space (and occasionally killing you), you'll have to wait until they descend into a nearby planet's atmosphere to take them on.

Once you complete your mission in Adventure Town (think Disney Land), you unlock the expansion's best feature, Adventure Creator. From terraforming hills, lakes, streams, choosing climate and the local flora, players will create a world of their own. From there, a tutorial walks them through the simple process of assigning behaviors to Captains, creatures and goals.

For creative types looking to craft new adventures and share them with fellow players, Galactic Adventures is a must play. Action fans, on the other hand, that feel burned over Spore's simplistic approach to ground-based combat (sadly, all combat must take place on a planet), should skip it unless they want to run through the 16 included missions. Of course, Spore: Galactic Adventures' best days may come later as players refine and hone their own tales.