Found a nice planet, but is the biological life there a bit too underdeveloped? Why not construct a Monolith, to accelerate the planet and its life. If you're lucky/good enough, it may evolve as you see fit, possibly even making the life on the planet worship you, seeing as you kinda did "Create" them. Or it may turn out not so good, pushing the planet to a state of post-nuclear war, where all the life on the planet managed to kill it self off, leaving you with a desolate lifeless planet. But hey, if that was your goal all along, Kudos!
Spore is hardly the first game/movie that has featured a Monolith but yeah, I recall that game having that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolith_(Space_Odyssey) "The first monolith appears in the beginning of the story, set in prehistoric times. It is discovered by a group of hominids, and somehow triggers a considerable shift in evolution, starting with the ability to use tools."
