At the time it was revolutionary, till this day I haven't seen any attempts at recreating it. I did prefer the earlier 2 stages tho (as in evolution stages), later it wasnt as much fun.
It was more revolutionary the day before it was released than the day after though. That game was my first lesson in not getting hyped about something just based on what marketers were saying.
The game could have used at least a few more years of baking. The earlier stages were more complete, though IMO even they lacked breadth and depth. But the later ones were disappointing in their simplicity.