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Black & White 2

By GUSTAVO HERNANDEZ
Published January 23, 2006

Company: Lionhead Studios

System: Windows

Price: $50

Rating: Teen

Grade: C+

How do you follow up one of the most creative games of all time? By introducing a host of new features and tweaking your winning formula. Unfortunately, for Black & White 2 the alterations prove to be too much.

The original Black & White, which gave players free rein to control the lives of people as their god, set a high standard for creativity. The player's decisions, whether good or bad, affected the way his people revered or feared him. For example, your god could help villagers gather food or watch them wither away and die.

In addition, players were given control of a creature, such as a tiger, cow or wolf, to raise and teach right from wrong. The creature would react to your scolding or nurturing and act accordingly. One great improvement over the original Black and White's creatures is that you see a speech bubble that tells you what the creature is thinking.

But, while entertaining, raising a creature seems to take a back seat in Black & White 2. The new features and tweaks tend to occupy too much of a player's attention.

In both games, the player's actions increase the god's circle of influence. In the original, increasing this circle by appeasing the villagers was the primary way to win over adjacent villages to accomplish the goal of winning over an island.

But with Black & White 2's new armies, players can simply go to a neighboring town center and forcibly take over the village. This takes away a great portion of the challenge from the game.

While it may have been difficult sometimes to have to tend to the villagers to increase your circle of influence in the original, the process felt more rewarding than simply taking over villages at will.

The addition of armies, and the armory needed to produce them, is a product of the developer's desire to give players more control of the layout of villages.

Instead of constructing generic buildings, players must now choose which type of building, such as a villa or a simple hut, they want to create. A player's choices also affect how a village will develop and grow.

It was impressive to see the effort put into making the buildings appear as if they were for commoners or for the more privileged. Black & White 1's graphics were excellent for their time, but Black & White 2 ups the ante with jaw-dropping details such as those in the buildings.

This is one area where Black & White 2 excels. The water, for example, looks so real that you almost feel as if you are watching a video shot by someone at the beach. Zooming in the view at other points reveals painstakingly detailed ants.

Still, pretty visuals alone don't make a game great. Although players have more control of their cities, it seems as if they now have too much to do and can't simply enjoy the game and develop their creature.

[Last modified January 22, 2006, 01:07:02]