Innovative and ambitous but ultimately flawed (Black and White (PC))

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	Black and White (PC)
Date:	10/08/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Full of innovation, visually stunning, lots of character and detail, original

Disadvantages: Gamplay gets dull and repetitive after novelty wears off, little in the way of structure

The brainchild of Peter Moyneux, head of Bullfrog Sotfware and creator of classic god-sim Populous, Black and White has you play as a God ruling over a fantasy world of tribal peoples, vying for influence with other Gods for the their attention and worship, with the amount of people that believe in you affecting your sphere of influence and mana levels. The game has the look and feel of Populous about it, but the gameplay is considerably different to that of populous despite appearances. The game makes you you feel part of a living, breathing world, with its own population, weather systems and day/night cycles, and is both visually stunning and wholly immersive. You can instruct your people to build crèches, farms and grain/lumber stores and houses to allow your population to grow, and you can perform magic spells to alternately terrify and amaze neighbouring villages to convince them to abandon their present god and worship you instead.

The physics engine is very impressive, allowing you to pick up and throw rocks and trees at people and houses, which shatter in a satisfyingly realistic way when hit, and you can also hurl people from cliffs and perform magic spells such as casting lightning and fireballs to burn believers and nonbelievers alike, terrifying them into worshipping you. Alternatively can act benignly and bring rains of grain or cast storm spells to put out any fires you have caused, winning people over with kindness instead of cruelty. The magic system is very innovative, requiring you to move the cursor in particular patters (eg a spiral or zigzagged line) to perform miracles, all of which cost mana. Your mana is constantly replenished at a rate depending on the number of worshippers you have, but can be gotten quickly by demanding your subjects worship you at your temple until they drop dead with exhaustion, or alternately by just sacrificing them outright.

Another main feature of the game is your avatar: a massive, Godzilla-sized animal of your choosing that acts as a pet and obeys your commands, though is not directly under your control. You can choose from a tiger, rhino, cow, turtle chimpanzee or ourangoutang, and the creature acts as your very own tamagotchi-style pet which you must feed (on either grain or humans) and can train to perform certain acts by rewarding him with tickling/food when he does something good or slapping him about to discipline him when he behaves badly. The creatures are incredibly well animated and full of character, and are fun to watch as they wander around of their own accord, converting people to your cause by performing feats such as hurling boulders around and getting into fights with the avatars of your opponent gods.

You can shape both your creature's behaviour patterns and their appearance, with them becoming scrawny if they are not fed and incredibly fat if you reward them with food too often. Also, they become either saintly looking or evil looking depending on the way you behave as a god, with the whole atmosphere of the game changing when your actions make you become more good or evil: should you act in a wicked way your hand cursor becomes wizened with long fingernails, and your follower's houses become crooked and decrepit looking, with bats hovering around your villages and evil ambience following you everywhere, your creatures eyes glowing a sinister red, whilst if you act benignly you influence becomes immersed in a saintly, heavenly glow, with white doves fluttering around your settlements.

All of this is brilliantly realised and captivating, but the game is missing any real, meaty gameplay, and instead is a rather laid back 'sandbox' exercise in playing god with no real pressures or specific aims beyond gradually gaining more and more influence and eventually progressing to the next level. Once the novelty of the wholly impressive gaming environment and of playing with your charming avatar have worn off there's nothing to really -do- other than mess about some more. There's no sense of urgency or of real purpose, and though the game is fun for a while or in short doses theres nothing to keep you coming back after the your initial amazement has worn off.

There are lots of simplistic mini-games hidden throughout the levels, and you have two good and bad advisers perched on your metaphorical shoulders offering you conflicting advice as to whether to behave in a saintly or wicked manner in any given situation via some excellent voice acting, but ultimatlely no amount of polish can alter the fact that Black and White is flawed gameplay-wise, making it good fun to play for a while but ultimately rather shallow despite all its innovations and high aspirations. Its a great game for younger players as it offers freedom of movement and constructive and creative gameplay, and is great fun for casual gamers too, but hardcore gamers are likely to be left looking for something with a little more structure after not too long.

Summary: Fun for younger players and casual gamers but nothing much here for more serious gamers