Black & White 2 Review (no fat)

Game Description

In Black & White 2, players find themselves using their omnipotent hand to establish settlements, populate them with people, assign tasks to people, control natural elements and help minions thrive. In the process, the gods have to conjure up massive followings to hold them as revered beings.

As an invincible god, you need to provide your followers with something tangible that they can see, worship and follow and like it's predecessor, Black and White 2 also has the cast of mighty creatures that serve as an avatar or a symbol for each god. These creatures start off with minimal intelligence and decision making skills but they can be trained and even disciplined if they step out of line.

The game is a giant personality test as you can choose to lean towards the good or the darker side of life. Unlike the first edition, this game evens the odds when it comes to choosing a personality trait. While a benevolent god can always win followers through acts of kindness and compassion, evil gods can also progress by spreading a wake of terror and forcing minions to follow dictates. The game requires quick decisions, resource management skills and a blend of good and evil actions.

Black & White 2 Gameplay

What worked for Black & White was the ability to provide players with a blank canvas and give them all the tools and powers to paint any picture that they wanted to. The open ended nature, incredible real time strategy theme, adorable characters and incredible graphics were all highlights of the game. What Black & White lacked was the fact that the developers focused more on the intricacies of the game and on the creatures rather than overall playability. Black & White 2 irons out the rough spots.

The objective of the game remains the same - start off by coaxing a settlement to accept you as their one true god and then using your powers to increase your following and helping your minions prosper. The giant creatures are back and they act as your avatar, helping you guide and manage your domain.

A major part of the game involves diversifying your settlement and this can be done in many ways including making your army of followers attack and take over a neighboring settlement or winning them over by portraying how prosperous your metropolis is, which will cause individuals from other settlements to defect and join you.

The developers have fine tuned the game and the focal point is the actual gameplay rather than the creatures that dominate the proceedings. Playing Black & White is a breeze as the intuitive icon based menu system gives you access to your resources and commands and a simple pick up and drop technique helps you accomplish goals. Helpful messages pop up at critical times to ease you through situations.

Like in most sophisticated strategy games, you have advisors telling you things you probably already know. Black & White 2 also boasts this feature. Going along with the theme of the game, your advisors are the angel and the devil…a mixture of these can provide some enjoyable comic moments to carry the game in a light vein.

Your all powerful hand is the only device you need to control the lives of your followers and the prosperity of settlements that worship you. Pick up a follower and drop then next to a field and they will start cultivating, drag and drop a flag over a settlement and your armies will wage war against them, drag and drop a building or a road to a new location and the construction process will start at the new location. The almighty hand is also used to instruct and discipline your creatures.

Black & White 2…not quite

Perhaps the biggest flaw with the original Black & White was that it took the game’s name too literally. You were only given the choice to follow the evil path or be a benefactor at all costs. In fact, evil doings were penalized with a lack of loyalty on part of your followers. Black & White 2 improves in this regard and now you can be a more balanced god.

While a peaceful farming god is the pure good god, you are considered evil if you take the expansionist approach of waging wars. However, things are not sooo black and white as they were earlier, and you can be a moderate who follows both routes and yet isn’t penalized for it…of course, being out and out evil is cool too and you don’t have the earlier stigma attached to it anymore.

Yes, there is competition

You are not the only god in the game and your creature isn't alone. Each god possesses powers and has his own creatures. Occasionally you might have to deal with an angry god who has unleashed his fury on your settlement and you have to make sure that your followers are protected. Strife between two gods often result in skirmishes between their respective creatures.

It takes a while before you have established your settlement and built an army strong enough to take on or take over any settlement. Once you have the might and power, you carry on until you have achieved total dominance over the lands. Though the playability factor is high and the game is one that possesses a wholesome set of features and elements, it does tend to drag and gets repetitive after a while.

Black & White 2 Audio Video Elements

Beautifully rendered vistas, breathtaking special effects, adorable characters and creatures, great use of camera and an intuitive user interface, makes this game as close to a perfect graphical experience as possible. What strikes you most while playing the game is the sheer amount of characters and components that form the game.

Black & White 2 is a dynamic game where the all-powerful hand, and the lands you convert into settlements, all reflect your personality. The graphical excellence is enhanced with the help of a great background score and some realistic sound effects especially during natural disasters.

Black & White 2 Summary

Black & White 2 takes over from its but doesn't tread any new ground as far as technological innovations, feature inclusions and revised storylines go. The game does have addictive gameplay and good replay value in spite of it being fairly easier to tame than the original game.

The developers have made some thoughtful tweaks to the first edition and enhanced the gaming experience by focusing more on strategy and resource management than on the creatures. The game shipped with some bugs but they can be rectified by downloading a patch from the website.

Black & White 2 is a great Real Time Strategy game. After all, how many games out there actually let you play god?

Black & White 2 Cost

The game retails for $29.99US at the time of this review.