Black & White

"Quite possibly the Game of the Year"

Black and White, a seemingly simple name, for an extraordinary game. But although simple, it sums it up perfectly.
You play the role of a god, take that literally, a god. You were created when some villagers prayed to the heavens for someone, something to save their son who was about to be eaten alive. The great thing is, being a god and all, no-one sits in judgement of you. If you want to throw that villager into the wall to break his neck for being insolent, do it. The choice is up to you, good or evil. Both paths are valid, and there are rewards and penalties for each one.
But a god cannot do his massive job by himself. With this in mind, you get a creature, pick one of three at the start, but you can get to control any one of 18 diffrent creatures during the course of the game. At first, it will know little about anything. But with your gentle (or cruel as the case may be) guidance, it can learn to do just about anything you can. This was an amazing feat of programming to enable this creature to learn so much and actually be able to know what you like and dislike. When you play the game, and watch your creature walk over to a lake, see a villager drowning and walk over and save him, you will understand how great the AI really is.

GRAPHICS:
The graphics are alright. Very detailed close up with a high poly count. Unfortunately there are a few niggles. Like the LOD engine, it's so blatantly obvious as you zoom in and suddenly something pops from low res to high res that the developers focused most of their time on creating the magnificent gameplay. There are others, but they are but a minor flaw in the great tapestry that is Black & White.
8/10

GAMEPLAY:
Man oh man, once you start this game, you will be hard pressed to stop playing. It really is addictive and oh so much fun. In fact, I havn't played a game this addictive since Crazy Taxi on the DreamCast. You will stay up into the wee hours of the morning to make sure your villagers don't starve or to teach your monster your ways.
As the game progresses and you creature actually begins to develop it's personality, you will grow attached to it, and teaching it, and even watching it becomes intriguing. Throwing a rock against a house in anger, then zooming in on your creature only to see it do the same thing is amazing. You not only have to make sure your villagers are kept safe, but you must also be a good (or bad) role model for your creature to emulate. This makes the game enormously varied as non two creatures will behave exactly alike.
10/10

LASTABILITY:
This game is almost never ending. The campaign will take you quite a while to finish. But you will still play skirmish to train your creature to the pinnicle of your desires. You can challenge yourself and others by playing multiplayer and seeing how good that 100 ft beast really is. In short, although the campaign missions end, training your creature will take a long time, and even when it's reached your expectations, you can see if you can push it any farther.
10/10

OVERALL:
An enormously addictive game, it will take days or even weeks out of your life. I doubt whether any other game this year will have the same impact B&W did, thats why i've prematurely dubbed it Game of the Year.
Trust me, you will NOT be disappointed if you buy this game. But you will be if you don't.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/13/01, Updated 04/13/01