Black & White

"Innovative, beautiful, and about as fun as sorting beans."

It's obvious at a glance that the people at Lionhead put a lot of time and effort into refining Black & White. They took an interesting concept, and built around it a complicated and dynamic game system. They built a game that looks and sounds beautiful, that has nearly infinite gameplay options, that raises the bar for interactivity in PC games, and that is not the least bit entertaining.

As much as I might wish that I could give this game an A for effort, I can't. The gameplay, the element that matters most, is severely lacking. The micro-management required to simultaneously care for your villages, defend against your enemies, convert other townships, and teach your creature to do what you want, is simply more than any person in their right mind would want to deal with. While I appreciate being able to deal with these game elements on such a fundamental level, the fact that these dealings are necessary to succeed makes B&W an exercise in tedium. I, personally, have no desire to waste 15 minutes of my life teaching my creature not to eat his own dung.

If you are the sort of person who can look past such tedium, then by all means go buy this game. Otherwise, you might want to consider a different title.

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Well, GameFAQs seems to have a problem with my review being so short. I figure you ought to be able to find whatever information on the game's basics somewhere else. You're just here to hear the opinions of people like myself. Nonetheless, the system won't let me submit this if I don't lengthen it some, so I'll do the standard rundown of the game elements:

Graphics (8/10): Beautiful. Simply beautiful. As of this writing, they are a tad behind the times, but all in all this game still looks great. The most impressive thing in the graphics department is, I think, the scaling. You can zoom in to watch a toddler play, or zoom out so that your view encompasses the entire known world (the current island). Either way, everything looks great.

Sound (9/10): The sound effects, whether a tree being planted, or a flaming villager flying through someone's house, are spot on. The voices, are similarly well done, though they seem to have a (British?) accent, which is a bit odd, but does not seem out of place within the game itself.

Gameplay (5/10): Well, this is pretty much what I already covered. Lots of options, too many dull and necessary tasks. You'll notice that my final score is based almost solely on gameplay. It is the most important element after all.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 04/17/02, Updated 04/17/02