Black & White

"Which side are you on?"

Black and White. Good and Evil. God and the Devil. A lot of games toy with this concept, but this game does it the best.

Let's sum the gameplay up in 3 words: You are god. In each of the five levels, you start off with a small village. In this village are people who worship you. You can pretty much do whatever you want...there's no “wrong” way to play this game. You can be a good god, by helping them with their troubles, collecting resources for them, etc. Or, if you're feeling particularly devious, you can be an evil god, by setting people on fire, tossing them into the ocean, throwing boulders into their town centre, and so on. There's advantages and disadvantages to both. If you're good, you get more rewards for helping people, but your people can become lazy and dependent. If you're evil, you're people will become hard workers, but you won't get many rewards. I find it's best to strike a balance. I believe Futurama summed it up quite nicely: “If you're doing the job correctly, people won't be sure you're doing anything at all.” (I probably botched that line.)

Then there's the creature. In addition to all of this, you get a pet, and quite a pet at that. You're creature is big, and over the course of the game, it'll get HUGE. The creature can essentially do anything that you can do...it can help gather food and wood, or chuck lightning bolts at houses. The AI of the creature is phenomenal. It really develops its own personality throughout the game, and no two creatures will ever be the same. It will watch you and learn to copy your actions. You can reward it by rubbing its belly, or punish it by smacking it across the face. Through this, it will become unique, and an extension of your power. There are many different types of creatures to choose from, each being a type of real world animal, and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. The ape is really intelligent, and it'll learn miracles quickly. The cow is nurturing and friendly to your villagers. The tiger is really strong and able to fight. So you can see, there are many different ways you can shape your creature.

There are also enemy gods and enemy cities. The basic idea of the game is to try and take over all of the cities on the map (while expanding the ones you already have). Basically, you're trying to convert the majority of people in each city to start worshipping you (instead of the rival god). There are so many ways to do this. You could try giving them food if they're hungry, or releasing a flock of birds above them. Or smash them with a rock...it's up to you.

There are also a bunch of quests and missions that you have to do...Some are necessary to advance the story, and many are simply optional. Often, each of these have a “good” and “evil” way of completing them.

The graphics are excellent, with fully sculpted 3D islands. Everything is crisp, and looks great. The sound is nothing to shake a stick at either...although a little more music would be nice. The controls are fantastic, using mostly the mouse. It's really simple once you get the hang of it.

If all this wasn't enough, the mac version comes with the expansion "Creature Isle"...It was okay, but not as great as the original game...so I won't dwell on it.

All in all, the gameplay is great because it's so open-ended. There's really no way to lose the game, unless you're REALLY bad at keeping your villagers believing in you. Try blowing up the town hall with a big fireball. That should do the trick.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/06