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Black and White 2


 
 

When I was younger, I used to love the original Black & White, as it filled me with such promise for Lionhead Studios (also creators of other unique games such as Fable, which I also really enjoyed).
The game starts off with you, a God, learning how to move and control the mortal world below you, before saving a handful of your people from Aztec warriors, as they destroy the current ‘capital’ (unspecified) of Greece, and I thought, “yeah okay, good way to introduce controls of the game.”
Then you travel to another island, where you’re introduced to the various ways you capture a land through war or heart, and control your ‘creature’ (Able to be sculpted into a war-machine or moulded into a loveable, fluff-ball, as you choose) in a gentle battle for control against a Nordish ruler.

Then you arrive at the next island, where there are still various, optional tutorials and little challenges which reminded me of the endless fun and progress of the previous instalment. The game even left out the use of mana and magic until this point, the use of which produces that feeling of fun one can only feel while throwing a fireball at a group of soldiers or drenching his own believers in water. However, islands like this one, in the previous B&W game, took at least a week to complete, whereas it took me a mere hour to capture this one, move onto the next land, and then before I even knew it I was on to the final island, battling the bloodthirsty Aztecs.
But I was not aware of this at the time (a bad omen for most games), and then I finished it, expecting some more islands or something, but no, bam, over, and then there was no sandbox or extras. All you could do was start the campaign again, and I thought, “What idiocy! There wasn't even an online mode or anything! I mean, what the hell, Peter, if you were going to concentrate on the single player, at least make the solo campaign something of considerable length and the ability to leave me friendless and wondering whether that moss on my back is a problem or not.”
At least there was an online community of modders, who created new maps which added hours of fun to the game, and I even modified some things myself. In conclusion, I thought Black & White 2 was a good game, if a little short. It could be better if they stopped listening to that rambling voice in the corner (looking to the ‘great’ Peter Molyneux) and actually do something sensible for once!


Writer: Jedijas
Editor: Sirchris83