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Black & White 2 Review - PC

I've always told myself it's bad to have idols; and today I present the proof. I'd already assumed that Mr. Molyneux would haul up another masterpiece with the sequel to Black and White, but this is far from the case.

Black and White 2 is the sequel to the outstandingly innovative 'god-game' strategy epic released four years ago. It's a much worse game than the original in many ways – the adventure-like feel to the game has gone, the game-play is much more formulaic, the army battles that have been added to the game are simplistic, and the creature seems to have been massively simplified.

it's hard to pin-down exactly how something like this can happen. I feel almost like Lionhead Studios would have been better off just whipping up another Creature Isle style addon.

Gameplay

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with Black and White – it's an interactive strategy god game where you, as a giant hand, interact with certain 3D worlds. You can pick up giant rocks, hack down forests, throw villagers around, etc. You have believers, you have magic, you have a creature, and you are incredibly potent within your sphere of influence.

Only small amounts of the lands you are playing on are within your influence, and outside of these belief borders you personally have very little ability to interact with the world. This is essentially the purpose of your creature – a giant AI animal/monster which you train, feed, and guide.

Fundamental features that made the original game a hit have been neglected and in their place is some badly implemented attempts to dumb down a good game. A simplistic army war system and a few interface menus hardly make up for the loss of interesting narrative, adventure-game feel and mystery-solving gameplay

From the very start the original game sucked you into the role of a god. A drowning man cries out for your help, and you come into existence – formed by his need. You rescue him, and follow him through a mysterious mountain pass to a bustling village of potential believers. It's exciting, and it paints a poetic picture.

Black and White 2 makes no such attempt to capture the player's imagination. The game begins with a really cheesy and confusing planetary intro sequence followed by an incredibly badly scripted dialog between the good and evil of your virtual conscience.

Nothing about yourself or the game's background is explained as you are instantly denied any feeling of immersion by the painfully tedious camera tutorial which follows.

Any kind of decent story never materialised at any point through the game. If one makes a special effort to interpret any kind of narrative from the game, it is unintelligible at worst and badly implemented at best.

So here goes my attempt at explaining – you're the god of the Greeks and there's these other races – the Japanese, the ... (continued next page)