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Black & White 2 (PC) - Review

Overall
8.25
Out of 100



High: Black & White 2 is very addicting, also has great scenery, sunsets are beautiful.
Low: Sometimes the voice acting gets a little to cheesy. Cant Skip the tutorials.


Ever wonder what it’s like to be a god, to control everyone in the world, to have mass followers doing your bidding? Black & White 2, the anticipated sequels to Black & White, delivers just that. Black & White 2 puts you in control of the Greeks, which worships YOU.

The game thrusts you into the game in war. These first few missions get you immersed in a surprisingly well developed story line. This story line consists of the Greeks (your followers) at war with the all powerful Aztecs. We don’t want to give up to much, but in the first levels, you have to pick your creature, then you will have 3 lands that are basically completely there to teach you the ropes of the controls and toolbar. The controls can take time to learn but the developers make in game tutorials to make the game more accessible. These tutorials can not be skipped which first time around is good but when you have to start over it cam be annoying. They also place help markers all through out the game incase you forget or just need to work on something.

Black & White 2 (PC)
Creatures
At the beginning of the game when you get to pick your creature you pick from four creatures, the wolf, ape, cow or the lion. Your creature is an extension of you in a sense, he does your bidding, but if trained well, when in free will mode, he will perform well and do your bidding without much interaction. Creature’s can do a multitude of things, from building buildings for you/your people, to fighting along side your armies, he can even entertain your troops and villagers/followers. Another use for your creature is that they can gather resources in tuff times, or when he is being to hyper it seems a good job for him/her.

On the note of gathering resources, villagers can be used to gather resources. Your followers can live al normal life, being born, working to herding. You as god can make your followers decibels. Being a decibels basically means that person will do the task for life. The tasks can range from being a farmer, builder, breeder to worshiper.

As the game progresses you will learn about armies and war. In black & white 2 there are 2 types of platoons combat and ranged, both of which are common to strategy games. Like other strategy games you can create as many platoons but the number of people in you army is limited to your adult populations the minimum size of the platoons is 5 people. Armies can be used to protect your land and to conquer other lands.

Interacting with the world is also relatively trouble-free. Your hand allows you to manipulate anything within your area of control on each map. Whether you're uprooting trees, flinging boulders, slapping your monkey or moving villagers around, working with the hand is wonderfully intuitive. As with the camera, there are a few aggravations here. Trying to pick up a farmer from the middle of a field is overly difficult. Unless you zoom in close, you're more likely to start picking up grain instead. As before the throwing motions are a little clumsy. You'd think a god would have good enough aim to ensure his fireballs are on target.

Black & White 2 (PC)
Sunset
The scenery of Black & White 2 is absolutely stunning. The weather module is absolutely fabulous. Though nothing graphically in this game is “original” it is well thought out and put together masterfully. One neat thing is you can control the time of day (day or night), somewhat pointless, but very neat how its implemented. The 3D modeling of the people & building is pretty amazing. Camera controller’s spectacular fogless easy to use & very expendable. It’s very nice to watch the big battles, or the day today lives of your followers.
The character of your land will also change to reflect your alignment. If you've been evil, the land around your towns will be grey and cracked with bits of magma showing through the small fissures. If you've been good the land around will be rich and lush. The same is true of your hand. By the end of my game, I had become so evil that my hand had long, pointed nails, was an unhealthy color and was covered in strange tattoos.

All this beauty comes at a price however. You'll definitely need a fairly powerful system to run this game. Even on our high end PCs, the game was a bit framey with all the details turned up. The good news is that you can tone down the details a bit and get an image that looks good and runs smoothly.

Sound plays a big role in this game setting the mood, which can peaceful to something a little more war like. The voice acting is above average, though it can get a bit cheesy. Some of the dialogue of the villagers/followers could be a little more believable, but is forgivable. Something almost all games could use is more emotion in there voice acting. The sound effects, are neither original nor extruding, but they are put together well and all fit into place.

Not surprisingly the overall presentation and graphics are fantastic. The scale of the game is easy to appreciate at all levels, from the pregnant mothers to the massive thunderstorms. From the very first mission you'll be won over by the charm of the game's characters -- from your two advisors to your creature to the little people who occasionally need your help.

There are plenty of things that it would have been nice if the game had included, but the one thing the game definitely needs to do is build a greater sense of personal involvement between you and your worshippers. As it is they mean absolutely nothing to you beyond their occupations which is somewhat sad, but maybe that is the real feeling of god and his followers. There are a handful of scripted interactions between you and certain townsfolk but, as a god, you should felt like you have a more intimate perspective on the daily lives of the people who worshipped you. This is particularly attractive if you play as a benevolent deity, one who is interested in providing more than just physical comforts.

All in all Black & White2 is a great blend of, god, simulation, and strategy. Most simulation and strategy fans will find this game enjoyable, and is worth the money. This game is not for the hardcore strategy players though if you're looking for a game that is challenging strategically.



::Score and Comments Below Ad::
Scores
Graphics
9
Audio
8
Gameplay
8
Replay
8
Overall
8.25


Reviewed By:EG Admin Reviewed On: Fri, 28 October 2005 13:39:24 Read:

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Ratings

Game Info Center

Black & White 2 (PC)
US Release: Sun, 02 October 2005 19:00:00
UK Release: N/A
ESRB: "T" for Teen
Genre: God/Strategy
Platform: Computer
Multiplayer: N/A
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Publisher: Electronic Arts

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