The basic gist is that you play a god who controls an island and may "do with it what thou whilst." You may be good, evil or neutral. Everything you do affects everything in the game. It is a wonderful concept that looks good on paper but just does not quite work as a game in practice. Town and building management can be rather tedious and only those who cherish micro-management will enjoy it.
Documentation on Black & White is frankly appalling, the designers expect you to explore to find out all you need to know. This does not work very well, and the signposts that dot the landscape and are suppose to be of aid, aren't really.
There are scrolls as well that set your quests and give you goals. They work to a certain extent but the game could use more of them. One of the major problems with the game is that it's not rewarding enough for most gamers. It is entirely possible to set up your first town in such a way that you don't actually need to do a damn thing.
This is all right for a game like The Sims (which Black & White reminded me of much of the time), but not that good for this type of god game. It is unfortunate that your pet does not show up until sooner in the game.
It would have been nice to be able to get more used to the intricacies of his usage (and its intricate alright) before having to go off on quests with him. He is a cute addition to the game, but for the most part does not add much to it. Yeah it's fun to take yours and beat up other god's monsters (in solo or multiplayer) but it's not that fun. The controls on the monster's fighting feel like a very bad shareware fighting game.
Article comments
1 - Jim S
I found it to be a great idea with a whole lot of potential.
The concept was fun, the creature was cool. The scripting and user interface (lack thereof?) and controls killed it for me, though. If you lasted 6 or 7 hours, you beat me by over 3... the controls were so bad that I couldn't even stick with it.
I'd love to see a sequel with some decent control or at least some options as to how it's controlled (keyboard commands, anyone??)
2 - InMarin
I couldn't disagree more. This game is fascinating both in concept and gameplay.
The idea was to create an interface with no on-screen controls. That hand you control is actually amazingly powerful - especially on a PC; right-click performs many tasks that are essential.
I think you've missed the point here. Level 1 is supposed to be spent training your "pet" to perform tasks, like gathering resources, performing miracles that will be used later to impress other villages, etc.
I've played this game for hours and hours and can't wait for B&W2.
You've found one.