A shining triumph that looks and sounds as fantastic as it plays. It makes war fun, city building easy and your social life non-existent; but let's face it, do you really need friends when you're God?
best game ever i love it finished it and did it over again via cheat so much fun i could do it every day and i would not hate this game.............................
Some parts of the game can drag a little, and the warfare system doesn’t feel fully fleshed out, but creating towns and ‘playing god’ is as fun as ever.
If you’re a fan of the first B&W and you were just itching to see how your favorite game could get better, you’ll probably be disappointed by the sequel and be left to ask, like me, how on Earth could Peter Molyneaux have released such a game in the first place?
Few can deny that these improvements have made Black & White 2 a resounding success. The trouble is that gamers were expecting many of these things four years ago. [Nov 2005, p.112]
The campaign is lackluster both in terms of plot and scope (even the optional "side" missions, while still present, aren’t nearly as creative or engaging as the original’s – and where’s my damn singing sailors?).
A very good game the storyline sadly cannot beat the original but limits to how evil or good you can be on this game a world above the original with new ways to torture and impress people. A very nice interface and smooth graphics worth the money not such a classic as the original but still a very good game.
In comparison to the original game, this follow up feels simplified. Sometimes it's for a good cause, but it often feels like content has been ripped away rather than refined.
The graphics are stunning, even today. But the game feels like a cheap RTS with uninspiring gameplay. You may take over villages by impressing them (this is the good way), and you do this by hoarding up a bunch of stuff in your starting village. It's unclear whether a lot of the stuff actually has any function besides looking pwetty and cranking up your impressiveness-meter. To unlock such things, you'll have to buy them through tribute. Tribute are earned by doing different "quests", which seems more like boring achievements. Such as building 10 houses, getting your creature to harvest 5000 grain, or taking over two towns. You may also earn tribute through silver scroll quests, that are a lot like the one's from the original game; where you have to go through small challenges such as solving puzzles or just throwing barrels from island to island. Even though the structure are the same as in the original, the quests feels a lot more shallow as your reward will always be tribute. You'll never be surprised by getting a silly beach ball or a new pet. In some levels throughout the game, the tribute thing may become a problem. Either you'll get bored, as you've unlocked everything early on; or you'll find a level impossible to win as you haven't unlocked enough stuff; while the opponent is about to build an epic wonder that'll be more or less an instant win. It'll then be very tedious having to restart a map that you've played for hours.
The creature aspect is another thing that has gotten revamped. You may choose from 4 pets at the very beginning of the game with no particular quest leading up to it. Then you'll be stuck with the same pet throughout the game, as there's no other ones to be earned. Your pet is easier to teach, as he will have a much clearer thought bubble over his head about exactly what you may praise or scold him about. You can also go back to any learned behavior via some menu clicks to re-scold or praise him again, should you change your mind. It becomes clear early on that the scold and praise thing is more of an on/off thing, than just directions. This makes the pet a lot easier to maintain, but it will also feel less like a pet, and more like a robot.
If you want to play as an evil god, you may take towns by force. This is done by creating soldiers, and may be combined with having your creature help out. The system will sometimes make things a bit too easy, as neutral towns rarely pose any challenge. The enemy towns tend to have an extreme amount of soldiers from the beginning though while you have to wait for the breeders to give you new men; making your small legions useless if you aren't stashing up heaps of them during a long time. The creature cannot take over towns just kill enemy troops and buildings; and as the influence system has been replaced with the impressiveness system, there's seldom any point in bringing the creature over to an enemy's town for other reasons than fighting.
Lastly, the tribute system also covers for the miracles and the skills of your pets. You will have to buy your miracles, as well as your creatures miracles; instead of teaching him them. You will also have to buy functions such as hand gestures and the possibility to force your hand through the influence radar; all through some uninteresting menus with boring descriptions.
Black and White 2 obviously aims to ease things for the player, making the system clearer and refined. But it comes off as shallow and uninspiring, and more of a regular strategy game instead **** simulator. It's an okay game, but as the concept holds so much capacity; I must say I'm a bit disappointed.
Peter Molyneux really oversells a game and its "innovations" doesn't he? IGN quoted it as almost a game for non gamers and that's the biggest problem. Neither casual or hardcore fans are gonna enjoy it that much.
Controlling your population/ civic stats and also troops for that matter, is a chore. The game makes it difficult to micro manage your troops and this will be a let down to hardcore rts players. But casuals are also not gonna enjoy it much because if without proper management of troops, resources and buildings (all of thing made hard by the design of the controls by the way) you become weak and vulnerable to enemy attacks. You can jump in the frey and do some of the resource gathering job for your civilization BUT its like a clerical job! I don't play games for that.
And the pacing in this game! OMG its so slow! And not that's its supposed to, its because of the "innovative new user interface and experience lionhead is so proud of it'll infuriate any rts player.
And finally, your creature control. Yeah, it was fun for a while but in the later levels it became a pain since i was trying to conquer an enemy city and my own creature was creating havoc at home! It quickly becomes into a pet you didn't want!
All in all this game is pretentious, thinks too low of its audience and paces itselfs like a snail going forward on a backward conveyor belt.
SummaryIn this real-time strategy sequel, you'll reprise your role as a powerful deity in search of a following and return to the once idyllic world of Eden, where the discovery of weaponry and warfare has tainted the beautiful landscape. With the help of your gigantic Creature that you raise from infancy, you must earn the respect and worship ...