Interesting but flawed sequel to a classic god-sim
The original Black & White is an innovative and hugely enjoyable god-sim that sprang from the mind of Peter Molyneux, legendary creator of Populous and Theme Park amongst others. However, while this sequel ups the ambition and scale, it does suffer from a number of issues which prevent it from retaining its predecessor's classic status. Once again, players assume the role of an all-powerful deity and can choose to be benevolent or evil as they see fit, with the idea of the game being simply to guide your followers through their lives. As a benevolent god you can do your best to improve living conditions for your people, thus attracting more worshippers, but for those of a darker shade, you can build up armies and conquer your enemies instead. Your ultimate aim is to defeat the Aztec race which can achieved by conquering or befriending the two other civilizations you will encounter and with all your actions carried out via your disembodied hand, with which you can pick up people, influence the land, cast miracles and other such god-like activities. You also have an animal avatar which can be trained or left to wander around, carrying out various actions in your name. Black & White 2 is certainly fascinating stuff if you are into this kind of thing. It feels more focused than the first game and the player has a better idea of what they are supposed to be doing, which does reduce frustration. However, there are issues with your creature's AI amongst other things but perhaps a bigger is that the core concept seems now to have shifted to a city-building game rather than a god sim. This aspect is admittedly fantastic but its departure from the original is a major drawback for fans so exercise caution when entering into Black & White 2.
