BLACK & WHITE

Screenshots

Good or evil, which will you choose?

By WILLIAM BARKER

Black and white, right and wrong, good and evil.

That is what this next title revolves around - not saving a princess, destroying aliens nor explaining away an ancient mystery. Peter Molyneux, the developer that many are quick to praise, sits at the helm of UK-based Lionhead Studios, where the game coalesced.

He has been criticized of focusing more on gameplay and less on plot, which couldn't ring truer in Black and White. Rather than simply concentrating on a story, Black and White gently prods the player in the right direction as he/she decides how to play the game.

The intro shows us how you, as a god, are fathomed. People can't live in peace forever and eventually, the crap will hit the fan. It's at this point, when all hope is lost, that mortals turn to the heavens and pray.

You and everything around you in the fictional world of Black and White evolves. Your creature, you as a deity and even your worshippers and their surrounds will go through changes dependent on a number of factors. Even the weather changes, day will become night but the major change lies in whether you decide to be a caring god or a nasty demon.

The first thing that grabbed me by the proverbials were the visuals. Yes, they're great and yes, they're detailed, but more than anything else, they're consistent. You can scale the camera view to miles high and get a heavenly view of much of your lands, or you can zoom right up the left nostril of an irate farmer. Glorious!

There's an amazingly powerful graphics engine to be found within Black and White, but the scary thing is that the visuals aren't the most impressive aspect of this title.

From the get-go, gamers are slowly initiated into the way of the god. First, you are shown how to manipulate the camera, then how to interact with your people and gain praise/notoriety and, most importantly, how to rear your creature.

Creature, you ask? Yeah, it's very cool. After playing through the intro and quasi-tutorial, there are three creatures to choose from - an ape, a cow and a tiger. That said, Liohead has already released more animals for download off the 'Net. Apres game support? Thank you very much!

You could call the animal-raising aspect of the game a hardcore Tamagotchi, but that's an unfair comparison. After sorting out your village and seeing that your devoted followers are happy, much of your time will be spent tending to your creature. Anything you can do, as a god, your creature will be able to do, given time. Your followers are also rather impressed by such a large beast and, as such, your creature is a measuring stick for your followers to gauge your divinity. Tell it to eat a dozen villagers and they'll really respect you.

You must feed your creature, punish it, but not too much or it might just transmogrify into a red-eyed evil demon. You can teach them specific tasks by way of three very clever leashes. There's the leash of compassion, learning and aggression.

The first thing I did was to teach my tiger how to kill and eat wild animals, like horses, cows and sheep. Then he started playing with his food, as any cute little kitten would.

As time wears on, you'll come across villagers who will pray to the gods (you) for some heavenly intervention, such as saving drowning fisherman. Use your creature to save the plebs and it will learn, as will your followers, that you are the big cheese. This is your world. As such, you may choose to rescue the drowning soles or, perhaps, turn a blind eye to the request and subtly prod your creature into a ravenous mindset, thus eating a smorgasbord of saturated fishermen. There is no set path to take, reminiscent of The Sims, and this creates a horribly addictive situation.

The hardest thing about raising semi-sentient animals is that they rely almost completely on your input for their skills, for their behaviour. With this in mind, imagine how freaked out my creature was after a weeks worth of playing. Yeah, he was warped. I couldn't stop him eating villagers, he liked to destroy things and the only way to make him cooperate was to slap him about or throw rocks at him. Sad but true. Your creature will even have to prove his worth in one-on-one fights against other creatures where your teaching will put to the test.

Influencing your people and your pet in a world where everything is changing and constantly developing would be a daunting task without the right interface. Luckily for gamers Molyneux knows a good interface when he sees it. Your pointer is a manipulative hand, which you use to move the camera, interact with the gameworld, teach your pet and generally interfere with all things material.

Sonically, Black and White is perfectly balanced. The pleasant music wafting its way through the world of Eden is fitting - a soft mix of tropical, ambient and stringed acoustics makes for wide-eyed gaming sessions. The sound effects are also pretty good, ranging from seagulls squawking, to followers chanting and your creature farting.

At the end of the day, Black and White was well worth the wait. It's classed as a game, but it feels as if there's so much to it than simply gameplay, graphics and sound.

A lot was promised and Lionhead's first game is surprisingly flavoursome. It combines god-like simulation and creature raising with a truly rousing and open-ended gameworld. As the blurb on box says, the world is what you make it.

ORIGINALITY 100%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 90%
PLAYABILITY 90%
ADDICTION 95%
ENJOYMENT 95%