by Elton Gahr

Created on: December 01, 2010

Black and White 2 is a god game created by Lionhead Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second game in the series in which you play the part of a god who is using his power and abilities to gather supporters and fight the other gods. It also uses the creature, an avatar which you can train to either help your people or hurt them, or send out and attack your opponents.

One of the problems with a true god game is that it quickly comes to the point where you can do more or less anything. This is fun for a bit but the truth is that the best games are build around limitations not abilities. The fact that you can be killed or fail is what makes it a game. Lionhead studios clearly understand that because the key to this game is not the abilities you have, though they are very powerful but the limitations are what makes this fun. Through most of the world you are unable to control things directly. Instead you can use the AI of your creature, your followers and a few other abilities to control it. This makes the ability to build up your followers far more important because you can't simply kill everything without them.

Another important point in this game is the choice between good and evil, or black and white. If you help your people by growing crops and improving their lives you will not only grow good but the signs of your office will change to match the way that you act. If you are good your hand will look human and glow but if you act evil the hand will have claws and twist into a gnarled version. Your temple also changes and of course your creature, and while none of this is major it is fun.

One of the keys to this game, as with many Lionhead games is the sense of humor. This is a game that remembers that it is a game. It understands that the ultimate point of it is fun. For this reason it includes a great deal of humor.

This is a very innovative game with a great deal of good ideas and improvements on the first and if you are looking for a game in which you can be challenged, experiment and have a lot of fun then this is one worth picking up even if it is a few years old.

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