Platform Played: PC
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Release Year: 2001
Stephen's Rank: 6/10
Black & White is an unusual strategy game developed by Lionhead Studios.
Basic Plot
The player takes on the role of a newly created god, created by the prayers of a small family. The player is then tasked at looking after the family with the help of his or her Creature.
The story kicks in when the player is introduced to another god called Nemesis. Nemesis is seeking to re-create the Creed so he can destroy all the other gods and become the one god to rule them all.
The player faces off against Nemesis by taking over villages and gaining pieces of the Creed until Nemesis is defeated leaving the player as the only remaining god.
Gameplay
The gameplay is pretty unique and doesn't have a lot of precedents before it. It plays out somewhat like a real time strategy game in that you are an external player who manipulates the world around them.
Here you can see the hand and a Creature.
The player's primary interaction with the world is the Hand. The hand follows the mouse cursor and is able to interact with many objects in the world including picking up and throwing objects (and people), casting miracles, knocking on houses to wake up the inhabitants, etc. The appearance of the hand changes depending on the actions the player takes (looking pure and clean if the player follows a strict no-harm policy to villagers, or red and spiky if the player commits evil acts).
The other primary form of interaction with the world is the Creature. Each god has a Creature which is a magical pet which can be trained to perform various tasks. The player trains the Creature by placing a leash on him while performing various acts with the Hand. The Creature AI remembers those actions and will repeat them automatically. Using this technique the player can train their Creature in any way they choose. Creatures grow in size and strength over time.
A lot of the gameplay involves taking over villages by performing miracles which cause the villagers to believe in you as a god. Other ways of winning over villages including providing resources such as food or wood, or creating a building.
As mentioned earlier the player gets a choice; whether to be a good and compassionate god or an evil twisted one. The choice is made by the actions the player takes, and the user interface changes depending on the player's alignment. Additionaly gods with different alignments will use different strategies in the game; a good god might provide care and help to a village while an evil god will strike fear into them in order to force them to obey. Villagers get immune to different kinds of miracle and help over time, so the player is forced to keep trying different tactics to impress them.
The player's temple, where the Creature sleeps and the player saves and loads their game.
There are two kinds of quests; golden scroll (primary) and silver scroll (optional). Silver scroll quests provide additional rewards which help the player advance.
Miracles are spells which the player casts with their hand. They cost worship or sacrifice to cast. To perform a miracle the player makes a Hand gesture which means the player has to remember the gestures for all the Miracles they know.
Comparisons
The fact that you play a god and are controlling the people not directly but indirectly reminds me of Populous 2.
Positives
Innovative idea, fun concept. Nothing like it out there (at the time).
Negatives
The story is a little weak.
For me the game missed the point of its own innovation. The story is actually quite restrictive and forces the player into situations where their freedom to explore is reduced significantly. I think this game would have had more success in a sandbox environment where there wasn't necessarily any story.
Memorable Moments
No matter how hard I tried I always ended up sliding toward evil alignment. It's very tricky to stop your Creature from accidentally eating villagers... It got too hard for me, I stopped enjoying it once I encountered other gods.
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