The_Mop
05-20-2006, 08:18 AM
Being a fan of Black and White, it was only logical that i went out and bought Black and White 2.I got it on the cheap, which seems pretty handy considering what I was about to play.
First of all, I'd just like to say about the things that I felt made Black and White 1 a great game. I liked the fact that there were no 'battles' between villagers, no armies that you could control as with most RTS's, I liked that you didn't control people at all, you just influenced them. I also liked the fact that you could do so many varied things to impress people and other towns.
Now, on to Black and White 2. Again, same set up as Black and White - you're a god, you have to 'win lands' by impressing people/beating them into submission and you have a creature that you can control. This is all the same as the first Black and White.
But playing through the game itself, made me realise how that everything that made Black and White great has been stripped from Black and White 2. For example - there are now only 2 ways of impressing people enough to join you: either expanding your first village, or sending out armies against the other villages.
It really is that mundane. You can win a whole land just by building up your own village. I don't like the fact that you can control people - the main idea behind Black and White is that you DIDN'T control people, aside from asigning them disciple tasks.
Another thing that annoyed me is the lack of miracles. There are only 6 miracles, and they're all pretty pointless, you can get through the whole game without using them. There are also lots of upgrades (i.e Hand Forcing) which are completely, completely pointless.
However, there is one thing that is a plus point for Black and White 2 - there's a hell of a lot more information available. When going to stroke/slap your creature, it will tell you exactly what he's thinking, rather than on black and white where it told you the effects of the discipline/reward afterwards.
The graphics are pretty good. No where near DooM 3 level, but there are some quite detailed textures and the lighting has been improved vastly since Black and White. I can't really run it at full spec on my machine, but to give you and idea of how good the graphics are, some magazines use it to benchmark graphics cards, so the graphics are definatly far from bad.
The physics have been improved in some areas, as throwing rocks about and other things seems to have a more realistic feel to it, but sometimes when throwing miracles, they seem to go way too far. Still, how much to miracles weigh? :P
To conclude - this game is far less interesting than it's predecessor. Everything that made Black and White great has been taken out. I would give it a 5/10.
Btw- mods, if this is the wrong forum, feel free to delete/remove
First of all, I'd just like to say about the things that I felt made Black and White 1 a great game. I liked the fact that there were no 'battles' between villagers, no armies that you could control as with most RTS's, I liked that you didn't control people at all, you just influenced them. I also liked the fact that you could do so many varied things to impress people and other towns.
Now, on to Black and White 2. Again, same set up as Black and White - you're a god, you have to 'win lands' by impressing people/beating them into submission and you have a creature that you can control. This is all the same as the first Black and White.
But playing through the game itself, made me realise how that everything that made Black and White great has been stripped from Black and White 2. For example - there are now only 2 ways of impressing people enough to join you: either expanding your first village, or sending out armies against the other villages.
It really is that mundane. You can win a whole land just by building up your own village. I don't like the fact that you can control people - the main idea behind Black and White is that you DIDN'T control people, aside from asigning them disciple tasks.
Another thing that annoyed me is the lack of miracles. There are only 6 miracles, and they're all pretty pointless, you can get through the whole game without using them. There are also lots of upgrades (i.e Hand Forcing) which are completely, completely pointless.
However, there is one thing that is a plus point for Black and White 2 - there's a hell of a lot more information available. When going to stroke/slap your creature, it will tell you exactly what he's thinking, rather than on black and white where it told you the effects of the discipline/reward afterwards.
The graphics are pretty good. No where near DooM 3 level, but there are some quite detailed textures and the lighting has been improved vastly since Black and White. I can't really run it at full spec on my machine, but to give you and idea of how good the graphics are, some magazines use it to benchmark graphics cards, so the graphics are definatly far from bad.
The physics have been improved in some areas, as throwing rocks about and other things seems to have a more realistic feel to it, but sometimes when throwing miracles, they seem to go way too far. Still, how much to miracles weigh? :P
To conclude - this game is far less interesting than it's predecessor. Everything that made Black and White great has been taken out. I would give it a 5/10.
Btw- mods, if this is the wrong forum, feel free to delete/remove