Reviews
Black & White is one of the most compelling, beautiful and impressive pieces of code we have played in a long, long time. It is also insanely addictive. It combines the city-building of Sim City with the animal-raising of Tamagotchi, yet it takes those two passive activities and throws in some good old-fashioned Godzilla vs. Mothra monster fighting. Finally, someone has allowed us to raise our own enormous, ass-kicking, crap-throwing, carnivorous chimp! It takes a serious machine to run it, and the chintzy manual doesn't provide you with all the information you need, but if you own a halfway decent PC, then you should damn well own Black & White. Black & White is not a game for people who don't like to read the manual. There are some wise guys here at Daily Radar who regard the manual in the same way they regarded the apple in their lunch boxes at school -- that is, as sheer junk. But if gamers are to succeed in a game as unorthodox as Black & White, they will need some patience and a willingness to learn. The manual is only so much help on this score, and the Good in us thinks that's because the game is so deep -- but the Bad in us suspects that it's so they can sell more strategy guides. But no matter what the reason, on the other side of the learning curve is a fantastic experience. The comparisons to Populous are immediate and obvious. Peter Molyneux has taken the inspiration from his god-building game (in fact, there's a little taken from all of his earlier games here, from Magic Carpet to Dungeon Keeper) and turned it 3D. The goal is still the same: Players must encourage their believers to worship them so that they may in turn smite the non-believers. The single-player campaign features a battle against the current god-in-residence, Nemesis. Players must gather their strength, manage their villagers, cast some miracles and generally knock the other deities out of the god business. However, there is one thing in Black & White that is genuinely new.

The addition of learning, complex AI creatures is a brilliant addition to strategy games for several reasons. First of all, it brings some personality and a face to games that are often fought between tiny little units on a tiny battlefield. Second, most strategy games have bumped up against a technological limit in terms of sheer numbers. Both 2D and 3D fighting games reach their maximum number of units well before the end of the game. There are, after all, only so many things the computer can keep track of. But Black & White defuses that problem by having a single unit, your creature, grow and become more powerful as the game progresses.

But beyond the strategic importance of a single, massive unit is the fact that these little buggers are just so... endearing. There's nothing quite like taking your little baby tiger out for his first raw villager, his first tipped cow, his first crap in the neighbor's yard. And seeing mommy's little snookums grow up into an enormous black-eyed beast of remorseless evil that strides the land like death incarnate is just so, well, heartwarming. It is also possible to play the game on the side of Good, creating powerful versions of Ned Flanders that bring happiness to the other villages and help them water their crops and gather their wood. And, golly gee, that's swell too.

Even if Black & White did nothing more, it would earn its place on your shelf just as a monster creator. Without exaggeration, the learning AI in this game is simply beyond what has ever been attempted before. In the coming months and years, Black & White will remain the standard by which all AI is judged. Just as Half-Life is the bar over which all shooters must jump, Black & White simply raises the bar for intelligence over every other game ever made. You can teach your creature to do just about anything, and it will learn and imitate. There are even stories of advanced creatures that will play tricks on each other -- without being told to do so.

But even if molding a creature in your own image isn't sufficiently god-like for you, the strategy elements are deep and interesting. Players must encourage belief, either love or fear, in the little villagers. And the more villagers believe in them and worship them, the more power players have to convert the unfaithful. B&W uses a sphere-of-influence system that limits the realm in which the player can interact with the world. Move outside the sphere of influence, and your hand can only move, not grab or touch anything. Your creature thus becomes your ambassador, trained by you to be good, evil or something pragmatically in between.

Getting those villagers to survive and flourish can be tricky, though, and players not keen on micromanaging may have a tough go with Black & White. Desktop gods need to constantly keep an eye on their villagers, and sometimes satisfying those needs can be frustrating and distracting. Evil gods can naturally ignore the suffering of their denizens, but risk eroding their own power base in doing so. We played two different scenarios at the same time, one as good and one as evil. And to Lionhead's credit, we weren't able to find a significant advantage in playing one side over the other.

There is a significant advantage, however, in having a decent system to appreciate the game's visuals. In addition to the AI, B&W boasts a simply incredible engine. Players can zoom all the way out to see the entire island, or zoom all the way in to see individual villagers blinking. The streamlined interface takes some getting used to, but gamers who never grow comfortable with the default can remap the keys to a more comfortable WASD setup. Even the inside of the temple uses an entirely different engine where players can check on mission progress, save or load games, get help, or go to their creature cave to read up on the little guy (or put their own custom-made tattoos on him).

And your creature will sport those nifty tats when you take it online. Once you have registered at Black & White's homepage, you can take your creature online and play several different multiplayer games, including cooperative mode and clan play. Or you can play a quick skirmish game against the computer or a buddy over a LAN.

There are so many little features in Black & White that we could go on and on talking about them. For example, the game can be synched with your mail program so that it names your villagers from your contact list, and if you get some mail from someone on that contact list while playing the game, the little villager will let you know. When you register at Black & White's homepage you can tell it to match the weather in the game to the weather in your part of the world. It also supports the Immersion TouchSense technology, so with a compatible force-feedback mouse you can feel the creatures rumble when you pet them, or the trees snap when you grab them out of the ground.

We could ramble on about the millions of tiny details in this game that make it so unique, such as the fact that the eight different ethnic villages (Japanese, Aztec, Norse, etc.) have their own cultural dances and music. Or the fact that your creature can blush or break dance. Or that if you get close to your village in the morning, you'll hear the roosters crow at the sun. Or even the fact that unlike most videogames, Black & White is the sort of thoughtful and intelligent game that recognizes that actions really do have consequences. It is for these and a lot of other reasons that we think Black & White will likely be the best PC game we will play this year.

Daily Radar's Rating 10/10. Our rating 9/10

Megalomaniacs, rejoice! Black & White is finally finished, and oh Lord (that's you, by the way) is it worth the wait.

Black & White is Peter Molyneux's latest "god game" masterpiece for the PC and his first title under the Lionhead Studios brand. After sitting through three years worth of impressive E3 demos behind closed doors, I was thrilled when Electronic Arts decided to publish this ambitious, genre-busting game.

In B&W, players assume the role of a deity, in charge of a world aptly named "Eden." This world consists of islands each teeming with hundreds of villagers, animals and "creatures." One of the first goals in the game is to choose a creature and nurture it to help rule the lands in your name. Call it divine intervention, if you will.

But your creature may not be so divine; depending on how you choose to reward or punish it (e.g. stroke and scratch its head--or beat it mercilessly), and depending on how you respond to the needs of the villagers, you may rule with an iron fist (leaving your villagers groveling for mercy) or by an almighty benevolent touch of God. Good or Evil. Black or White. It's your call.

There are only three creatures to choose at the beginning of the game--an ape, a cow, and a tiger (all of whom walk on two legs)--but there are roughly a dozen more to choose from later on as B&W progresses. They may start off as small and disobedient (my first beast "Bubba" had a penchant for picking up boulders, walking up hills and dropping them onto people below) but will ultimately grow larger and more responsive to your training. That said, creatures will have a "personality" of their own, as well as an inclination for a certain type of behavior depending on the kind of creature they are, but to help keep them in line there's three leashes to use on 'em: one for learning, one for aggression and one for compassion. Oh, and you must also keep an eye out for their hunger level, fatigue level, and so on. And did mine ever have gas! Sheesh.

Along with the nurturing of your creature, gameplay consists of answering the needs of the villagers, be it to find someone who is lost, help them with their crops or assist to build or fix something, to name just a few early tasks. To reiterate, you need not heed their command; a little devil and little angel (presumably, on each of your shoulders) will appear to nudge you in one direction or another. And your decisions have consequences, naturally. These quests are represented by gold or silver scrolls, with the latter being optional tasks (side-quests if you will, in RPG-speak) while the larger gold tasks are mandatory. There are apparently over 400 quests littered throughout the game, but it may take months just to see them all.

Over time, creatures will grow to be larger-than-life, learn to use magic and miracles, accumulate additional worshippers, and battle other creatures for supremacy. B&W also offers the ability to enter a "skirmish mode," solely dedicated to pitting two creatures against one another.

It should also be noted that the creatures in the game never die--they can take a severe beating, but that's about it. It gets quite fun when, later on in the game, players begin to master a few of the miracles (awarded for accomplishing the aforementioned tasks). Afterwards, they're no longer limited to special attacks during battle (like siccing "Holy Flies" on an enemy), but are also able to draw patterns on the ground to create entire forests, rain clouds, spiritual shields, and so forth.

As if that's not enough, players can then take the game online to pit their giant creature against other like-minded players (with the ability to dress them up with unique tattoos). It's also possible to download new creatures, import real weather conditions from one's city into the game and other gimmicks. Because my version of the game was a special pre-release press copy, I unfortunately couldn't register the game online at the official Web site, which is required before taking advantage of any of the online components.

Controlling the game takes some getting used to because of this unprecedented hodgepodge style of gameplay--which mixes strategy, simulation, fighting, nurturing, and elements of role-playing games-- but after a couple of hours it'll become second nature. The player is represented onscreen by a hand (of God). Using the mouse and keyboard shortcuts, one can zoom in and out, pan around, drag and drop objects and perform desired actions. The proprietary game engine allows players to zoom in so close you can stare into your creature's tired eyes or zoom out (and up) to see the entire island through the clouds in one fell seamless swoop. Also, players can pick up individual items such as a tree, boulder, or pig and toss 'em, watching as real physics and gravity guide the item. The technology behind B&W is truly amazing.

B&W also offers some pretty impressive visual touches such as colorful spells that light up the lands, a revolving day and night cycle, realistic weather conditions, and buildings and wonders that are created before your eyes. There's a lack of detail on the villager's faces, but it hardly takes away from the immersive gameplay. The soothing ambient music and sound effects are equally impressive.

There frankly isn't much to complain about with this game. B&W's biggest obstacle, however, will be breaking into the mainstream as it's not an easy game to play (or control, for newbie players). It's also tough to categorize, and there are some pretty steep system requirements.

That said, B&W is quite simply the most ingenious, addictive and meticulously-crafted and executed computer game of the year thus far, and I'll go so far as to say it'll be one of the highlights of 2001 and a memorable milestone for the PC gaming industry in years to come.

Happy Puppy's Rating 9.5/10. Our Rating 9/10

Cheats
Much food and wood
After activating a Food or Wood miracle, hold the Hand over the door of the village store and quickly and repeatedly press the Right Mouse Button. If this is done correctly, much food or wood will be created for very little mana.

Balls, pins and more balls
At the God's Playground, press F2 during a game and exit the first tutorial (Press Esc) Now, zoom all the way out and look for the small island off of the larger one. After locating it, zoom in and rotate the camera so that you are looking at the small island and can see the large island in the distance. At the base of the small island you will see two beach balls, two bowling balls and some bowling pins with smiley faces on them.


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