“Phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space.” Every time I load up Black and White on my mac I think of this line from Aladdin. Wielding the awesome powers of a god even in a computer game isn't easy, but man it is a ton of fun!! So when Black and White Platinum Pack became available for the Mac operating system, I knew that I just had to have it. What was even better is that the Platinum Pack includes the Black and White: Creature Isle. I'd gotten hooked on the PC version of the game when it first came out, and now I could share it with my son. Though he's only 10 and the game is rated “T”, the comic mischief and violence that caused it to be given this rating are really nothing when I consider that most games he likes have much worse. And I was right when I thought that he would love this game. So much that he's just got to take a moment to tell you about it.Written by Josh, age 10:
This game is totally awesome. You get to have this creature that you're raising. I picked a tiger cause they are the coolest. You get to teach them tricks and to do stuff. If he does something you don't like, cause you're the god, you can slap him. But if he does something good, you pet him and make him happy. My first creature got really mad at me and started eating my followers, so I had to start the game over. But it was really funny to watch. In my second game this other evil god challenged me and started trying to take my followers, so I had to duel him with my creature. My tiger kicked his creature's...really beat him up good.
You have to worry about more than just your creature too. You have this village full of followers that you have to keep happy too. The more your followers like you, the more area you can control. Some of your followers are disciples that you can make do different stuff, like building, farming, or cutting wood. To make a follower do something you pick it up with your god hand and put him down by where you want him to work. As long as he's happy and doesn't need something, he keeps working. When you get really good as a god, you can start to take over other villages. This is hard, though, cause the more space you have, the more you have to pay attention to what is going on.
You can attack an enemy village or temple by throwing rocks at it, or hitting it with fireballs and lightning. This makes it so that no one believes in these other gods and is how you wipe out enemies. Some of these things are miracles. There are also shield miracles, creature strength miracles, and other miracles that you get when your villagers learn to use. Some of the other gods who are on your side can teach you miracles. What you need to get in the game are things called creeds that you get from defeating enemy creatures and gods, or sometimes gods who are your allies.
Sometimes it is really hard to win in the creature battles. But it is hard to make people who used to believe in other gods to believe in you instead, too. To get them to believe in you, you have to supply their village store where food and wood are kept. You can also work to get your own creature, not just start out with one. You can decide to start out with a creature by going to “Creature Select” and skip the tutorial, but this isn't as much fun. To get a creature that you pick, you have to find three stone heads, a tiger head, a monkey head, and a cow head. These are the creatures you have to pick from. The tiger is fierce and lethal, but he is quick to fight and wanders off on his own and attacks enemy villages a lot. The monkey, or ape, is intelligent and quick to learn, but he doesn't fight as well as the tiger and is slower in a fight. The cow is strong and noble, but hard to train.
If you are the person who wants to be in charge in a game, this is a great game for you. People who like thinking and strategy games will enjoy this game too. I like it because it is full of action, and you need to think of what you are doing before you do it. You have to plan ahead, not just do stuff. Its kind of like an attack and defense game at the same time. It really is a great, fun game.
Written by Josh's mom, Velea
This is the first game that Josh has written most of the review on, and that fact alone should speak for how much he enjoys the game and really plays it. He's had other games where he's given me input to the review, but with Black and White, he just goes on and on about the game. He's able to explain the gameplay as well as some of the strategy behind it. I have to admit that I don't mind in the least that he's playing a “T” rated game because it is a game that has made him think before he acts.
He's started multiple games now because he's had to. He's worked a game into a place where he couldn't do what he wanted, so he's had to start over, and that to me is great. He doesn't see this as failure at all, but a learning experience. Of course, as a mother, I keep trying to get him to apply these same lessons to his life and school work, but we aren't quite there yet.
I've enjoyed playing the game as much as Josh has. Its one of those games that I can lose hours to playing and not realize it in the least. A great diversion, in other words. I wouldn't call it a game that you can play for short periods of time, but it is fun enough that you don't care if you spend an hour managing your little village. And it has great replayability as well. Not only can you play with different creatures, each game can be different because you make different choices.
As far as how it runs on the Mac, well, to be honest I didn't notice. So I guess thats a positive thing, huh? We've had no issues installing and playing the game on our Mac-mini, though it has helped to have a two button mouse. That's more an issue with Apple than with any game company, though. The game will work if you only have a one button mouse because that is how we initially played it. Its just easier with two.
The Creature Isle expansion portion of the game adds even more hours of god-like fun to the original game. Here you take your creature to new places where he can, hopefully at least, join the Brotherhood. This lets him gain even more powers, cast new Miracles, and, at least according to the game description, “discover the love and joys of parenting”. We've played Black and White for countless hours since the game arrived and have yet to need to leave the original, so we've really just gotten started. Creature Isle is something we're looking forward to finding out more about soon.
I wouldn't recommend the game to someone much younger than my son is simply because there is some degree of violence, and there is a lot of strategizing required. A child that is to young won't be able to think through things well enough to play, nor will probably realize that this is pure fiction. Adults will enjoy it as well for the challenge the game brings, so I whole heartedly recommend it to you if you like simulation/strategy type games. This one is definitely a hit in our house, in other words.
I’ve played computer games since college, addicted first to story type games like Might and Magic. I have 3 children who also love computer games. My oldest son is a typical kid who loves the challenge of pressing the right combination of buttons and levers on a joystick in just the right way to make something happens, and frequently gets frustrated with mom’s slow fingers. ;) We use computers for both education and entertainment, and sometimes even bribery for good behavior.
The “glory days” of computer gaming for me were when games like Spectre Supreme, Pirate’s Gold, the Might and Magic series, the original Prince of Persia… those sorts of games were coming out on a regular basis. Back then I owned a Macintosh and was a die hard Mac fan. I was one of the first in my area to buy an iMac and on it learned the joy of playing games on the internet like daily crossword puzzle and “mind bender” type puzzles. My first online RPG was given to me for Christmas the year EQ was released, and I was hooked from day one. I played EQ for about a year. I started playing DaoC during late alpha testing, and was hooked on it.. well, to be honest I still am. I’ve tried pretty much every MMORPG I can get my hands on, from big names like EQ, to more obscure ones such as Underlight. I’ve been writing for IMGS since the first DaoC guide, and find I love the challenge of learning a game and presenting what I’ve learned (and sometimes my opinions), to other players.
I’m not a very strong player as far as learning PvE or quick reaction times, so I tend to stay away from games where I’m pitted against someone else in a way that requires physical (rather than mental) response. I still enjoy story and puzzle games, and in a way that’s how I still approach online games. I would much rather spend hours working through a quest than 5 minutes in combat against another player. I still get lost in simulation type games, obsessing over them until I’ve gotten them beaten. And I like being able to sit down at the computer when I’ve got less than half an hour and playing through a few levels of a puzzle game. I tend not to like first-person shooter type games, or anything with person to person violence, so I steer away from them unless they are fantasy based settings. All in all, I enjoy computer gaming so much that my life feels incomplete somehow when my computer is down.
