Black & White is, to say the least, a mixed bag.
User Rating: 7.7 | Black & White PC
When I installed Black and White on my humble computer, I felt as though I was doing something grand. I felt as though I were taking my first steps into becoming an all-powerful god. The opening video provided after installation did not displace my feeling of godliness and provided me with a chuckle as a giant cow slowed down time "matrix-style" to attack another creature. This game surely must be something grander than myself. The opening level of the game provides the player with plenty of room to figure out the controls, as well as a mind-numbingly thorough tutorial of how to tilt the screen and move. The graphics are great, the fireballs and lighting effects are superb, and your creature shows his emotions wonderfully. Yes, the creature. Your creature is by far the best, and funnest, aspect of Black & White. Everything you do influences the way your creature behaves; from basic things like whether or not to shoot fireballs at villagers, to what type of food he eats the most. After only an hour or so with your creature he will have learned at least a few spells and is right there with you trying to convert villages. But the villages is where the problem lies. You cannot pick up more than one person at a time. What kind of a god can only pick up one person? Your villages are also CONSTANTLY in need of something. If they need homes, you build them homes. Simple. But after you do that, then they decide that they need more people since everyone has a home. Converting villages is, for the most part, a genuinely rewarding experience... Except when the village is so far away that you have to spend hours just spreading your "influence" enough to get there. The game suffers from a complete difficulty curveball at the beginning of the 4th world (of which there are 5). From the start your village is under attack by fireballs, lightning, and gremlins that come to steal your people. And there's not much you can do to save your poor town. The scroll quests are largely fun, most consist of find-this quests, but some are fun minigames. Alas, the scrolls stop their goodness after the 2nd world. I'm not sure why, but the first 2 worlds are packed with fun scrolls, and after that they are gone. Black and White is not for everyone. If you like Warcraft or Age of Kings, you are not guaranteed to like this game. If you like micromanagement, well, this might just be the game for you. I paint a bleak picture for the most part, but the game is not bad. The game is really quite good, it's just frustrating at many points as the difficulty suddenly ramps up from easy to hard. The spells are great and fun to use. The creature is awesome. The first level is lighthearted and funny. If you have always wanted to be a god with the power to do (almost) anything, then buy this game without hesitation 
