The Jackuul Blog

**Edited - I cannot believe I spent this whole time, without realizing that I spelt Sequels wrong ***

Well, it’s been a few years since the first time I played Black and White, and also a few years since I played Black and White 2. To be honest, I was bored out of my skull, so I popped in both games, installed them, and started playing them. I was still amazed by Black and White’s original graphics, and how smoothly the game ran. The story, same one I had done time and again before, was still pretty good and I think this old game from 2001 holds up just fine today.

Black and White 2 (BnW2 from now on) not so much. It’s more of a glorified RTS than what Black and White. In the original Black and White you play a god, created by a prayer to save some poor schmuck’s kid. In turn, they praise you and you start to gain influence through the little people that love you. Your actions, be they good or evil, take on a whole dynamic on how the villagers see you as a god, and also how your Temple or Citadel looks.

As a good god in Black and White your temple is white, with doves and such flying around it. Your townspeople love you - but expect you to fill their every little need. Although playing good is what I normally do… I don’t hold back when it comes to enemy gods and such. You have a massive array of miracles at your disposal, the whole system is very intuitive after the first level and all the training, and the best part is that there is no HUD. It’s very free flowing, and lets you be pretty much whatever.

After this trainer level you of course get your creature, watch another creature get whacked by Nemesis, and get thrown a portal before you are ripped a new asshole by Nemesis. Afterwards you travel through a few more lands (4) completing story scrolls in your own style, causing massive havoc or doing the U. N.’s Job. You can help everyone, or kill everyone who opposes you. However I’d recommend you not kill your whole village or it is game over. The best way is to capture as many towns as you can, as quickly as possible.

In the end your creature turns out to be a key part of the story, you beat Nemesis and are the one true Evil or Good god. Great game, and still fun in skirmishes. This is where what they did right ends.

After this game came an expansion pack about creature island. Although I am not as big of a fan on this one… it’s okay. If you like creatures. To be honest they could have made another expansion called “Lethys’ Return” (Lethys is an enemy god who sounds half like a man and a woman that you face for two lands). In the game, you have the option of killing or leaving it. I assume most everyone killed Lethys. I’m probably spelling the name wrong too. Anyways, some back story about a survivor who still believes in this renegade god, 10 new maps, and a whole lot of side missions and such = I’m a happy guy. I’d buy it today if I could.

What’d they do instead? BnW2.

Balls.

In this one you play general. You’re like the director of the History Channel. Armies march left. Armies march right. Armies advance. Armies retreat. Please. Good god people, you don’t take the most amazing game I have ever beheld to date (spore might beat this - I have created about 120 creature in spore, ranging from the 100 that are friendly to the 20 I would never upload because they probably break the TOS and numerous decency laws) and turn it into a drastically different game that I cannot even find compatible with the old one. I’d give this game the grade George W. Bush should have for his presidency. Or worse, what Congress should have during Bush’s presidency. Sure, it’s fun in moments, but it lacks that whole “I am GOD! BEHOLD MY WRATH!” and instead has “I AM GENERAL GOD! BEHOLD MY ARMIES!!!!”. Yes you get miracles and yes you can do some of the same things… but I’ll be damned if better graphics, a nifty looking creature, and a new method of play beats the original Black and White.

Lionhead was revolutionary, their first game was Black and White. Then Fable. Then something went wrong. They cancelled a few promising games (like the one for GameCube that would have been an interestingly awesome music/shooter) and then stagnated on what they already had. Then Microsoft bought them.

They still exist, but in what capacity I do not know.

Here’s an idea though. Go back to the drawing board. Re-create Black and White 1, call it Black and White Reloaded, take the advancements in coding to it, the better creature and such, but still squash all the memory leaks, bring back the playing online ability, and give it the same story. It will sell millions of copies. You know how Batman 1989 was awesome, then the sequels all sucked? That’s what happened here. Now, you see how they rebooted the series with Batman Begins which was awesome, and then made The Dark Knight which was even more awesome? That’s what needs to happen with Black and White.

20-30 creatures, don’t over use the polygons for Christ’s sake (the little village people look fine in BnW1, just give them a few extra polygons - feet and hands - but keep it to only 20-50 additional polys), and keep the Nemesis story. Hire the voice actors back for Nemesis, Lethys’, and Kahzar. They were great. The villagers? Not so much. Some did really well, some you could hear a background hissing. Slap BnW1: Reloaded on to a DVD along with the Creature Island Equivalent, and use it as the relaunch. Advertise it in similar way with viral marketing, and mystery.

If this game succeeds, which I know it will, continue on with Black and White: Lethys’ Return. I could write a whole bloody story for the main part, and sub missions, if that is what is needed. I don’t charge much. Think of the basics like this. Lethys survives. Great. Lethys gets a new base on another island of this world. Uh Oh. Lethys begins to totally rip the world a new one. I was always just as intimidated by Lethys as Nemesis, because Lethys sounds like my bitch 1st grade teacher. That’s why the voice needs to stay the same. Eventually he/she controls 10 islands. Have new terrains, like deserts and swamps with accompanying trees. The desert levels would be wicked hard with the lack of wood, but of course they would be manageable.

In the end after you defeat Lethys, you get a total sandbox realm to just mess around in and wait for the next expansion. Have a totally supported client to client online play. In fact, if you want to make BnW2 really huge, use the Spore model, giving you access to all of Eden with some kind of special stone, allowing you to face other gods and islands across the world, and others. Hell, let the player sculpt the landscapes in an editor, and fully support modifications of certain kinds. Creature creator anyone? There are massive possibilities in this area. However, I know it won’t be happening any time soon, and likely not at all. But dammit, I had to give my two cents.