|  |
|
 |
Black & White
Platform: Dreamcast
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Click to enlarge |
It's risky business when amateur prognosticators (read: journalists) lavish adulation on a game that's not yet playable, much less finished. And it's even worse when that so-called masterpiece is canceled before the public even gets a chance to judge for itself. That's exactly the case with Black & White for the Dreamcast. Unfortunately, huge expectations had been created among rabid gamers, thanks to a lot of gushing and praising from a wide variety of gaming sources. However, when you consider that Black & White was the pet project of Peter Molyneux--whose resume of classics like Syndicate, Populous, and the Dungeon Keeper series virtually created the "god game" genre--can you really blame them? Molyneux's latest offering, Black & White, was released on the PC and did quite well, and at one point Lionhead Studios planned to release the game for the Dreamcast. It was Molyneux's goal to proudly carry on his tradition of ridiculous ambition, coupled with total control, by offering even more detail, power, and subtle humor than in any of his previous "godly" efforts. Sega confirmed and demonstrated the Dreamcast version of the game in exclusive circles at E3 2000, even though at that time the PC version hadn't even been released.
Click to enlarge |
The object of Black & White was to secure your power as a god by winning the devotion and submission of your chosen people. These people had a sense of free will, but the degree in which it manifested itself was tempered by their ardor toward you, the deity. Since you were unable to control people's interactions with each other and the community directly, you needed to use a godly figurehead to do your talking. This was where the creatures came in. Creatures represented your power-given shape. At the game's outset, you would select your creature from a roster of animals, including an initial choice of three--a tiger, cow, or ape--and then watch as this "divine animal" initially plodded alongside your people's farm animals as a totally average-sized, mundane creature. As your power grew and your people progressed, however, maturation began to transform your once unremarkable pet in both size and stature. The direction of your creature's metamorphosis was completely at your discretion, and it ended up being a key gameplay feature. If you coddled and catered to your creature's needs, you'd watch it grow up to be a benevolent creature that was slow to inflict violence. On the other hand, if you pinched, prodded, and otherwise tormented your creature, you would soon be faced with the prospect of managing a psycho killer who was hell-bent on making others' lives a living hell.
Click to enlarge |
Because of its very open-ended nature, Black & White wasn't much for story. Much like Molyneux's previous works, Black & White took place on a fictional world (known as Eden) and placed you in charge of fictional people. Eden's topography and overall appearance, though different in shape, was aesthetically identical to Earth's. The people were based on ancient cultures like the Greeks, Japanese, and Egyptians, among others. It was here where would-be gods would get their first taste of the scope and level of control the title wanted to offer gamers. In a demonstration at E3, Molyneux personally attempted to convey the reach of Black & White by focusing the in-game camera on an apple resting on a barrel in a small village. Slowly, he zoomed the camera away from the apple, the barrel, and eventually the village, finally pulling the camera high enough so that you could see only the faint outline of the civilization through the translucent clouds, and finally, not at all.
|
|
