Legend has it that when someone prays, a god is created. Well, you were created in that way anyway – to save a drowning [...]]]>

The Temple of You

Like god games? Then Black & White is the definite god game aside from The Sims. A unique experience never seen in other games which plays extremely well on a netbook.

Legend has it that when someone prays, a god is created. Well, you were created in that way anyway – to save a drowning boy who decided to run into a shark infested ocean. By doing that, you inspired a whole tribe to build a temple for you, although you’ll have to help them do it.

Gameplay

The player takes on the role of a god ruling over an island populated by various tribes. The player’s control over the island is manifested in the Hand, an animated on-screen hand which can move or throw people and objects, tap houses to wake their occupants, cast miracles, and do many other things. Use of the keyboard and buttons in the game is deliberately low; to add to the sense of realism, the (usually) mouse-controlled hand can perform every function in the game.

Generally speaking, the goal of a level is to gain control over every village on the island. This is accomplished through the performance of impressive acts that will cause the villagers to believe in the player. Villagers can be swayed by everything from helping them with day-to-day tasks to terrorising them with fireballs and lightning storms.

Another important element of the gameplay is the player’s Creature — a pet of sorts that can be trained to do almost anything, thanks to the game’s complex AI, developed by Richard Evans. This Creature is trained by being placed on a leash while the player demonstrates the action the Creature is to learn using the Hand. With time and repetition, it can perform complex functions that will allow it to serve as the player’s avatar in the world.

Like a boss!

The principle behind the game’s name is the conflict between good and evil. Nearly every action (or lack thereof) will count towards the player’s image in the people’s eyes. As such, the player may be seen as a heart wrenchingly good god or an utterly evil one. The land andinterface will shift according to the player’s alignment. A good god will have a white marble temple, a shining white hand, and a peaceful village filled with light. Conversely, an evil god will have a charred, clawed hand, a black temple sprouting venomous red spikes, and thoroughly terrified villagers. Good players try to win over villages through constant help. Common tactics are to donate food and wood, construct buildings, protect the village from other gods, send missionaries, and use the Creature to entertain the villagers. However, villagers become bored with the same attempt to impress them being repeated. In other words if boulders flying overhead become too frequent, they will lose their effect. This forces the player to mix up the methods he uses to convert a village. One can use a balance of good and evil, trying to stay in the gray area. The game presents so many different ways to please a village, however, that the player is never forced to use evil or forced to use good.

And so the open-endedness is a great thing to this game. You can decide what quests you want to do, and how to nurture your creature, and how to convert people into believing. Once this is done, you can progress into different levels of the game and  enjoy hours of gameplay.

Command your creature and conquer the island

Tweaks

There isn’t much tweaking to be done on this game, except for ensuring that your graphics card does not stretch 4:3 resolution, as B&W can’t be played in a widescreen format. The game runs extremely well even if you decide to play it in maximum – mostly because the game looks quite dated graphically and therefore isn’t a strain at all on even a measly powered netbook.

Like

Unique gameplay concept

Open-endedness

Dislike

Slow pace at the start

Mouse-only control takes a bit of learning

Verdict

If you happen to have patience and like the idea of god games and open-ended gameplay, then B&W is for you. It might take a while to get to grips with the game, and therefore you might get turned off just an hour into it.

Gameplay:  You might or might not like it

Graphics: Good (15 fps on maximum settings)

Work needed to get game to play: Minimal (5-minute)

Description: Wikipedia

After three iterations of The Sims, which gets increasingly interesting and varied, revisiting the original game that started it all is a bit of a difficult task to take up. Unfortunately, if you have played through The Sims 2 and 3, you’ll [...]]]>

True Story

READ: Review for The Sims 3

After three iterations of The Sims, which gets increasingly interesting and varied, revisiting the original game that started it all is a bit of a difficult task to take up. Unfortunately, if you have played through The Sims 2 and 3, you’ll find the original version to be not as fun, not as varied and not as interesting.

Yes, there’s still the censored showers, censored defecating and WooHoos, but the effects are less pronounced, the stages in life is less pronounced, you can go by your whole Sim life uneducated because there’s no university. There are no shops either. You can’t set up your own business either. You might as well forget this game, in other words.

Unless you want a simple game that plays well on a netbook… or if you haven’t played the Sims 2 and 3, which you’ll have no idea whatsoever of what I’m talking about above.

Credit is due to the deserving and it is The Sims that got many ladies into gaming, as it was a game that piqued the interest of many men. The game is basically a sandbox game where you’ll have to construct your own house, get into a relationship and do your biological duty of producing a child. The cycle repeats. At the same time, you’ll have to go out looking for dough by doing jobs in the security line or living the life of crime, and in order to climb up the ladder of success and start raking in the Simoleons, you’ll need to upgrade your skills by working on the various machines.

Of course, you could just be an irresponsible person who sets the kitchen on fire and kills your spouse. Or you can drown her. And your baby. Single life never has been so easy to re-achieve.

Though the expansions have given it a lot of life, the original Sims cannot do what its newer siblings can, and therefore, you’ll need to be steadfast that you can forgive these lackings when you decide to install the game.

Performance

The game runs excellently on a netbook, with no graphical issues. FPS is high and the game is smooth and responsive, as you would expect from a game from Y2K. Unfortunately, you’ll have to play it at a resolution of 800×600, which will mean you’ll see letterboxing on the two edges of the screen.

Like

Still the original game that started it all

The little Sims world with the Goths, Newbies and other noobs.

Still fun…

Interesting god-game concept

Dislike

Still fun, just don’t dread that it’s lacks what you’re used to in The Sims 2 and 3.

Y2K graphics… nothing like The Sims 3

Inevitably, you’ll compare it to The Sims 2, or worse, The Sims 3.

Verdict

While The Sims still possess everything that you like from the series, it lacks everything that comes with The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. The severe limitations might inspire you to try The Sims 2, or play with fire by installing The Sims 3 on your netbook. Let me know how it goes, if you do.

Gameplay: I’m ambivalent

Graphics: Excellent (25 fps)

Work needed to get game to play: Minimal

Screenshots: Wikipedia