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Peter Molyneux is a gaming legend. And as a gaming legend, standing among designers such as Shigeru Myamoto, Sid Meier, John Carmack, Yu Suzuki, Richard Garriott and others, we have come to expect only the best from him. His creations include such notable titles as Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park, the recent critically acclaimed RPG "Fable" and the soon to be released "The Movies". I've honestly never seen a game come out of his studio's that I did not enjoy and while his latest creation has not broken that streak, B&W2 is not exactly a shining star in their star-studded lineup. Peter Molyneux will tell you, as many developers might, that he does not really like making sequels and it shows here, but even this average sequel to the incredibly well designed Black & White will still manage to impress the masses.

All Lionhead games have a few key points in common. They emphasize creatively controlled, open-ended play styles where you the player can make the game play out the way that you want it to. Good vs. Evil themes have always taken center stage in Lionhead's and Bull Frog's games. Black & White was not a revolution in god gaming, referring to games that place you in control of a dynamic living world for you to lord over, but rather it was a simple evolution of a game design that Molyneux created all the way back in 1989 with "Populous". Its sequel however is not nearly as large an evolutionary leap as the original was and is instead much more of an improved revision of the series, with added story elements to the main game, much improved graphics and control interfaces, and enhanced abilities for you (god), your creature, and your villagers.

The Black & White series makes you the literal God of the land and villagers that you control. You are presented with an island and a very small number of its inhabitants with which you will build a town and then expand it into a thriving city, drawing more villagers from neighboring or even enemy towns in the process. The game is generally "won" by means of military conquest or cultural expansion, though as with any sim-type game, to "win" is a relative term.

One mainstay of the series is a creature that is basically treated as a pet of sort. As your creature develops over time, you must teach it how to behave, what is right and wrong, and how it can help you when you want it to. The sequel however provides a host of improvements, many of them fairly minor however.

The first noticeable change is the much improved graphical interface, and I'm not just referring to how much prettier the game is (and it is pretty), but how the game displays its control system. The original was never too complicated to begin with, but B&W2 is downright simple to control, requiring only the mouse (provided it is of the 3-button wheel scroll variety) to use nearly all of its features. Menus are organized extremely well at the bottom of the screen and various options expand as necessary depending on what is needed, all without having to memorize countless keyboard commands. It does aid in making the game very quick and easy to jump into, especially if this is your first look at the series.

If there is one thing that I will say for B&W2, it's that it is really and truly a beautiful game. Even for those of you with older machines, and it actually does seem to run well on lower end machines (I have one), you'll still see the polish that has been put into this title. My year-old E machine Celeron system with a PCI GeForce FX card ran the game on medium graphic settings wonderfully smooth, and when cranked up to full glory, it was definitely choppy, but the detail was amazing. With quick rolls of the scroll mouse, you can zoom in so close that you see bugs folks, BUGS. Scroll out and you're treated to majestic mountains, sprawling forests and prairie, waterfalls, lakes and more. A true sight to behold.

I am also very pleased to report that one of the more annoying issues with the original game has been much improved, the A.I. In B&W2 you actually feel more like a god and less like a babysitter, as was a constant problem in the original. All too often your creature would run off and do things that didn't make sense, or perhaps commit acts that you could swear he had already been trained not to do. Your villagers would be off gathering wood while they were starving or they would constantly require your assistance for things that they could certainly do themselves, often times giving you a severe headache. Now training your creature is quite simple and the creature is smart enough to be left alone for lengths of time without causing havoc.

Throughout the game your pet will test certain actions and seek your approval or disapproval of the action, then with sliding scale bars, you can actually see how well he has learned how he should regard that action. For example, if you teach the creature to be a gentle, kind-hearted and helpful creature, it will run around the village helping people out, gathering resources, erect buildings, etc, or on the flip side, if you train it to be well, naughty, it will do the opposite (more often than not, the creatures "evil" side seems to involve lots of pooping on various objects for some reason, including on your citizens heads...) Villagers, when not specifically assigned to certain tasks will do necessary work on their own, without your assistance, and when they do really need your assistance, they will flat out tell you what it is they want, no guessing.

Warfare is your typical RTS style combat only much simplified, which honestly is a real blessing for this type of game. Essentially you create platoons of three different types of troops through the use of Armories, Ranged Armories and Siege Armories. Strategy is pretty much a joke however as the main method of winning battles is simply to out number your enemy. It's the same old RTS story. Build a big army, engage your army, continue raising new troops while the army is fighting, then reinforce your army with the new troops until you win, hopefully without allowing your village or villages to suffer while the fighting plays out. Creating and moving your military is as easy and dragging and dropping small flags that represent your troops. Want to attack a certain city or enemy army? Just drag all your flags over to them and you are all set for destruction.

As I mentioned earlier however, territory can also be won via a cultural approach. This involves simply trying to make your city as large and glorious as possible, enabling it's borders to stretch across the island and luring other inhabitants to join your side voluntarily. Erecting certain types of buildings or wonders aid tremendously in this activity. In fact that seems to be a major part of the good vs. evil factor. Force them to join you is evil (military approach) and making them want to join your side on their own is good (cultural approach).

The problems I have with this game, while few and relatively minor, can also be quite annoying depending on your personal tastes. First, while most of the A.I. In the game has been much improved, enemy intelligence is a joke. The primary "strategy" of your enemy is to continuously build platoons of troops and just throw them at you one after another. That is of course if they decide to do anything about you at all. Often times they more or less ignore you, even while their "God" is talking trash about you the whole time! I enjoy the military capabilities of the game, but having to deal with the endless number of enemy troops that come at your cities, however easy to defeat if you stay focused on it, quickly becomes a chore, and your city and creature can quickly suffer from lack of attention due to the never ending fighting. My advice to you is that as soon as the enemy starts doing this, just build up your forces and try to take him out quickly because you won't be able to accomplish much else anyway. Secondly, while the "good vs. evil" issue is pushed as the main theme of the game (If the title "Black & White" didn't give you that hint, then I have some old Carmen Sandiego games for you in the basement...), the game really doesn't reward or punish you regardless of what choices you make. So while making your creature learn to help your citizens build homes may make you feel all tingly inside, the game really won't react any differently than it would if you just let your creature eat your villagers or steal their food.

Overall, the time I spent with this game was generally enjoyable, especially once I figured out how to work around its flaws. I should say however that having spent a lot of time with the original Black & White, this sequel just felt like more of the same, only with prettier graphics and a bunch of minor game play and interface enhancements. At first I was really excited to be playing B&W again, but after awhile I came to remember why I eventually got bored with it in the first place. Then again I suppose that that's what makes a good sequel. Most people seem to either like these kinds of games or they don't, and that's really what it comes down to.

Fans of the series will really enjoy this game though, maybe for 10 hours, or maybe for 100 depending on how much you loved the original. If you have never visited the Islands of Black & White, but you have a taste for sim-style games, then consider this a recommendation for you as well. For everyone else however, I'd suggest holding off, maybe wait till you can find it in the discount bin at Wal-mart. In all honesty though, if you are taking the time to read this review, you would probably really enjoy this game. I'll leave you with the following "made for the review quotes sticker that publishers like to put on the front of the box" tag line... "Playing God has never been so fun!" So get out there and play nice (or mean) with the villagers already.

Graphics: A

Sound: B-

First Play: A

Last Play: C

Gameplay: B

Overall: 82% B-