Game Overview

Here we go again

Firingsquad went out on a limb when we reviewed the original Black & White. We were one of the first reviews to give the game a bad score. While the vast majority of the gaming press thought that Black & White was the second coming of Christ, we didn’t appreciate the repetitive gameplay and lack of depth. We were expecting a lot of flames, and we sure got them. But that’s not all we got – out of the hundreds of e-mails and comments there were actually more readers that agreed with the review than not.

So along comes Creature Isle, the expansion pack to Black & White. I’m sure a lot of you are expecting us to slam this game outright, but that wouldn’t be fair. You can’t judge an expansion pack or a sequel based on the original. In fact, I always hope a game that I play is good before I play it. Who wants trudge through a bad game? You don’t go to a movie theatre and pay ten bucks and wish the movie sucks. An open mind is the best asset you can have before you play a game.

Villages fall easily

Tyke learns from your creature

Bowling for bucks

What’s expanded?

Remember the singing pilgrims from the original Black & White? Well, those happy bastards made it, and they ended up landing on an island with no gods and a secret society of avatar creatures. No gods means you are the first and only god that the natives have heard about. No other gods means you have complete power over the island and no annoying neighbors.

Shortly after you arrive, you’re greeted by a giant Lion creature named Rufus (too bad he’s nothing like Chris Rock in Dogma). He explains that the island is inhabited by creatures who have learned to survive without gods. They’ve also given themselves a snappy title: The Brotherhood.

The cow is a mean bowler

Sheep herding

Finishing a trial

Rufus offers to let your creature into the Brotherhood, but he must first pass a series of trials. Why exactly you would want to give up your creature I don’t know, but apparently you do. I’m also not sure why the Brotherhood isn’t threatened by your presence since they’re obviously hiding from gods by living on an island without any. But the long and short of it is everything is lovey-dovey and your creature wants to wear a new shiny bracelet.