14 DAY TRIAL // 
When it was launched, almost four years ago, Black And White was a sort of RTS you didn't know where to start. Having a more advanced graphics than what the majority of strategy games were offering at that time, just as the name suggests, Black and White was under no circumstances your average game. You either love it or hate it to death.
Today, even its maker, Peter Molyneux, admits that there was room for more, but not even the minor or major glitches were able to prevent the title from becoming a major success. Will Black And White 2 succeed to rewrite history?
We will probably have the answer to that question towards the end of the year, but from what we know so far, Black And White 2 has all the chances to set a new standard in RTSs, especially since Molyneux has once again the support of Ron Millar, one of the genre's veterans, whose experience with Blizzard can be easily distinguished.
The basic idea in Black And White 2 is no different than the initial one. You can either be a god of peace or one of war and once you divinely rule one of the five nations in the game, Greeks, Japanese, Egyptians or Norse, you can start giving them "divine" tasks.
Choosing between armies and metropolises
If you have decided to be a god of peace (the good guy that gets the woman and the money in the American movies), then your task is to transform your village with a handful of people into the biggest metropolis. Each nation's buildings will look different and there will be enough challenges to efficiently administer the resources and the humans.
For those who are suckers for negative characters, Black And White 2 will be as captivating as the first game, because if you choose brute force to expand, you won't have to focus too much on buildings, but on building an army.
In the end, the purpose is the same: expanding your sphere of influence and having as many citizens as possible in your empire.
Just as the first game, every aspect will require your fullest attention. Either peace or war, you will have to give your people tasks. For example, the citizens will become farmers or masons should you decide going for peace, or archers, halberdiers, horsemen should your turn to the war side.
It's interesting to notice that the choice between peace and war will also be visible in the towns' architecture. The good guys will have nice looking buildings, while the bad guys will have a much more gloomy looking architecture, with a lot of darkness surrounding the buildings.
The return of the creatures
Black and White has quickly become known as the creature game. Aside from the citizens, you also had to take care of a creature which was a symbol of divine power, and in the same time, an intermediary for the supernatural tasks in the game.
The creature is also present in Black and White 2 and you will be able to choose between a lion, a cow, a monkey and a wolf. One of the reproaches brought to the initial game was that after the creature was raised and trained, there wasn't anything left to do.
Black And White 2 aims at remedying this flaw by introducing RTS elements and a better AI for the creature. You interact with it as in the previous game, meaning you slap it for mistakes, you pet it for good things.
But take care when disciplining it, because you wouldn't want it go completely berserk, nor to turn it into a vegetable with no initiatives.
Again in the same universe
Once again, Black And White 2 is set to dazzle you with the graphics. The details have always contributed to a RTS's atmosphere and from that point of view, you will have nothing to complain about, the game having exquisite scenery and images.
The game's graphics looks so impressive that many were wondering if Black And White 2 will run on any of today's PCs. Molyneux has calmed the spirits when he announced that Black And White 2 will require the same resources as Half Life 2.
Black And White 2 doesn't with any significant changes regarding the way in which the gamer interacts with the game's universe, everything being controlled through the almighty hand.
Black and White 2 is expected towards the end of September in US and in October in Europe and it's a title which shouldn't be missed by any RTS enthusiast.
SCREENSHOTS
