Black & White Preview

Boy, oh boy, I went through a dozen or more Black and White previews, Peter Molyneux interviews... etc. I did an interview with Peter once, for IGNPC, and had a brief chat with the man during my visit at this year's E3. I went to one of the E3 workshops held by Peter and Dave Perry of Shiny where they got to present their respected projects; I even watched Molyneux play Black and White and go through the fight system, and even some of the game's puzzles... And after all that, it's still not clear to me. I guess that's one of the reasons why I'm writing this preview. There have been literally thousands of articles written on the game thus far, so I won't bore you with the basic B&W concepts, again...

Instead of going through Peter's CV, talking about all the games, and the genesis of his work (which I'm sure you know so much about already), I should maybe concentrate on Peter - the man... I certainly don't know him well, but from what I could put together (judging by his appearance) during our brief encounters, he is a serious, well-respected, and responsible individual. On occasions though, he reveals his true personality... No offense, but he definitely strikes me as this intelligent, big kid. His calm and collected demeanor in public in a sense, is in contrast with his eyes, that reveal a pre-adolescent passion for new things, and this (Mark Twainish) Tom Sawyer-like perception of the world... There's a subtle trace of irony easily detected every time Peter tells the Black and White story to another captivated group of game journalists. And when I say irony, I'm thinking of that spice in life that makes us able to go through some of the life's routines while keeping our spirits high, and souls at ease... Peter to me seems like this big kid that knows much, conforms to the ways of the world, and yet keeps half of his mind way up there in the realm of imagination and fantasy... I ask you, what better person to deliver the most original gaming concepts in the previous few decades?

Black and White

Black and White, Black and White... So much talk about Black and White... Although the game is indisputably brimming with creative and fresh ideas, it's definitely not an autonomous vision. I remember Peter saying once that Black and White is the pinnacle and the epitome of his work thus far. So, by no means is Black and White an idea that just "struck" him while sitting under the apple tree. Black and White takes the ideas of toying with good and bad, and the concept of religion, or human belief rather (as addressed in Populous, and Dungeon Keeper), and just takes them to another level. So much so, that it could never be compared to any of the previous titles, but still not without saying that Black and White is the natural evolution of Peter's previous work... What is so new about Black and White? Looking from a pure conceptional point of view I found two things to be the game's defining moments - something that is clearly not found as evolved in any of Peter's past games: Titans, also known as the creatures, and the fact that the game world, and the creatures actually reflect the player's personality. Also, although Peter used to toy with finding good sides to bad and vice-versa in Dungeon Keeper, this is the first time the lines of morality have been completely blurred. In short, Black and White introduces three revolutionary concepts: The Creatures, reflection of one's personality in a video game, and an intelligent way of asking some fundamental, existentialistic questions. (No offense Lionhead, but I feel "The Meaning of Life" already has the answers to some of those -Ed)