Black & White: Creature Isles Review

Black & White: Creature Isles picks up with the singing sailors who left your island during the first game. After a short song that is nowhere near as catchy as the first, we see them crash on to a strange island. After a short introduction the player is summoned to the island without a God, along with your two moral companions, however there is no need to influence the villagers or fend of another god. Instead you learn that the island is inhabited by a variety of creatures without a god, yes this island is the equivalent of a creature orphanage. These creatures have banded together to from a brotherhood, and have set a series of trials to any creature that would like to gain admittance. And so each creature has a different mini-game that you must pass, ranging from 10-Pin Bowling to Soccer. <br /> <br /> From a personal point, Black & White: Creature Isles appears to be a little light; somewhat trivial in comparison to its epic yet occasionally flawed predecessor. A series of rather mundane mini-games replaces the detailed micro-management and the epic battles previously found. <br /> <br /> Although there are villages located through the island and you can manage these, the emphasis is placed on your creature management and how you overcome the trials. If like me you preferred the strategy side to Black & White, this will come as something of a big disappointment. <br /> <br /> Unfortunately the game starts with perhaps the most tedious trial, in a game of 10-Pin bowling with Madino the Cow. You have to throw a marker towards the pins in the same way that you threw rocks/people in the first game, your creature will then bowl in the direction and pace that you positioned the marker. Unfortunately the game is very slow-paced, thankfully there are only five frames, by the end of which you’ll be cursing and blinding if you don’t win and have to start again. <br /> <br /> Black & White: Creature Isles had a strange effect on me, usually I can control my temper with even the most frustrating of games, however during B&W:CI I ended up brutally attacking my creature because of the sheer frustration that some of the games elements caused. Shortly after the first mini-game you have to rescue a strange egg from a tree, of course it doesn’t take a genius to realise you’ve got to get your creature to get it down, and then take it to the volcano range to hatch it. This seemingly simple task took me nearly two hours to perform, as time after time my creature would chuck the egg for no apparent reason, and it’s guardian would take it back to the tree, leading to a lot of back tracking and frustration. <br /> <br /> The biggest complaint for me is that whether you liked it or not the first game was truly an epic title. The sense that you were a divine being, dealing with complicated issue such as life and death, good and evil were dealt with a great sense of sophistication and reality. However here we are playing games like marbles and dice, somewhat disappointing after the grandeur of your efforts in the first title. <br /> <br /> Some of the trials are more worthy of your status, removing curses and helping the villagers restablishes your belief that you are a god, and not some simple being playing bowling and soccer, however most of them are trivial, somewhat comical to your supposed being as a greater entity. <br /> <br /> From the outset it’s evident that Creature Isles focuses very much on the development of your creature. To this end your creature becomes a mother figure to a new creature (once you manage to hatch the egg), a duckling going by the name of Tyke. As soon as this occurs the game immediately becomes more enjoyable, watching your creature teach Tyke all that he knows is both entertaining and rewarding, whilst it also opens up new game dynamics and helps to overcome the disappointment and tedium found at the start. Tyke becomes symbolic of your creature and how you’ve raised him, hinting that things may be more advanced then we previously thought for Black & White 2. <br /> <br /> The whole learning practise has become more streamlined then the model used in Black & White. Tyke learns new tricks fairly quickly, eliminating the tedious do and redo nature of the first title. After a few demonstrations Tyke will be embarrassing your creature with miracles here, there and everywhere. It’s up to your creature, being the moral guardian to show Tyke the difference between right and wrong, and therefore your alignment is thus reacted down the generation, again hinting at far greater things from Black & White in the future. <br /> <br /> And so the game continues, managing your village doesn’t take up as much of your time with the two creatures helping out, and so as your influence increases new mini-games open up. Each mini-game is introduced by a variety of distinct characters, each with its own unique persona. Whilst the superb script and voice acting help to create the personalities, it is in real fact Black & White’s excellent character animation that helps to bring each creature truly to life. As with the first game the creatures exhibit a wide variety of expressions and emotions, some come off better then others - Pristax the Leopard being a British break dancer soon becomes grating -, but on the whole Black & White exceeds at creating characters with more depth then most other titles. <br /> <br /> The mini games vary immensely in both their quality and the approach needed to solve them. Some like the bowling require skill, luck and most importantly perseverance. Others require your creature’s intelligence to shine through, such as using the water miracle to water crops. Whilst some are plain stupid, such as playing hide-and-seek with the wolf, simply follow his footsteps… <br /> <br /> It may be due to lessened importance on village micro-management, however it seems that a lot of the bugs have been ironed out from Black & White. You’ll have fewer problems with worshippers and resource collection, leaving a more enjoyable, streamlined experience. It’s just a shame that you don’t really get the chance to appreciate this, as too much emphasis is placed on the mini-quests. <br /> <br /> The ultimate aim of completing the mini-quests and raising Tyke is to get the approval and appreciation of Eve. I won’t go into specifics, as it would ruin a lot of what B&W: CI is ultimately about, suffice to say she is of considerable importance to the Black & White avid player. <br /> <br /> A year down the line and Black & White still looks as good as it ever did. The sheer scope is as overwhelming as it ever was, a large environment crammed right down to the smallest detail, such as the worm having a good tuck on an apple. The presentation holds up remarkable well, your conscious minions are as witty and humorous as they were in the original, down to excellent dialogue and voice acting. The music takes the ambient approach of the original, helping to create this divine experience that you are taking place in, although a few comical sound effects might be better placed with the nature of the mini-quests and the game in comparison to the original.