God has always fascinated man and almost everyone wants to have the powers of God, if not to be God. One of those creations of man are video games that allow man to have perfect control over things in an arena. These games not only allow their users to play God but also give them the option to be a good God or a bad God or even be a God with shades of gray. Some of the popular games that have been developed to satisfy the human desire to be God are The Sims, Black & White, Populous, God of War, Afterlife, Too Human, Viva Piñata, and Zeus. Below are the details of two famous games in which the player can play God.
Utopia
Utopia is considered to be the first among Sim and God games and is also credited with being the first game in the real-time genre. The game was released by Intellivision almost two decades ago and has captured the interest of the gaming community. It has recently been re-released for the Xbox 360 console and for Windows Live. At the beginning of the game, players must choose the number and duration of turns. Each player must select an island to act as their kingdom. The player spends gold bars to develop their kingdom by building schools, factories, hospitals, housing projects, and farms to support the kingdom’s population. The game also allows the player to place rebels in the opponent’s kingdom, who are entrusted with the destruction of resources built by the ruler of the kingdom. Each player’s income is generated when the farms receive rain for cultivation from randomly generated rain clouds or by using the fishing boats to get fish.
Black White
Black & White 2 is a sequel to Black & White and has been listed by Forbes as a ‘Let you play God’ game. It has been developed by Lionhead Studios and is compatible with both Windows and Mac platforms. The game received positive reactions from critics, earning an average rating of 76% on Game Rankings. The game is based on “The Prophecy” by which the most powerful power in the world will destroy the tribes of the world. The tribe, in turn, receives a God who is supposed to lead the tribe to its glory and dominion in the world. Creatures in the game include monkeys, lions, tigers, wolves, and cows, although the tiger is only included in the special or pre-order edition of the game. The player can perform ordinary miracles such as fire, water, lightning, shield, heal, and meteors or perform epic miracles such as sirens, hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes. The God can be a Good, an Evil, or a combination of both Good and Evil. An Evil God’s path is based more on destruction, while the Good God’s path is based on benevolence. The cities of these Gods are a reflection of their nature. The game has been highly appreciated for its “rich” buttonless user interface.