Very short review: "Where did those last 4 hours just go?"

Never heard of it? Background info [link|http://www.bwgame.com|here].
Compared to the first edition of the game, I can't help but think it's been 'dumbed down' a little - but this greatly reduces the "Huh? Did that work? Am I doing the right thing?" aspect of it. The greatest example of this would be with your Creature - who now is a lot more manageable, the game actually tells you what you are praising/punishing your creature for.

Many people have whinged about the 'hand' interface - it never bothered me in the first version, but in this one, it does get in the way sometimes. Still, there are enough keyboard shortcuts and the like so you don't have to be completely reliant on 'the hand'.

As for the gameplay itself - still very entertaining. It's part god-game, and now with a goodly chunk of RTS thrown in for good measure, if you want to use it.

Now it's out on budget, it's hard to beat for entertainment value.

I was up to the fourth world when I discovered there is a patch available.

A patch that renders your existing saved games unusable. Bah.

Luckily they had the decency to mention that before I downloaded and installed it, so all's well. So I'm remaining patchless and taking my chances.

No doubt I'll get to the very end of the last world, only to discover it can't be won with the un-patched version of the game :-)