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When it comes to games involving the throwing of poop, nobody beats Peter Molyneaux. Wait, that didn't come out right. How about this? When it comes to games that push boundaries but somehow are ultimately disappointing, nobody beats Peter Molyneaux. That's better. Mr. Molyneaux is a visionary but more often than not his reach exceeds his grasp. Black & White 2 is just another example of this, and before you get offended by the opening line, Black & White 2 does involve the throwing of poop.
In Black & White 2, the player is a hand. Swooping over a beautiful 3D landscape where scale is limited by how far you can zoom out (as far as you want) and how close you can zoom in (pretty much as close as you want). Autonomous villagers can be influenced and managed, sent to war, sent to work, sent to worship, and discipline or mana from heaven comes in the form of a giant animal avatar. If you're a good god, your animal prances about and gives gifts to the good people of the land. If you're a mean god, your animal becomes a frightening agent of terror.  They've deepened the main game by adding an economic model and a city building component. It helps deepen the game and give it a point, but it's striking how far Black & White 2 is from its "gee whiz cool" concept to playing the actual game. It's still toothless, even if the animal avatars are extremely cool, and ultimately it is best to fill in the gaps with your own imagination as you play.  
Which is why I think it's great for kids! Like the Sims, the game is all about relationships and being a kid means fantasizing about power. Black & White 2 gives kids that power without giving them the tools to be really bad (like Knights of the Old Republic or Fable). Kids can kick villagers around, start fights, and exorcise their control issues on a godlike scale and then start over and try it the nice way. Both ways are satisfying, provided you bring the needed imagination to the PC with you. Kids can do that; this game gives them the opportunity. Oh, and your animal avatar can be taught to throw its poop. What teenager wouldn't dig that?
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