Did God have choice in creating the universe?

The statement made by Einstein after considering his relativity theory in the context of the lowest-level particle interactions. He wondered, was there any other way that a universe like ours could be constructed so that it would function like ours does, prosper(?) and develop on its own, and create intelligent(?) life. See philosophy.

Leibniz believed that God, being infinitely perfect¹ was forced to create the best of all possible worlds: you're looking at it. The existence of evil is explained with two propositions:

1. A world without freewill is less good than a world without evil.
2. Our world has the highest ratio of good to evil possible (ie: the minimum amount of evil given #1).

The key proposition that Leibniz left out is: A world with things is more good than a world without. IOW, for God not to create the universe would be an imperfection, therefore He would have to deny his nature to do otherwise.

1: This argument includes the implicit proposition that goodness is a perfection.