Populous
System: Genesis
Release Date: December 1990
Developer: Bullfrog Productions
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Strategy
It’s good versus evil and you need to destroy them to win in Populous! You are a supreme being with the power to shape worlds and your followers adore you. However, you aren’t the only deity up there, as one with diametrically opposed followers seeks to overpower you and yours. There are hundreds of worlds out there for you to conquer, so sit back and get ready for hours and hours of play.
You can begin on the first world, Genesis, or enter the name of any planet you know. You’re given some information about the terrain, your abilities, and that of your opposing god. Your followers are alone on a corner of the map, while the computer is on the other side. You need to raise and flatten land in order for your followers to have a place to settle and multiply. To raise land at the cross hair, you press the A Button, and to lower it you press the C Button. You can raise and lower as much as you want, as long as you have enough manna to do so. Manna is generated by having followers.
Your gameplay loop consists of raising land and making it flat so your followers have somewhere to go. The more land they have, the better the settlement they will make. I made a mistake as I was learning, as I would make too much flat land, creating castles. These would take a long time to make a new walker, leaving my opponent with the numbers advantage. Once I made lots of smaller spaces for settlements, I was able to watch my population shoot up and defeat the levels. Switching among settlement mode, go to papal magnet, and fight enemies is a core mechanic you must master.
Raising and lowering land aren’t the only powers you have. You have several disasters you can inflict on the map. Earthquakes rearrange the terrain, destroying any settlements in the process. Making swamps will ruin the terrain and cause walkers to become trapped or die depending on the rules of the level. Volcanoes raise the land, destroying anything beneath them. The flood decreases the height of all terrain by one and can be a world destroyer if you haven’t built up carefully. Armageddon causes all of the people of the world to come to a final battle at the center of the map where the god with the most followers will win.
There is also the ability to place the Papal Magnet, which is useful for creating leaders from your walkers. As well as the ability to transform your leader into a Knight, who will roam the map, fighting enemy walkers and burning down their settlements. Making lots of these as your population grows is how I was able to conquer the worlds I set foot on. Cutting off access to your lands is also a viable strategy once your knights are in foreign territory.
Graphics: 2.0
You can tell what everything is supposed to represent, but the framerate is pretty low.
Sound: 0.5
There is an incessant heartbeat going at all times that is completely annoying.
Gameplay: 2.0
It may take awhile to get the controls down and even then, being precise with the cursor doesn’t always work in your favor. Commands don’t always work when you want them to.
Difficulty: 2.5
The initial learning curve is steep, but once you figure out what you’re doing, the first several worlds are a snap.
Fun Factor: 3.0
If you’re looking for a god simulator, I’m sure you could do worse… if you could find anything else.
Overall Rating: 2.0
Populous earns a C. This is my kind of game and I would devote many more hours to it if I had the time.