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Populous:  The Beginning

Populous: The Beginning

List Price: $14.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Prepare for a mouse point and click race
Review: A lot of real time "strategy" games have one thing in common: you win with a combination of tactics and mouse skill. This game is no exception. If you are no good with a mouse, then don't buy this game it will be really frustrating. Even if you are good with the mouse, you have to get used to the peculiar way that braves, warriors, priests, and your shaman (or shawoman, in this case). The early levels are easy but they get harder pretty quickly.

The most annoying thing about this game, is that it is nearly impossible to tell who is in what tribe. Since they have mostly the same color jersey, it makes the fog of war more like a thick pea soup, and wholely unmanageable. The fact that you can't tell who's side anyone is on is made particularly more annoying when priests are involved, since the warriors can change sides a lot.

The other bad thing is that I've killed my shaman many times on accident by trying to cast a spell, and then she'll end up not casting it and instead running up to the place where I was trying to target, which is usually in the middle of the battle. Luckily your shaman is immortal and will reincarnate as long as you still have followers. It's also good that you can save your game so if you do something totally stupid (which still happens to me a lot) you can always recover from it.

I was kind of disappointed that there are only 25 worlds. But what does it matter since I can't even get past the first level? (each level has 5 worlds)

Despite all of this I still give the game 4 stars, because they took a good game (there was a DOS version not so long ago) and made it better. But I can't give it 5 stars just because the tribe colors are indistinguishable and now the game has far too much mousing to be totally enjoyable.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Prepare for a mouse point and click race
Review: A lot of real time "strategy" games have one thing in common: you win with a combination of tactics and mouse skill. This game is no exception. If you are no good with a mouse, then don't buy this game it will be really frustrating. Even if you are good with the mouse, you have to get used to the peculiar way that braves, warriors, priests, and your shaman (or shawoman, in this case). The early levels are easy but they get harder pretty quickly.

The most annoying thing about this game, is that it is nearly impossible to tell who is in what tribe. Since they have mostly the same color jersey, it makes the fog of war more like a thick pea soup, and wholely unmanageable. The fact that you can't tell who's side anyone is on is made particularly more annoying when priests are involved, since the warriors can change sides a lot.

The other bad thing is that I've killed my shaman many times on accident by trying to cast a spell, and then she'll end up not casting it and instead running up to the place where I was trying to target, which is usually in the middle of the battle. Luckily your shaman is immortal and will reincarnate as long as you still have followers. It's also good that you can save your game so if you do something totally stupid (which still happens to me a lot) you can always recover from it.

I was kind of disappointed that there are only 25 worlds. But what does it matter since I can't even get past the first level? (each level has 5 worlds)

Despite all of this I still give the game 4 stars, because they took a good game (there was a DOS version not so long ago) and made it better. But I can't give it 5 stars just because the tribe colors are indistinguishable and now the game has far too much mousing to be totally enjoyable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: POTANGA...B***TCH
Review: First of all let me begin by saying that games like these generally don't tickle my pickle. Starcraft was incredibly redundant, command and conquer overhyped, and the civilization series is slightly entertaining.

with that out of the way let me tell how this game has ruined my social life. how many nights ive spent conquering the universe for literally hours at a time. The game sucks you in and doesnt let go. Thoguh the graphics are horrible the sequence of events steamrolls that one small weakness. You build your army traing each of your people to become a warrior priest or other awsome specialties. Then you beat the living crap out of the enenmy tribe(s) with brute force and amazing spells.A comical plus is the words your followers and shaman come up with. This is well worth your seven dollars for sure.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Highly recommended.
Review: Getting fed up with Black & White, I reinstalled this old game to give it another shot.

It's older, but vastly better. The graphics look convincing enough, and produce convincing worlds in three themes. The music is nice and non-intrusive. The control system is menu-based, with arrow keys used to change angle of view--you can also go to a world view that shows movements of people and locations of buildings and landmarks in real time.

Strategy is based around your shaman and the braves of the tribe. The latter are the grunts. They build, can be converted through specialised buildings into warriors (who fight), priests (who can convert enemies to your cause or stop your men falling prey to rival priests) and fire-warriors (who can throw ranged fireballs). The braves, when in huts, charge the shaman with mana for spells. The system for charging and firing spells is wonderfully intuitive, and has a pleasing element of strategy, since the more powerful ones require lots of time and mana to power up (do I go for a Land Bridge to reach that island, or will I need a Swamp to block that pass from enemy attack?). Once you and your enemies get boats and balloons, you really need to think about strategy. And the Shaman isn't much use in combat against massed forces, so you do need to use combined arms tactics. And when you get a nice suite of apocalyptic spells (Rain of Fire, Tornado, Volcano) ready and release them in the middle of the enemy settlements, it's very impressive. Huts sink into streams of magma or are torn apart by moving land, tornados suck up buildings and throw all the pieces into the sea.

There are several gimmick levels (one where you have 15 minutes to stop the enemy summoning the Angel of Death, one where you don't have your shaman), but these feel challenging and a nice change of pace rather than unwanted interruptions.

A note of praise goes to the voices. Though the words are nonsense, the tones of the voices convey both the unit type and what they're doing (the priest sounds urbane and cultured, the spy sounds sneaky and devious). It's not easy to describe, but it is a great function.

Bad points? One outstanding one is that you can't create groups of troops to select with a keypress. This means that selecting characters in the middle of a big brawl can be a bit awkward.

In short, this one has a good control system, sound strategy, and incredible gameplay.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Highly recommended.
Review: Getting fed up with Black & White, I reinstalled this old game to give it another shot.

It's older, but vastly better. The graphics look convincing enough, and produce convincing worlds in three themes. The music is nice and non-intrusive. The control system is menu-based, with arrow keys used to change angle of view--you can also go to a world view that shows movements of people and locations of buildings and landmarks in real time.

Strategy is based around your shaman and the braves of the tribe. The latter are the grunts. They build, can be converted through specialised buildings into warriors (who fight), priests (who can convert enemies to your cause or stop your men falling prey to rival priests) and fire-warriors (who can throw ranged fireballs). The braves, when in huts, charge the shaman with mana for spells. The system for charging and firing spells is wonderfully intuitive, and has a pleasing element of strategy, since the more powerful ones require lots of time and mana to power up (do I go for a Land Bridge to reach that island, or will I need a Swamp to block that pass from enemy attack?). Once you and your enemies get boats and balloons, you really need to think about strategy. And the Shaman isn't much use in combat against massed forces, so you do need to use combined arms tactics. And when you get a nice suite of apocalyptic spells (Rain of Fire, Tornado, Volcano) ready and release them in the middle of the enemy settlements, it's very impressive. Huts sink into streams of magma or are torn apart by moving land, tornados suck up buildings and throw all the pieces into the sea.

There are several gimmick levels (one where you have 15 minutes to stop the enemy summoning the Angel of Death, one where you don't have your shaman), but these feel challenging and a nice change of pace rather than unwanted interruptions.

A note of praise goes to the voices. Though the words are nonsense, the tones of the voices convey both the unit type and what they're doing (the priest sounds urbane and cultured, the spy sounds sneaky and devious). It's not easy to describe, but it is a great function.

Bad points? One outstanding one is that you can't create groups of troops to select with a keypress. This means that selecting characters in the middle of a big brawl can be a bit awkward.

In short, this one has a good control system, sound strategy, and incredible gameplay.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Populous, a horrible spin on a good idea
Review: I bought this game thinking it would be much like the old one. With a range of spells the molded the landscape, and relativly little control over your people. How wrong I was.

The game took advantage of the booming RTS trend. All the spells you can cast are now only usable through a unit in the game that is called a shaman. And your following are no more then pesants. If they need a house, you have to tell them to build one. Otherwise they stand around waiting. If you need a warrior, tell them to build a barracks, then order a couple pesants to train. All in all, the game amounts to an RTS with ONE military unit and then some guy who can cast spells. Imagine Warcraft with only footman, and you have Populous.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Want full-version
Review: I have the demo version of this game and I love it! I would love to get the full, but I can't get it now. I would recommend it to anyone.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I always wanted to become a god!
Review: I love this game -- half sim, half war games! You are the shaman of a tribe. As you progress through the games, you gain more and more magical powers, and learn how to train your braves to be warriors, priests and fire-walkers. Many of your powers are earth-powers giving you the ability to make lightning, tornadoes, control swarms of hornets, volcanos, deadly swamps, etc. Your other powers give you the ability to hypnotize other tribes warriors, convert wild men to your braves, and create force fields around your warriors.

There are 25 levels. On each level you struggle with one to three other tribes, each with its own shaman. Your objective is to totally destroy each other tribe, including all its citizens and buildings. As with sims, you need to build housing so your tribe can grow, training facilities to train your warriors, priests and firewalkers, and build boats and balloons to carry your warriors into battle. The more warriors you have, the faster your magic is built up. Each time you destroy an opposing shaman, you gain some of her destructive magical power.

In the last level, you are divested of your body, and can travel anywhere on the last planet to cast destruction on your enemies. But, as you progress, you discover that a god without worshipers, like a shaman without warriors, cannot win.

The graphics are out of date as this game has been around for years (it only requires a 133MHz machine), but it does not stop the game from being fun and challenging. There is a lot of cartoon violence, so the game may not be suitable for younger children.



Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great graphics, an outstanding game
Review: I love this game. The graphics are beautiful, you can rotate the whole globe, and watch the mountains move below you. Watch the detailed sky, with clouds moving on in the wind. The gameplay is easy to learn, and there is a built-in tutorial section which teaches you the basics: casting spell, training warriors, building huts, and fighting the opponent. True, there are only five types of military units in this game, which you might not like after playing a game like Age of Kings for example, but the fighting looks great! And of course, the spells. Only your shaman can cast these powerful spells, so you must guard her with your troops. These spells include drastically changing the terrain, again with beutiful graphics while doing this. There are also attack spells, like lightning, which you can use tokill the enemy shaman or units. There are many more spells, which are very fun to try out. The whole game, in single-player mode, is your journey through different planets to gain control of a galaxy and become... a god! The levels get harder and harder, while giving you new spell to use, and step-by-step introducing the aspects of the game. The computer AI is smart enough in this game to give you a challange, which cant be said for all strategy games. Also, there is a multiplayer mode, where you can play with a friend on two computers (too bad it requires 2 CD's), or you can also play on the internet against other gamers! Summary: if you like a cool strategy game with beautiful graphics and great action, this game is 4 U. Thank you for reading my summary. If this helped you, please click YES below...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Game Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I only have the demo but I`m getting the full version soon. I love using spells with my shaman. The game is based on a tribe having to defeat other tribes in other worlds. I love making fire warriors and regular warriors as well. I like the earthquake spell and the tornadoe. I gave tis game 5 stars and thats just the demo!


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