Populous

Many of you know about many of the other RTS(Real Time Strategy) games such as the Age of Empires series, the Civilization series, Starcraft etc. Populous is no different than many of the games I listed above.

Populous has a very simple plot which is easy to understand. It goes as follows, you are the shaman of a tribe (For this example we'll call you the "blue" tribe because the color of your clothes are blue) and you want to become a god. The other tribes (Yellow, Red, Green) want to become gods before you so that everyone will bow down to their mighty power. Blue hates Yellow, Red, and Green. A lot of the time, Yellow, Red, and Green hate you simultaneously and will not attack anyone else but you. You must defend yourself and finally become a god.

It's a simple plot, and it doesn't really matter because the plot doesn't do much to the game anyway. The plot could be that Red stole Blue's skittles and Blue is holding a grudge against them and therefore, they fight a lot using magic. The game would still work as well as it does with its current plot.

The game itself isn't all that bad but it's nothing new. It's probably has less than many other RTS games. The building aspect really just comes down to building houses so your mana can be restored faster to cast spells faster. If you have a crapload of mana and you're fighting a not-as-tough enemy, you can really just bring your shaman in there and blast away everyone without having to worry about Warriors, Priests, Fire Warriors, and Spies.

On the topic of jobs, a lot of the jobs and stuff in the game are pretty cool. The warriors are your basic "stronger" villager, the priest can convert the enemy to blues, Fire Warriors are basically your archers, and spies light houses on fire by being sneaky. There is also a harbor you can build to create ships, and a hot air balloon factory so fire warriors and others can fly across the sea to attack the enemy from the skies.

The spells, while most are fairly basic, are always fun to use. They range from a fireball shot to making a volcano, or even the Angel of Death, appear and causing tons of destruction. There are spells that cause flaming rocks from hell to fall down, there are spells that make the land level lower so that you can sink the buildings of your enemy. This aspect of the game is the main reason it's as fun as it is. Granted it could be better with a little more ideas, but it still is fun to make your enemy scream and run around because there are hornets running around through their little village.

The graphics in this game are fairly simple. The terrain is 3D, while many of the spells and people are 2D images that change depending on the camera rotation.

The controls are fine to, it's a simple point and click game and doesn't require too much thought. The only thing in my opinion that causes thought is preparing to rush the enemy, because they know how to defend their base well. You could have a crapload of warriors and priests, but they have watchtowers filled with fire warriors stalling your rush and then the priests come and convert your men while the warriors beat the ever loving crap out of your weakest men. Then the enemy shaman comes and casts lightning, which if there is a direct hit causes instant death.

Overall, I give this game 3/5 stars. It's a fun game to play especially in the later levels of the game, but it seems underdeveloped and so much more could've been done. I would've liked to see more things I could build/destroy/create.

3 star(s) out of 5

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