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A.P.I Review: | POPULOUS The Beginning |
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Developer: | Bullfrog | OPTIONS: | SCREENSHOTS: No.1 No.2 No.3 |
Distributor: | EA | 1 Player | |
Game Type: | God Game | Memory Card | |
Review Date: | April 1999 | Dual Shock/Analog Compatible |
Setting the Scene
Back in 1989, Bullfrog, then an independent, fledgling British
developer with Electronic Arts as its publisher, released the critically
acclaimed Populous. It defined the "godgame" genre. Along with
its 1992 sequel, Populous II, it garnered numerous awards and sold more
than three million copies world-wide. Although deriving its name from the
original Populous, where the player was provided with godly powers to lead
by influence, Bullfrog has taken a totally new approach with this latest
reincarnation of the game.
Populous: The Beginning casts the player as The Shaman, a mystical
priestess who must use her divine powers to protect her tribe of followers
and ultimately become a God by mastering 25 worlds. Populous: The
Beginning lets players feel what it is like to have god-like control over
a world-enabling them to shape the land, build mysterious cities, command
armies, convert followers and wield any of the 26 powerful spells. Players
can inflict damage on unbelievers by calling lightening from the sky,
raising lava-spewing volcanoes, conjuring up plagues of insects, bringing
forth village swallowing earthquakes and more...
Genre
Build your forces, annihilate the non-believers, and become ruler of the almighty universe in Populous where you are God.
Graphics
The game opens up with a tasty CG intro depicting the choosing of
the 'Chosen One', the Shamen. It's quality intro's such as this that
activates the butterflies in the stomach. One day many PSX2 titles will
look like this... in-game.
Visually Populous reminded me of the Bullfrog trademark game from years
gone by... Magic Carpet (minus that horrible fogging effect). Construction
takes place over a true globe rather than a flat map as in other strategy
games. The small barren islets where your Shamen constructs her village
features mountainous terrain, spotted with the occasional tree. Each
island is surrounded by miles of wavering blue seas. In fact it all looks
quite deserted until the Shamen sets her tribes to work.
Beginning with a few workers, a couple of shacks and usually a wavering
Artifact the Shamen sets her people to work. Everything is constructed
with polygons which gives the whole world a complete 3D effect. The tiny
topless male workers twist and turn a full 360° showing hairy chests
and muscular biceps. They fidget and chatter before gathering in groups to
construct a building. It is great fun to watch them perform their tasks
for the first time as they first jump up and down on a small plot of land
to flatten out any bumps in the ground. They then proceed to erect a
timber frame structure before filling in the gaps with straw and leaves.
Once the building work is complete they then form an orderly queue to
being in-house breeding, thus expanding their population.
The Shamen is dressed only in a small blue loin cloth and what seem like a
over sized top hat. She constantly emits a warm glow that helpfully
happens to be the same color as her troops. The revolutionary 3D
technology is used to great effect when the Shamen casts her spells.
Volcanoes grow out of the earth, swarms of bees cause chaos and
disruption, lightening flashes across the skies, while tornadoes whip up
all in their path and discard from a great height.
There is an element of slowdown when many troops go on the rampage, but
considering the amount of detail and the normal speed that the game moves
along at it allowed a few extra seconds to take stock and regroup.
Sounds and Effects
The haunting music once again reminded me of Magic Carpet. It's all
very oriental... full of Eastern promise. Probably best suited to a
Kung-Fu movie.
Some of the sound effects are quite humorous such as when the tribes head
off into their shacks to mate. As a new baby is born the slap of the bum
provides the child's first chance to work those lungs. Of course the fact
that all of the tribes are male and of adult maturity may cause a little
confusion to the younger gamers. Most of the sounds have been handled well
apart from the annoying 'PAH', or 'BAH', or 'CAH', or whatever it is that
the Shamen calls out in reply to every single command.
Playability
'On the Seventh Day God put his feet up and browsed through his
selection of Playstation God games.' Theme Park was there! Theme Hospital
also! So was Sim City. Alas Populous was not among the collection. If
truth be known this was probably because Bullfrog's loyal subjects had
been worshipping a 'false' God for all those years. Populous is much
closer to being a strategy game, such as Warcraft 2, than your usual 'God
Game'.
The gameplay goes something like this. The Shamen stands on a desert
island in the centre of what looks like a circle dinosaurs teeth. She is
surrounded few loyal subjects who worship at her feet. Opening the
Building Menu and highlighting a particular structure places a rectangular
plan on the end of your cursor. Find a relatively flat piece of land and
press the action button to lay the foundations. The workers will beginning
to flatten the ground and then construct a dwelling.
Once complete they will retire indoors and begin interbreeding. This
produces even more workers who are then set to work constructing further
structures. Guard towers may be erected at site entrances to warn of
attack. Barracks may be built where warriors can be trained. Camp fires
laid down for patrols...
In Populous defence can sometimes be the best form of attack.
Constructing a chapel will allow some of your tribe to be trained as
Preachers. These 'Bible Bashers' can then be sneaked into an enemy camp to
convert your foes into friends. It's brilliant to watch him muttering
sermons at an oncoming angry tribe of ranting warriors who then calmly sit
next to him and listen to his wise words of wisdom. Within a short period
of time the enemy troops become converted, switch colors to your own and
then proceed to dismantle their own camp and kill any who stand in their
way. God game indeed!
While all of this is going on the Shamen wanders across the land seeking
Artifacts. These need to be worshiped to unlock their secrets. Stone Heads
grant the player a Single Shot spell or a new building to construct. An
Obelisk triggers off an important tactical event. Totem Poles are
worshipped to lay causeways between islands or provide a spell that is
beneficial to your team. The Vault of Knowledge allows the Shamen to
gather powers presently only available to the enemy.
To complete and conquer a world you must follow the objectives stated in
the briefing. This may include destruction of an enemy and their camp, or
simply reach an identified target without losing life. Should your Shamen
be destroyed she will regenerate back at your base as long as you still
have workers collecting Mana.
I am sure that most strategic minded gamers will enjoy playing Populous
but there are a few annoyances worth mentioning. The camera angle may be
moved forwards, backwards and rotated a full 360°. Unfortunately it
should have been positioned a little higher. Because of the curvature of
the land you often lose sight of troops at essential times resulting in an
unexpected ambush. Also, gathering groups of followers is done by the
usual drag and drop of the cursor. Once again the low camera angle makes
it difficult to gather them quickly and accurately. It's not too
noticeable at first but when the pace moves up a notch this can often turn
success into defeat very quickly leaving you feeling that failure wasn't
really your fault.
Value for Money
Populous has 25 worlds packed with varying missions, wonderful spells and obedient worshipers. What more could a God want?
Opinion | ||
MARTIN | ||
GRAPHICS: | 15/20 | Populous
has moved on a long way since it evolved back in the 80's. Bullfrog have
brought it bang up to date without allowing it to feel like a dated game
with a new coat of polygon paint. This should guarantee it's success
among old and young gamers. Beware of the excessively L-O-N-G loading times for a game that is not quite as intense and involved as the Command & Conquer series, but not as basic as Magic Carpet. The sounds are acceptable, the missions prove challenging, the graphics are stunning, but poor camera positioning causes many annoyances to the gameplay. |
SOUND: | 7/10 | |
PLAYABILITY: | 42/50 | |
VALUE: | 17/20 | |
OVERALL | 81% |