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A great classic!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you find some screenshots for this game, read a few reviews dated somewhere around '98, and look at the price tag - you may become convinced that the game is too old to be any fun. WRONG! This game is one of the most fun I've ever played!
I'm usually obsessive when it comes to the graphics of a game. I observe the texture and shading of every on-screen polygon. But when it comes to Populous, I discovered that despite having dated graphics, it was incredibly fun!
You play a Shaman who has to work her way from world to world, defeating the enemy tribes that she may find. For those who like strategy, you can lead your braves and warriors into battle. For those who want magic, your Shaman has spells she can use. For those who are smart, combine both for the ultimate war game!
And this is just the minute tip of the iceberg! The game has all sorts of clever features, like being able to train priests who can convert members of any of the enemy Shamans' tribe (yes, there are multiple tribes, which adds excitement as they can battle amongst themselves as well) to your tribe.
Anyway, I've probably been rambling senselessly here, but I guess I just can't recommend this game enough. Buy it!

Great Stragey game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game, by far, has to be one of the best stragey games i have ever played. I would have to put it the same boat as the Civilization games, if not better. The only draw back to Populous though, is if you do not have the proper windows based system, it WILL NOT work on your computer. I was told that it would work on Windows XP, but i am still trying to figure out how that is possible; however, if you have something different, i would waste no time at all purchasing this game.

As far as old school pleasures go... this one is at the top of the class.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I must admit... Playing this game as a kid was an amazing amount of fun. No that I'm an adult... it really hasn't changed that much. Game play is smooth and creative. You'll spend hours building up your village and tech tree. Graphics are decent considering how old this game is... and the unprecedented camera controls make viewing the world a snap.
I only have two bits of beef with this game. One is everything is control with the left and right mouse buttons, there are no real hot keys to speak of this makes managing large groups of warriors a major pain. Second, there is no real strategy in battle besides using spells. The clumsy AIs and fight engine means whoever has the most units will probably win the battle. Be prepared to build lots of huts.
Other than that, this is a really fun game. I recommend it to anyone who is tired of the complete lack of diversity in modern strategy and war games. I'd really like to see Populous: The Beginning brought into the 21st century with new graphics and refined AI and hot keys. But since I haven't seen anything out of Bullfrog... its doubtful.

Best Game Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This has to be one of the best games ever made.

You are the Shaman of a tribe and you have special powers. You can shoot fireballs, lightning, cast death swamps, volcanoes, tornadoes, etc. However, despite how powerful your shaman is, it is still important to train your braves to fight. You can have a few different units other than the Shaman: the brave (he builds things and can fight, but not very well), the warrior (a tough hand to hand combat fighter), the fire warrior (he shoots fire at people from a distance), the priest (he converts other units to your side), and the spy (he can sneak into the enemie's base and set fire to buildings).

There is a lot of strategy to this game, not only with which units to build, but the terrain can be altered with the spells your shaman has. Don't like a mountain that's in your way? Level it. Tired of all that water? Make land.

There are also a lot of ways to reach your enemy: by land, boat, and air. Things can get hectic really quickly.

You should try this game out.

Standing The Test Of Time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Though this game was released in 1998, it still is one of the most entertaining and addictive war games I have ever had the pleasure of playing. In my search to find it again after my parents sold it some years ago, I felt frustrated that I couldn't find it anywhere. Thanks to online buying, I found it again. And wow, after playing it again, I've realized just how much I missed it!

As soon as my package arrived with my brand new Populous: The Beginning, I opened it and let the old memories come flooding back. Even though this is an older game, the graphics are still a joy to watch. The opening scene as the Shamon foresees the wars ahead sets the mood perfectly. It's a battle to survive as you play the Shamon on her quest to destroy the other tribes before they do the same.

Learn new spells, perfect your battle strategies, and create a great civilization as you conquer the many worlds and their unique obstacles. Even when completed, the replay value is incredibly high. One time through just isn't enough.

The only way to escape is to break the disc...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

That's what I had to do. This game is single-handedly responsible for my blowing a semester of college. Fortunately the classes were easy, but man I'm paying the price.

This is the only game I've ever began playing after dinner and didn't look up to see the time until the sun was rising the next day... well, with the exception of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, but that's only because I wanted to get the blasted thing over with and return the game to my cousin.

My only complaint is there's not enough swamp or fungus. It's delicious to hear the natives get gobbled up by these antipostes.

Prepare for a mouse point and click race

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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.

Ever played this game?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 26
Date: May 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Well, don't! I can't tell you just how horrible it is. First of all, you are not an all powerful entity. The graphics are slick, but sometimes choppy. Things that die also have the tendency of blocking the screen. The spells you can cast ... . You must "worship" totem poles to gain these spells. They take forever to get and are extremely limited in range or power. There are few things interesting. There are only five units is this game, and most of them are illogical. Take my word. Dont buy.

Best game ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: July 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Populous is the greatest with it's 25 3D worlds to explore, many followers, and devestating spells. The 25 levels of the game took me a few weeks to complete, but then i started playing the online, multiplayer games with other people. Compared to some of the people i have played, the AI in the game is not much. All together i would recomend getting this game.

Not for me

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 20
Date: October 16, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This was one of the worst games that I've ever played. The graphics were alright, but the game itself was bad. I mostly play games where you conquer,rule and build cites. Populous did let you build things - the options were very limited. The pleges weren't anything to get excited about either. Say for instance you were to do the plege with all the lochus-it looked so fake, it was as if a small tiny cloud was flying by. The tribe people practicly don't do anything. When you did let your people attack another tribe, there hardly was any action. When I bought this game, I expected it to be really good. Once I actually played it I wanted to return it.

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