Populous: The Beginning

Populous: The Beginning är ett spel som kan skryta med avancerad grafik, mäktig detaljrikedom och nätverksstöd. Allt detta är mycket trevligt, men spelet har något annat som lyser över allt annat. Spelkänslan finns kvar från den gamla goda tiden, om det nu fanns en sådan.

Populous: The Beginning is een spel dat barst van de gameplay. De strijd op leven en dood tussen de stammen is heftig en wordt goed in beeld gebracht maar het is vooral de geweldige magie waardoor het spel tot ongekende hoogten stijgt. Een goddelijke game die ik op de valteep nomineer voor strategy game van het jaar.

You've probably heard of the original Populous game. It was one of the very first 'god-games.' Created at a time when other games only let you fly, fight, or just forget reality for a few moments, Populous put you in command of an entire world. In the years since its introduction, aspects of Populous have appeared in almost all later god-games and it could be credited with creating a new genre of computer games.

Dette er dog absolut småting, og bør ikke forhindre dig i at piske ud og købe spillet. Populous: The Beginning er det bedste spil, jeg har spillet i MEGET lang tid.

There's always a risk when using such devices that the game will turn into a series of puzzle pieces. But that didn't happen in the scenarios I played. The missions are well-balanced and open enough in structure that you'll find solutions in more than one direction and remain active and interested even when you feel stuck.

Wer befürchtet hatte, Bullfrog würde nach dem Fortgang von Peter Molyneux nur noch bekannte Titel neu aufwärmen, wird eines Besseren belehrt: Populous 3 spielt sich nicht nur komplett anders als seine Vorgänger, sondern übertrifft die Echtzeit-Pioniere noch. Zwar fehlt mir das Gefühl der Originale, wirklich eine neue Welt zu schaffen. Dafür konnte mich das Spiel dank der motivierenden Hatz nach neuen Zaubersprüchen und der durchweg spannenden Missionen für lange Zeit fesseln. Stets gibt es Neues zu entdecken, jeder Level verlangt nach einer anderen Taktik, jedes Scharmützel ist eine neue Herausforderung. Schade nur, daß keine Zwischensequenzen die Story fortführen.

In the end I found Populous to be incredibly entertaining for about two weeks. Unfortunately, even with the multiplayer options, I just didn't find myself returning to it that often. Now that your followers are dependant on you for every move they make, you don't get the enjoyment of just watching them live out their lives that was so much a part of the original two games. Still, if you like real-time strategy games, this is one of the most innovative and well-designed examples of that genre to come out in a long time.

Toch blijft Populous 3 een prachtig spel. Het geeft je echt een gevoel van macht, wanneer je de vijand ziet verschrompelen onder het geweld dat jij op hen loslaat en je zou er zelfs bijna de minpuntjes bij vergeten. Jammer dat deze net zo bepalend zijn voor het verloop van het spel, het wordt er een stuk frustrerender (èn moeilijker) door. Zoals Peter Molyneux het waarschijnlijk zou zeggen..... "It's such a shame!"

Det märks att Peter Molyneux inte har varit inblandad i Populous: The Beginning. Precis som alla stora spelskapare sätter han sin speciella touch på sina produkter, och i det här fallet saknas just den. Trots att det var han som lade grunden till spelidén. Bullfrog är inga klåpare, tvärtom, de har trots allt lyckats att skapa en intressant produkt. Men om Populous: The Beginning hade producerats av Peter Molyneux skulle det förmodligen ha varit så mycket bättre.

Populous: The Beginning is a stylish and solid game. It utilizes current graphical technology beautifully and delivers a very interesting gaming experience. While it still falls prey to some of the more irksome pitfalls of the genre, it manages to break through the haze and shed some new light on the masses. Both the heretics and the faithful will get a kick out of this one.

Nur selten erreichte uns unterbezahlte Spieletester ein Programm, das so aus einem Guß ist. Ob ich nun mein Augenmerk auf die fein abgestimmten Level, die kultische Musik oder die abwechslungsreichen Katastrophen richte: Hier paßt praktisch alles zusammen.

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.

It feels a little more like a modern RTS than the previous Populous titles - complete with some frustrating micromanagement and unit AI - but it has a charm all its own. There is also a PSone port of this game, but here's a little secret. Console RTS controls in the late '90s were not good. Stick to the PC version.

The only real problem with Populous: The Beginning is the difficulty in controlling your minions. Battles can be quite chaotic and frenetic, even at the lowest speed setting. Your minions can be difficult to control with any precision, as they often act with a mind of their own. This is both a good thing (they'll find work to do if they're standing around idle) and a bad thing (they'll often run headlong into battle while you're trying to formulate a plan). As it stands, Populous: The Beginning has enough innovation to make it more than just a run-of-the-mill real-time strategy game. It isn't really Populous, but it's a solid game with some interesting twists and features.

Overall the game is a blast to play, but definitely suffers from an element of repetitiveness. The first, second, and third times you play it you'll love it, but by the tenth time you watch hordes of little subjects bashing down buildings amidst tornadoes, bug swarms and volcanoes it has become a bit redundant.

Despite some visual flourishes and an effective array of land-warping and death-dealing spells, Populous: The Beginning is a disappointment that doesn't live up to the legacy of the first two games.

Playing Populous: The Beginning was an interesting experience, especially for those who may have also played any of the Populous series on the PC. Although an excellent port to the PlayStation, those who have played with a mouse cannot help but find themselves limited by the control scheme of the control pad. However, I must stress that this should not be seen as a fault on the game designers, as they've done an excellent job of converting the interface to a console-friendly one. My suspicion is that traditional PlayStation users who have never played Populous before, or have never played on the PC before, won't have any problems.

It's not that Populous: The Beginning is a bad game, it's just a bad PlayStation game. The controller really isn't up to the task of commanding tons of miniscule units with any amount of precision, and the graphics are so muddy you can't discern what's going on a good portion of the time. Also, the game crashed at least once on every PlayStation we tried it on. Get the PC version, instead. It's better in every way.