Populous
Graphics
Populous was one of the first games released on the SNES. So, as you might imagine, the graphics really aren't all that impressive. As you play, you come across many different landscapes. From ''Grassy Plains'' to ''Rock and Lava'', and some really bizarre and amusing looking areas. They all look fairly different, but there aren't enough of them, in my opinion. The landscapes start to get kind of repetitive after a while, and you'll wish there was something different available. Depending on the landscape, people, buildings, and other landforms change drastically. I find it interesting, that on such an old game, the graphics aren't terribly flat and uninteresting. I guess this game can be thought of as extremely basic 3D.
Gameplay
Populous is both complicated and simple at the same time. Learning how to play the game can be difficult at first, because things are setup in a fairly confusing way. There are many, many icons, and unless you carefully read the instructions, it's almost impossible to tell what most of them do without a lot of trial and error.
There are three ways to play Populous. The tutorial mode, which is for beginners, lets you start playing a level with a pretty big advantage. This is to help you experiment and learn the controls a little without losing right away. There is also a Custom game, in which you can change and settings you want, and have complete control over how the level is setup. In this mode, you can also play as ''Evil'' instead of ''Good''. The main mode is called Conquest. It consists of about 990 different levels. However, you don't play through all 989 of them when you go through the game. You jump through them depending, I think, on how fast you beat the previous level. For example, if you beat level 10 quickly, you may jump next to level 17. If you took a long time, you might only jump to level 13.
Depending on the level you are playing, you'll have different options available to you. At the start of a level, all you can really do is raise and lower land. The objective is to get the land as flat as possible so that your people can build castles and become stronger. As you do this, you will then be able to cause Earthquakes on enemy ground, create deadly swamps, make knights, flood the enemy, and even cause Armageddon. As the game goes on, you will find that the enemy will have a greater and greater advantage. In some levels, in fact, you won't be able to do any of the above actions, but your enemy will be able to do all of them. Other variables change from level to level, as well. For example, a flood can either kill people instantly, or just damage characters until they're removed from the water. It's these small changes that keep things interesting. The final objective in each level is to completely destroy the enemy characters.
Music
Well, there really isn't too much music to be found in the game. There are some really simple sound effects, though. Most of the time, the sound effects have little to do with the event. They just exist to let you know that something worthy of your attention has happened somewhere. You do have the option to turn the sound effects off, if you choose to do so.
Story
I never really seemed to notice any well defined story in Populous. A struggle between good and evil on many worlds is basically all there is to it. With this kind of game, that's really all you need.
Conclusion
Populous is a game that many people don't seem to enjoy. It can be boring and frustrating at times. But it can also be surprisingly addictive to play. I really don't think that it's a bad game at all. I suggest you buy it and give it a try. You might really enjoy it.
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