Populous the Beginning is an addicting god/strategy game that'll keep you interested the whole way through.

User Rating: 7.5 | Populous: The Beginning (Classic) PC
Populous the Beginning is a god/strategy game that was made by Bullfrog way back in 1998, following the success of the series previous two titles. While The Beginning can be quite simplistic at times in that there really isn't much variety to the strategies you can use, the hectic combat and spell flinging is addicting, and ultimately makes Populous the Beginning more than capable of keeping you interested throughout all 25 of its single player levels.

First thing you'll definitely notice about The Beginning, is that you aren't playing as a god this time. You play as a shaman instead, who has similar abiliites to a god, but is more restricted as her spells all have a limited range since she is a mere mortal who has to walk around just like everyone else. But she is still your most powerful character by far and is essential to your success in the campaign. She'll gain access to more spells as you proceed, and becomes more powerful when you get more followers, as followers generate mana for spell casting.

Your basic objective on each world is always to defeat your enemy, using conventional means or otherwise. To do this, you'll generally have to build up a village on each world, and train yourself an army that will eventually consist of warriors, preachers who can convert the enemy's followers, firewarriors who shoot fireballs, and spies who can sabotage enemy buildings. There are also Braves who construct your buildings and can be trained into those varying types of followers. Each follower has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, warriors are the best fighters in the game and generally live the longest, but they are extremely vulnerable to preachers, while preachers are vulnerable to enemy preachers. One thing is always consistent however- every type of unit in the game is easily countered by a well-prepared Shaman. So the Shaman is essentially a wild card that is devastating when fully charged.

While you do need a well-balanced force to succeed, the actual combat is quite simplistic. No need for complicated positioning or formations since combat quickly deforms into a blob of followers. What you do need to manage however is your Shaman, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble, or a lot of spells could go unused very quickly. Despite the simplistic combat however, the game tends to be very difficult, for the campaign's difficulty ramps up really quick. You can expect to run into some real challenge as early as level 9. And it only gets harder from there. This is mostly due to a combination of the fact that the enemy tribes generally start with a well-developed village, and the AI can be quite vicious in some levels. The AI likes using increasingly large attack groups as the game goes on, and they make good use of their own Shaman's spells. The only nit-pick against the AI is that it is almost completely scripted, so it is completely predictable with its attack patterns in all of the levels. They will generally use the exact same routes every time as well. So you'll eventually know what to expect from the AI in a level if you keep replaying it. Its also unfortuante that you can't play multiplayer matches with the AI.

When your done with the single player campaign, you can move on to the Beginning's multiplayer. Unfortunately, the main site for online play went down a while ago, so you will have to find the other methods available on the web in order to play online(Wikipedia's Populous the Beginning article has some links for this). Even if you did go online though, there aren't that many maps available, so it probably won't keep you occupied for a very long time. There are also modem and LAN modes available as well.

Graphically, The Beginning does a great job of making a global map for you to play on, so the sights to be seen here are impressive, especially how you can see units and buildings on the horizon at times. (Albeit, these graphics are dated at this point, but their still impressive). Sound wise, the game has some great sounds for the spells, but everything else merely gets the job done, and nothing else.

Ultimately, Populous: The Beginning is an addicting god/strategy game that'll dare you to try and make your way through its punishing single player campaign. And the game is certainly a blast to play through if your in for the long haul.

Pros: Great graphics. Challenging and addicting Sinlge player campaign. Capable AI.

Cons: AI is completely scripted, and thus predictable. Main Multiplayer site is down. Multiplayer itself is lacking.

Recommendable for: Strategy fans who like some challenging and hectic action.