For many gamers Populous was their
first – yes, their first introduction to a strategy game. The game gave players
the opportunity to act as a god, building or destroying as they wanted. It truly
was a ground-breaking game when it was originally released in 1989. Now almost
20 years later Populous has returned, this time on everyone’s favorite retro
system, the Nintendo DS. Just how well does a game almost 20 years old hold up
to today’s gaming standards?
The first attention grabber for me
was just how accurate the game was to the original game. In fact, most of the
game is identical to the original version, which just might turn off many gamers
almost immediately. The graphics and gameplay remain relatively untouched with
only some minor overhauls. You get a brief cut scene when you activate one of
your god’s special powers (miracles). The terrains (levels) are also changed
with additional designs not found in the original. Sure, a Candy-land themed
design might sound interesting on paper but the actual gameplay impact is
minimal.
In case you’ve never played Populous
before and you are wondering what all the fuss was about, let’s go over the
premise of the game. The game boils down between a battle of good and evil
between two deities. Each deity starts off controlling a small portion of the
overall landscape far from the other god’s followers. You have to make the land
habitable for your followers to allow them to grow and build, while raising
their overall acceptance for you. As your followers keep building and expanding
you will slowly grow more powerful, allowing you to unleash stronger miracles
(natural disasters). The final goal is to build up a stronger following than the
other god and win the final battle against his followers.
The controls are where Populous for
the DS can still shine thanks to the touch screen. Issuing the commands and
raising and lowering the landscape for development can all be done with the
stylus. Just a few simply taps and you’ll issue all of the commands you need.
When done right, the stylus for the DS is almost an equivalent to the mouse for
the PC. Thankfully Populous for the DS does a great job with using the stylus to
make the controls as easy as possible.
Yet easy controls still cannot cover
up gameplay that is close to 20 years old. The gameplay becomes repetitive very
fast since you keep lowering and raising land to build up the followers’ spirits
in you. Once you’ve built up enough energy (called psyche) you can then call
upon a miracle to unleash a natural disaster against the other god or send out a
warrior to attack the opposing villagers. What you end up with is a game having
you do the same commands over and over again. It flows usually like this:
flatten land, hit the opposing villages with a disaster, keep flattening land,
unleash another disaster and finally wage Armageddon to determine the ultimate
victor. But what I found interesting was the game still had me winning what I
thought were sure defeats since the other god had control of more land than me.
Ultimately Populous is a game that
will please many gamers while frustrating just as many simply because they’re
expecting so much more. This version isn’t a re-invention of the classic game
with new gameplay elements to spruce up an old game for a new generation. This
is Populous the way we played it years ago, just with a new wax job, instead of
the full overhaul. But for me Populous is still a fun and entertaining game that
had me plotting my next move in hopes of getting the best possible outcome. You
can play the game with a quick knee jerk reaction style but slowing down and
plotting your next move can give you even more possibilities. Sure it doesn’t
have the sizzle of a modern game but Populous is still one of the granddaddies
of gaming.
Gameplay: 7.4
The gameplay struggles to hold up after 20 years due to the repetitive nature of
the actual game.
Graphics: 7.0
This isn’t the game to show off to your friends, unless your friends want to be
reminded of what Populous looked like in 1989, just touched up a little.
Sound: 6.0
You’ll hear the sound effects more than the music but even the sound effects are
limited and repetitive.
Concept: 8.0
The DS version does a great job of utilizing the touch-screen capabilities. But
even if you don’t want to use the touch screen the button controls are just as
easy to pick up and master. I would have never imagined that Populous could play
so easy on a handheld system.
Multiplayer: 7.5
The game supports up to four players via local Wi-Fi but the game lacks true
internet Wi-Fi multiplayer.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Due to the easy controls I don’t see many
gamers having a problem jumping head first into Populous.
Overall: 7.2
Populous might not have aged as well as some of us would have hoped but even
then the game is a great way to get your feet wet with a strategy game. If
you’re a hardcore strategy gamer craving a deep and involved strategy game then
you won’t find it here. Yet if you want to relive the glory days of gaming then
don’t miss out in playing Populous again.
