POPULOUS III: THE BEGINNING

                   Reviewed by Mike Raven

I wouldn't have normally bought this game, despite having played
the original Populous on the old Sega Master System almost until
my eyes burned up. Too difficult to get started with, I told
myself.

Suddenly the choice was taken away as a mate of mine demanded a
multi-player game of it, so armed with a new copy of the game, I
dropped into another world where lightning appears at the end of
fingertips and bees are military weapons...

The basis of the game is that you are one of many tribes fighting
for victory and survival. With your magical shaman and a handful
of men you build huts for more men, warrior training to upgrade
your men to warriors, guard posts to keep a look-out for enemy
attacks and the such like.

It is very much on the strategy side, and the outcome of a
invasion, either towards you or from you to an enemy tribe, all
depends on how well you command your troops. If you can get in and
start wrecking huts and buildings, great. If the enemy has a
preacher, however, your men will sit and listen to him and
possibly switch sides eventually as well! Your shaman and its
arrangement of spells is very important here. Casting Bees into
the heart of an enemy group will scatter many of the men, leaving
those remaining outnumbered. A Blast spell will kill one or two
enemy men, including their shaman if you target him. Lightning is
more devastating, for dealing with an enemy army or setting a
building on fire. There are many more spells, but I'll let you
discover them.

Needless to say, with the right selection of spells your shaman
can raise havoc in an enemy camp while still making sure no one
gets too close to them. Still, the best defence for your shaman is
a couple of warriors, and remember that.


An interesting part of the game is that all shamans have a
reincarnation point, and providing they still have men in their
tribe they will re-appear a short time after dying.

The game is pretty easy to get started, with a decent tutorial
that will teach you how to play, advising on what buildings to
build, when to attack, what to attack with and so on.

It is a difficult game once you get past the first few missions,
and I do think it could have been improved, perhaps with the
addition of a random map generator. Nevertheless, it is a very
enjoyable game and is much simpler to play than you would think.

OVERALL 84%
Maybe a bit limited if you get stuck on a level, but excellent
graphics, atmospheric sound effects and decent AI make this game a
classic.


                              - o -