Populous: The Beginning - PlayStation

If you had a Megadrive or an Amiga, chances are you will have played Populous at one time or another. The premise then was to raise or flatten the land in order for your little followers to build houses and castles and ultimately, breed. This increased your following and made you more powerful. As your power increased you could unleash various God type attacks (volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.) upon the followers of your nemesis God. This would lead up to Armageddon, with all subjects meeting in the middle for massive ruck. Simple.

Populous The Beginning from Bullfrog places you as a shaman, the spiritual leader of your people. Unusually for a shaman you are also charged as building site foreman, planning and overseeing the construction of huts and the like, for your faithful to live in. The goal of the game is to conquer twenty five worlds which are set out with mission style objectives. The worlds are awash with artefacts at which you must worship, to unlock the secrets of that world. These artefacts are things like totem poles and obelisks which, when worshipped enough, will grant your shaman knowledge and magic.
To conquer a world you must complete the objectives set out. These range from simply destroying the opposing tribes to completing specific actions without being destroyed yourself. You lose if all your followers are killed. This understandably stops them from worshipping you and your power (in the form of mana) is depleted.

This is a fantastic 3D twist on the original and will surely appeal to those who have "Godded" it up in the past.
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