Populous

Following my Wizard of Wor post, I thought I’d do something similar and talk about another important game from my childhood. That game is Populous.

Populous was the first ‘God’ game and was originally released in 1989 on the Amiga, but later ported to various systems, including the Sega Mega Drive. I came across the title in my local video rental store. I’m not sure of the exact year but I know it was around the time of the original Mortal Kombat console release – 1993.

Mortal Kombat was the game everyone was talking about and wanted to play. One way or another, I convinced my parents to rent the title for me. But after only a few short hours I was already rather bored of it. The ‘shock’ value of the title (at least at the time) wore off fast, and I didn’t really care for the combat. So I took the game back to the video store to swap it for something else.

On the shelf was a battered cardboard Sega Genesis box, which was a little weird to see in the UK. (On a fun little side note, when I first got my Mega Drive it came with a UK Sonic the Hedgehog box, but a Japanese game cartridge). The game on the shelf was, of course, Populous. I decided to give it a try.

In Populous you play a God. You have an isometric view of the world and using the ‘mana’ generated by your followers, you get to do all kinds of cool things like raise and lower the land, trigger earthquakes and explode volcanoes. Your goal is to lead your followers to victory against rival tribes and their own Gods, who can hit your own followers with similar destructive powers.

I got pretty hooked on the title. In fact, it’s probably the game that got me into strategy in general. Although regarded as a ‘God’ game, it’s a game with a lot of warfare as you create enough land for your tribe to advance, building castles and unleashing deadly knights. If it wasn’t for Populous, I probably wouldn’t be playing Attila right now.

For the next year or so, I had Populous on a semi-permanent rental. It’s not like anyone else wanted the game in its battered old Genesis box, not when games like Mortal Kombat were out there and people were talking about the upcoming PlayStation. But I loved it. And when the video store I’d been renting it from was going to clear out all of its old games ready for the PS release, I was able to convince the owner to sell it to me, I think for about 7 quid.

And I still have it today, preserved in its battered box with its £2.50 rental sticker on the cover. And yes, it still works. They sure don’t make hardware like they used to. Populous remains an addictive and enjoyable game, even today. Playing God isn’t really something that stops being fun.