Populous DS (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

It's incredible to think but the original Populous was released two decades ago this year by UK developer Bullfrog. Regarded by many as the seminal God Game, the award winning game arguably started a genre all of its own and without it we probably would never have seen games like The Sims which have proven so popular all over the world. The original was released on 16 Bit home computers such as the Atari St and the Amiga but this new handheld version claims to use the DS' unique features in a fully integrated manner, but is it the best version yet?

Gameplay

The actual mechanics of Populous have remained unchanged since the original but just in case you happen to be under 20 years old, here's the games premise in a nutshell. Populous is a battle between two deities: one good and one evil. Each begins the game controlling a small section of land with the objective being to make it habitable for your followers. This involves you leveling the land so that your followers can build houses and begin to develop communities and so accept you as their God. There collective worship makes you grow stronger so you'll eventually be able to perform miracles, creating Natural Disasters as well as far more pleasant exhibitions of your powers. Your ultimate goal though is to build up a stronger following than the opposing God and so defeat his followers in the Final Battle. Outside of the main game you can also take on up to four friends but only through Wi-fi as sadly there's no online option available.

Controls

Although the game keeps insisting that it's all controlled with the stylus you will be required to use the d-pad and other buttons to move the curser and perform a variety of other tasks. The game is reasonably complicated to begin with though and so you are treated to a rather detailed tutorial before you even get a crack at controlling your own world.

Graphics

Visually the game looks almost exactly the same as it did all those years ago although the developers have added a number of themed worlds in order to bring it up to date. There's a Fairytale Land that is rich in energy but its inhabitants lack any sort of longevity, a Japanese Land, which lacks the energy of the previous land but more than makes up for it with the lifespan of the worshippers and there's even a Nintendo themed Land with a landscape and building modeled on various consoles like the SNES and Wii. The biggest enhancement though is probably with the cut screens, which occur after the odd disaster and are really quite good.

Sound

Audio wise Populous is a little disappointing as there seem to be only a handful of sound effects that repeat constantly.

Dual screen

As this used to be a mouse driven game it makes complete sense that you should use the stylus and we are happy to report that controlling your world is as easy as you'd imagine, DS wise.

Final comments

For its time Populous was a groundbreaking title and the ability to rule this miniature world captured the imagination of legions of gamers. However this concept has improved significantly and as a result it feels a little dated even when you consider the various graphical enhancements. The result is a game, which while a perfect conversion, is only likely to appeal to retro enthusiasts and fans of the original who feel the need to take charge of this tiny pixilated land once again.

Pro: Good Use of the Touch Screen, Nice Cut Screens.
Con: Hasn't Aged as Well as You'd Imagine.
Final score: 7

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