Release Date: 12/16/90 (JP) 8/13/91 (US)
Developer: Bullfrog
Publisher: Electronic Arts (JP), Acclaim (US), Imagineer (EU)
When I first played this game, I was really frustrated. I found this game inscrutable and inaccessible, citing that this game did not effectively make the jump from a computer sim game to the console. Having played it again for this update...well, you'll see.
First things first; that Super Famicom box art is so much better than the North American box. It actually captures the mood and play style of the game, and sells a visual aesthetic. It is very rare, though, that the Japanese box is not better than the North American one (they have sold art books of Super Famicom box art).
Background
Populous is both an interesting game, and an incredibly frustrating one. It is an interesting game in that it is the first true God simulation game ever made (I really don't count Actraiser since it was more of a platforming/hack-n-slash hybrid), and it is one of the first games developed by the king of God-simulators, Peter Molyneux. You may know him as the brain behind other god-sim or hero-sim games, such as Godus, Fable, and Black and White. He also is pretty notorious for overselling the features in his games.
The game, when it came out originally for the PC and PC consoles, was very well received and received universal critical acclaim. The game, after this, was soon ported to every available system and console under the sun, hoping to cash in on that PC success. Yet, as many developers learned during this period, just because something sells well on PC doesn't mean it can perform well on consoles. I believe that the SNES might have been one of the poorer ports of this game (I really can't comment on any of the others as I haven't played any of the others except the MS-DOS version).
This is a frustrating game, though, in that the interface, isometric controls, learning curve, and general game-play are all so murky and confusing that this game tests your patience. But more on that in a few seconds.
Gameplay
The goal of the game is simple: you, as a God, shape the Earth for your followers to grow and prosper so that they can take over the followers of your rival god, the computer. The player controls a whole number of miracles, such as raising and lowering the earth, creating floods, earthquakes, or raising volcanoes, each with a specific goal of shaping the earth in a way that benefits your own people or causing detriment to your enemy.
Case in point: here is the basic game-play interface...
One, you notice that there is a lot going on the screen. You have the overall map in the upper left, the meters of energy on the upper right, your game-play map in the center, and then two menus on the lower left and right that are always present. Now an interface like this would make sense on a computer, as you could quick scroll through commands with a keyboard, or even just click on a command with a mouse. On a SNES controller, though, this sort of system is VERY hard to navigate.
When you first pop the game in and start playing a match, you will most likely be confused. All you will likely see is a patch of green surrounded by all your cursors. Now all the menus are labeled with symbols, but they never highlight what these symbols do except through trial and error. Some of these symbols, such as the increase/decrease elevation, don't work if you don't have power. Now if you can't understand that you need power to perform these "miracles," as the game doesn't explain this to you, you will be pressing every button known to man until something happens. Eventually I made progress when I found a little guy, and noticed that if I managed to flatten out the land, he would build a little house. All of this I had to figure out on my own.
Even when I tried playing on the game's tutorial mode, no real help is given to you to help decipher the game-play; the tutorial mode is simply a blank slate map for you to play around with. The D-Pad helps you navigate around the map and the menus, and the select button switches you from the map to the menus. The A and B buttons, on their own, can raise and lower the Earth selected as you see fit. This is a complex game to not have any instructions included in the game-play. I imagine that, if I had the manual, some of these features would be explained, but, alas, I did not. I had to look up an online FAQ to figure out how to dig into this game. Now, imagine this was the early 90s before the internet became a mainstream thing, and way before online FAQs became a thing, what would I do as a gamer? Nothing! I would be pissed because I bought a new game that basically functions as an obtuse screensaver.
This all sounds great on paper, but navigating this confusing jumble of menus, confusing controls, and maps is a huge mess when learning this game. As I said, the game gives no inherent indication of what to do, be it as far as controls or even what your objectives are. I didn't even realize, at first, that you had enemy troops; I just assumed everyone was my little believer until they started fighting one another (awkward). Also, the maps (unless you hold down a shoulder button), take a while to navigate, and once you have gotten away from a familiar area, it can be hard to find your way back to where you were. The massive amounts of menus onscreen are incredibly confusing; I still, after playing a good bit for this review, and then revisiting it for this review, AND after reading an FAQ online, still have no clue what some of the menu buttons do.
It doesn't help that the game is incredibly unforgiving. I played several "Conquest" matches against the computer, and usually by the time I could flatten my people's land, let them build their homesteads, and even think about raising an army, the enemy was already moving into my territory in droves. It is like a person going onto Battle.net and playing classic Starcraft nowadays; you will get dominated before you even have your feet under you.
If you are interested in this game, the most beneficial thing you can do, in game, is watch a match between two computer players, as that will show you how the game is "supposed" to be played.
Commercials and Ads
Final Thoughts
I just think that this game was way too much for the Super Nintendo, at least at this early in the SNES lifespan. This was practically a launch game for the system, and it is huge, and you can tell, even by the interface, that they are trying to jam it all in. And believe me when I say, this game will take FOREVER to complete (there are over 500 different levels and scenarios in the game to play through). It just seemed like the developers were grappling with the best way to put this game onto a fledgling system, and instead what they created was a lackluster port. It is just a struggle just to be able to tell what is going on within the game, so why would that be an enjoyable experience for me as a gamer?
In fairness, I will also say that this is not my type of game. I really struggle with sim games and building games. I am sure there are people out there who will dig this game, and will enjoy figuring out the inner workings and complexities. That person, though, will not be me. I don't enjoy this game one bit.
I have heard there are several good sequels for this game, so hopefully the later ones will remedy many of the problems.
I should mention that I do kind of enjoy the music to this game, even if it is a little repetitive. It is very atmospheric with this heart-beat motif. The heart-beat tends to quicken or slow down depending on how you are doing. Just a neat little side thought.
If you are interested in adding it to your collection, it is very cheap (around $5).
Well guys, that is it for this game. Next time we will be playing something a lot more...mindless to say the least. It should be fun at least.
First things first; that Super Famicom box art is so much better than the North American box. It actually captures the mood and play style of the game, and sells a visual aesthetic. It is very rare, though, that the Japanese box is not better than the North American one (they have sold art books of Super Famicom box art).
Background
Populous is both an interesting game, and an incredibly frustrating one. It is an interesting game in that it is the first true God simulation game ever made (I really don't count Actraiser since it was more of a platforming/hack-n-slash hybrid), and it is one of the first games developed by the king of God-simulators, Peter Molyneux. You may know him as the brain behind other god-sim or hero-sim games, such as Godus, Fable, and Black and White. He also is pretty notorious for overselling the features in his games.
 |
| Odds are he just made a promise he couldn't keep. |
This is a frustrating game, though, in that the interface, isometric controls, learning curve, and general game-play are all so murky and confusing that this game tests your patience. But more on that in a few seconds.
Gameplay
The goal of the game is simple: you, as a God, shape the Earth for your followers to grow and prosper so that they can take over the followers of your rival god, the computer. The player controls a whole number of miracles, such as raising and lowering the earth, creating floods, earthquakes, or raising volcanoes, each with a specific goal of shaping the earth in a way that benefits your own people or causing detriment to your enemy.
Case in point: here is the basic game-play interface...
One, you notice that there is a lot going on the screen. You have the overall map in the upper left, the meters of energy on the upper right, your game-play map in the center, and then two menus on the lower left and right that are always present. Now an interface like this would make sense on a computer, as you could quick scroll through commands with a keyboard, or even just click on a command with a mouse. On a SNES controller, though, this sort of system is VERY hard to navigate.
When you first pop the game in and start playing a match, you will most likely be confused. All you will likely see is a patch of green surrounded by all your cursors. Now all the menus are labeled with symbols, but they never highlight what these symbols do except through trial and error. Some of these symbols, such as the increase/decrease elevation, don't work if you don't have power. Now if you can't understand that you need power to perform these "miracles," as the game doesn't explain this to you, you will be pressing every button known to man until something happens. Eventually I made progress when I found a little guy, and noticed that if I managed to flatten out the land, he would build a little house. All of this I had to figure out on my own.
Even when I tried playing on the game's tutorial mode, no real help is given to you to help decipher the game-play; the tutorial mode is simply a blank slate map for you to play around with. The D-Pad helps you navigate around the map and the menus, and the select button switches you from the map to the menus. The A and B buttons, on their own, can raise and lower the Earth selected as you see fit. This is a complex game to not have any instructions included in the game-play. I imagine that, if I had the manual, some of these features would be explained, but, alas, I did not. I had to look up an online FAQ to figure out how to dig into this game. Now, imagine this was the early 90s before the internet became a mainstream thing, and way before online FAQs became a thing, what would I do as a gamer? Nothing! I would be pissed because I bought a new game that basically functions as an obtuse screensaver.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....
So okay, imagine you do your research and have the basic controls figured out. Here's the gameplay loop: each map starts with generally a couple humans available to you, with a couple others popping up from the enemy. The initial goal is to raise or lower the land around your humans in order to flatten it out so that it an be cultivated and settled (it's like Actraiser, but slow!). From there, the humans, generally on their own, will begin to build larger and larger homesteads and begin to populate. This will, in turn, grow your "mana" or belief power to higher heights, allowing you to perform new miracles. Eventually, your towns will grow and you can begin to raise military troops, and then target the enemy. This is very much an adversarial game. To succeed, you must conquer your enemy territory with your own. This means that it is really more of a sim/strategy game than just a fun "sim" game.
Now the menus around the map control such things such as if you can pause the action (the Zzzz icon), waiting a "turn" within the game, changing day into night, etc. You can select your individuals (known as "peeps"...seriously), your townships in general, and use the menu to quickly shift between towns and areas on the map. There is a lot of depth for such an early SNES game.
I praise this game for not only its depth, but also its customization options. Before each match, you get to see all the options that are being set for this particular scenario, such as if your enemy "god" can use certain miracles, how aggressive they will be, etc (in Conquest mode, you do not get as much of a choice). For those who are interested, there are tons that you can do to modify your playing experience.
Now the menus around the map control such things such as if you can pause the action (the Zzzz icon), waiting a "turn" within the game, changing day into night, etc. You can select your individuals (known as "peeps"...seriously), your townships in general, and use the menu to quickly shift between towns and areas on the map. There is a lot of depth for such an early SNES game.
All these screens look the same...
I praise this game for not only its depth, but also its customization options. Before each match, you get to see all the options that are being set for this particular scenario, such as if your enemy "god" can use certain miracles, how aggressive they will be, etc (in Conquest mode, you do not get as much of a choice). For those who are interested, there are tons that you can do to modify your playing experience.
This all sounds great on paper, but navigating this confusing jumble of menus, confusing controls, and maps is a huge mess when learning this game. As I said, the game gives no inherent indication of what to do, be it as far as controls or even what your objectives are. I didn't even realize, at first, that you had enemy troops; I just assumed everyone was my little believer until they started fighting one another (awkward). Also, the maps (unless you hold down a shoulder button), take a while to navigate, and once you have gotten away from a familiar area, it can be hard to find your way back to where you were. The massive amounts of menus onscreen are incredibly confusing; I still, after playing a good bit for this review, and then revisiting it for this review, AND after reading an FAQ online, still have no clue what some of the menu buttons do.
It doesn't help that the game is incredibly unforgiving. I played several "Conquest" matches against the computer, and usually by the time I could flatten my people's land, let them build their homesteads, and even think about raising an army, the enemy was already moving into my territory in droves. It is like a person going onto Battle.net and playing classic Starcraft nowadays; you will get dominated before you even have your feet under you.
If you are interested in this game, the most beneficial thing you can do, in game, is watch a match between two computer players, as that will show you how the game is "supposed" to be played.
Commercials and Ads
Final Thoughts
I just think that this game was way too much for the Super Nintendo, at least at this early in the SNES lifespan. This was practically a launch game for the system, and it is huge, and you can tell, even by the interface, that they are trying to jam it all in. And believe me when I say, this game will take FOREVER to complete (there are over 500 different levels and scenarios in the game to play through). It just seemed like the developers were grappling with the best way to put this game onto a fledgling system, and instead what they created was a lackluster port. It is just a struggle just to be able to tell what is going on within the game, so why would that be an enjoyable experience for me as a gamer?
In fairness, I will also say that this is not my type of game. I really struggle with sim games and building games. I am sure there are people out there who will dig this game, and will enjoy figuring out the inner workings and complexities. That person, though, will not be me. I don't enjoy this game one bit.
I have heard there are several good sequels for this game, so hopefully the later ones will remedy many of the problems.
I should mention that I do kind of enjoy the music to this game, even if it is a little repetitive. It is very atmospheric with this heart-beat motif. The heart-beat tends to quicken or slow down depending on how you are doing. Just a neat little side thought.
If you are interested in adding it to your collection, it is very cheap (around $5).
Well guys, that is it for this game. Next time we will be playing something a lot more...mindless to say the least. It should be fun at least.
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