Populous: The Beginning

Populous: The Beginning is a video game that consists of 2 releases

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Populous: The Beginning is the third in the series of Bullfrogs RTS God games, the game was the first in the series to utilise 3D Graphics and places you as a shaman guiding your people through battles against other tribes.

Overview

In this game you play the Shaman of a tribe instead of a God influencing a tribe, as in the two previous Populous games. During the course of 25 levels you have to defeat the three other Shamans and their tribes in order to ascend to Godhood. To do this you have to build a village (the base), train warriors, and learn new spells.

Gameplay

Shaman watching her Tornado do it's work

You typically start with only a Resurrection Site and a handful of tribesmen. Sometimes you start with some pre-built buildings. From there you normally must build more abodes, warrior huts etc in order to boost your population and train warriors. Several kinds can be trained. Normal villagers are needed for construction, which only uses wood. You also need villagers in huts to produce mana. With mana you can use spells. Only your Shaman can use spells, and every spell has a limited range. To beat a level, you need to kill every enemy villager and their Shaman. When every villager is killed, the Resurrection Site is destroyed, thus making it easier to kill the Shaman. With the site, the Shaman resurrects every time she dies.

The levels are all planets in a solar system. You start on the planet farthest out, and work your way in.

Spells

Shaman flying a balloon, having just cast the spell Erode

You have a variety of spells to use, and they are usually quite important for your success. They range from the simple offensive spells as fireball, tornado and lightning, to landscape altering spells like flatten, raise and lower. Those spells make this game quite special, as you can sink whole villages into the ocean, or create a natural wall around your own village.

Quick Plot Summary

This game happens before the two games which came before it. You are struggling to become a God, and so are the Shamans of the Dakini, Matak and Chumara tribes as well. To reach omnipotence you must fight your way to the center of the solar system. Once you do that, you reach Godhood, and help your tribe in one final confrontation with your newfound powers. Instead of moving the Shaman around on ground level then, you are the Shaman and you see everything from her point of view. And so you become the God you play in both of the first games.

An expansion called Undiscovered Worlds was released in 1999, continuing the story. You play a new Shaman who has to restore peace in the Solar System.

General Information Edit

Game Name	Populous: The Beginning
Platform(s)	PlayStation PC PlayStation 3 Nintendo DS
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Developer(s)	Bullfrog Productions, Ltd.
Genres	Add a new genre Real-Time Strategy
Themes	Add a new theme Post-Apocalyptic
Original US Release	need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases