Populous

Developer: Bullfrog	Graphics:
Publisher: Electronic Arts	Sound:
Year: 1989	Difficulty:
Genre: Strategy	Replay value:
Number of players: 1	My overall rating:	9/10

Populous is one of the first wargames. The goal is to become a god (just that). For this, you need to grow your civilization (from skin tents to fortified castles), which is limited mostly to level the ground to give your followers enough room to build and develop.
When they are numerous enough, you will have lead them to exterminate the enemy tribes (each protected by a different deity). The more adepts you get, the more powerful you become. You'll have at your disposal a series of cataclysms more and more consistent to kill your opponents (earthquake, tsunami, volcano, etc.).

The difficulty increases gradually and over 500 levels, there is plenty to do!
Good scores will allow you to skip a few ones, fortunately, because you quickly find yourself repeating the same strategy over and over again. After a moment however, the computer will become so strong that you will probably need a second set of hands to see the end.

Two extensions came next: The Promised Lands and The Final Frontier, and a world editor as well.
See also: Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods on the Amiga and Populous: The Beginning on Playstation and PC.

Places to download:
Amiga Island
Insert Disk 2
Planet Emulation
Amiga World
The Game Archives
The Old Computer

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