Populous (series)
Populous | |
---|---|
Genre(s) | God game |
Developer(s) | Bullfrog Productions |
Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
Creator(s) | Peter Molyneux |
First release | Populous 1989 |
Latest release | Populous DS 2008 |
Populous is a series of video games developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts. The first game in the series, Populous, was released in 1989. At the time, it was hailed as revolutionary, and it coined the term "god game".[1]
Gameplay
The games involved the player taking on the role of a deity and leading followers into battle against opposing deities, and intervene by using a variety of "divine intervention" that affect the world and indirectly, the people.
The first two games were similar. In
In an interview, the series creator Peter Molyneux, said that "Populous was like it was due to my incompetence as a games programmer ... the reason the feature (raise the land) was there was because I couldn't get the little people to navigate around the coast".[2]
History
The series includes:[3]
- Populous (1989)
- Populous: The Promised Lands (1989)
- Populous: The Final Frontier (1989)
- Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods (1991)
- Populous II: The Challenge Games (1992)
- Populous: The Beginning (1998)
- Populous: The Beginning - Undiscovered Worlds (1999)
- Populous DS (2008)
Reception
In 1996, Next Generation listed the series as number 16 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", commenting that "aside from single-handedly creating a new genre overnight, Bullfrog's Populous is a great marriage of war-game strategy, resource management, and pure originality."[4]
References
- ^ Populous to The Sims: a history of playing god at techradar
- ^ Retro Gamer magazine, issue 71. Pages 82-89 "In the chair with ... Peter Molineux"
- ^ The Populous series at MobyGames
- ^ "Top 100 Games of All Time". Next Generation. No. 21. September 1996. p. 64.