Populous 2: Trials Of The Olympian Gods
| Developer: Bullfrog | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Electronic Arts | Sound: |
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| Year: 1991 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Strategy | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 2 by modem | Rating: |
9/10 | |
As a bastard of Zeus, you believe you deserve your place on Mount Olympus…
Not so fast, gringo! There’s a test to pass first. Your initiation involves ravaging a thousand worlds and exterminating their populations.
It’s not easy to create a sequel that lives up to a cult classic. The developer Bullfrog managed to keep the interest alive by introducing substantial new features while staying true to the original concept. “Change within continuity”, as they say.
The general idea was to transpose Populous into Roman antiquity, a chance to refresh the façades, swap out the costumes, but more importantly, to bring in a few mythological figures (Achilles, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, and more), super-powered heroes capable of turning the tide of battle.
Among the innovations: more spells, grouped into six schools; an element of progression like in a role-playing game, with your avatar regularly earning experience points to improve their powers; the ability to build roads, walls, or evict a resident from their house with a right-click; keyboard shortcuts (you can now use the arrow keys or the numpad to scroll the map), and an entirely unnecessary fullscreen mode (Enter key).
The game’s core concept hasn’t changed, let’s be clear. The central activity remains flattening the terrain so your followers can build and thrive. If you didn’t like that before, there’s no reason to think it’ll be any different now…
To temper this idyllic view, two small complaints: returning to the title screen after each level and the weakness of the soundtrack.
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