It is the third entry in the Populous video game series, developed by Bullfrog Productions in 1998. Unlike earlier games in the series, which cast the player in the role of a god influencing loyal followers, The Beginning took a radical departure and placed the player in the role of a shaman, who directly...
It is the third entry in the Populous video game series, developed by Bullfrog Productions in 1998. Unlike earlier games in the series, which cast the player in the role of a god influencing loyal followers, The Beginning took a radical departure and placed the player in the role of a shaman, who directly leads her tribe against opponents. Populous: The Beginning was the first entry in the series to use true 3D computer graphics; Bullfrog waited four years after Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods so that the graphics technology could catch up to their vision for a new and different game in the series. Reviewers noted the excellent graphics, while complaints were directed at the artificial intelligence and the indecision in game design between being a real time strategy title and a god game. Unlike the previous games in the series, The Beginning allows the player to directly control the action of followers, by ordering them to build structures or attack enemies. In the campaign, the player must fight the opposing Dakini , Chumara and Matak tribes for dominion over the solar system. While the terrain's topology is a torus, the map is locally projected onto a sphere to give the illusion of a planet.