Conference 7.286::atarist

1277.0. "Populous II, a great game" by DONVAX::PETERS (Don Peters, CTC2-1/C14, 287-3153) Tue Apr 07 1992 17:08

Having read an outstanding review of Populous II, I ordered it. It came about
a week or two ago, and my son has been playing it for many an hour.

While I haven't played it myself yet, I have watched him play it, and I have
to say that the review was right - it is outstanding in its graphics and
effects. Like the original, you play a god, promoting your own people,
and hindering the opposition. You can actively play, or passively watch
the action.

One big advantage is that, unlike the original Populous, this one is not
so heavily copy protected that it may not run on some disk drives.
Instead, there is no copy protection - they claim you can even run it off
of your hard disk (I haven't tried this yet). To keep pirating down, they
use the technique of having you look up details within the supplied
documentation in order to continue with the game.

But one small problem I'm facing is that the CRT scan lines are distorted
vertically within the top two inches of the screen, making mouse clicking
in that area a bit difficult. This happens even when I have the 60HZ
"fix" program installed in my AUTO folder. Anyone know of a way around
it?

We haven't gotten far enough along in the game to discover all the
effects yet, but some things I've noticed are:

  - the little people seem to have a bit more detail - there are now
    recognizable men AND women!

  - the houses, towns, and castles look more realistic

  - the firestorms are very well animated

  - the storms are well done, and the accompanying lightning strikes
    are especially well animated where they strike the ground.

  - burning houses are very realistic with regard to the look of the
    flames and the sound of them

  - tornadoes and whirlpools produce an interesting effect

  - there is something like a "pool of conversion". You place these in
    enemy territory. If an enemy falls into one, he is converted to one
    of your own (also converts your own people to enemies, as my son
    found out by mistake!)

I also liked the little "extras":

  - you can make your people "happier" by planting trees around your
    establishments. Trees come in several varieties.

  - when land is "wasted" by a volcano, you can reclaim it by planting
    flowers, which look nice and colorful

  - to help your people move about easier, you can make roads from one
    place to another

  - you can further protect your establishments by putting walls around
    them

  - the "water" sloshing against the "shore" is much more realistic now

Like the original Populous, you can play against the computer or against
another person.

    I have played and hacked the DEMO version from ST Format.  Its a great
    game, but I will wait until next year when the price drops and then buy
    it...

    RE: .1
    
    How about posting the demo version to the net?
    
    sounds interesting.
    
    Joe

    
    Re: -.1
    
    Great idea !
    
    Markus