 |
 |
|
|
Unlike to its legendary precursor ‘Populous’, ‘PowerMonger’ represents a kind of degradation of the player, because this time he isn’t an almighty god anymore! No, he plays the part of a once proud mortal king whose realm was destroyed by a devastating natural disaster...
Many weeks you and your following searched for a new homeland – a new realm. One day the wild sea was bored with you and your men and the coast of an alien country came in sight. You gain new hope - and you make a decision: you will rule this country! You will wear a crown again! Or you will fail...
‘The King is dead, long live the King...’
‘PowerMonger’ starts with a great intro: one of your scouts returns to the castle and makes a report - next you prepare plans for your conquest. After that the armies leave the stronghold to carry out the king’s plans...
So, you’re not a god anymore: this means that there’s no way to evoke catastrophes like earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions or ‘Armageddon’ - a really bitter truth! Instead of that you’ve to act with caution: it’s not very wise to attack the people of a village, if you can ally with them...
The game begins with the ‘map selection chart’ – here you can see the 195 territories you’ve to conquer. By clicking with the pointer on the first island, the very first campaign starts. The following main screen is similar to the one of ‘Populous’: the landscape is shown in an isometric 3D view and you catch sight of hills, trees, buildings, boats, people, animals and so on...
At the edge of the landscape several icons are placed – with these icons you’re able to command your troops. In the background you see your first captain - later in the game there’ll appear more of them. During the whole campaign you hear his breath – it’s the equivalent to the heartbeat of the god in ‘Populous’. If he breathes normally, everything’s okay - but if he breathes quickly, things are getting serious and he’s dying! So, watch out...
On the left side of the screen you see the overview map of the current island. By clicking with the mouse pointer on the four icons above that map, you’re able to switch between its four several displays:
• ‘Contour Map’
• ‘Settlement Map’
• ‘Objects Map’
• ‘Food Map’
Aside these icons there are the ‘job’ symbol and three different bars:
• ‘Food Line’ (blue)
• ‘Men Line’ (red)
• ‘Strength Line’ (green)
At the bottom left-hand corner a compass is located – by clicking on its arrows you’re able to scroll the landscape to the desired direction (using the cursor keys has the same effect). Also the player’s able to zoom in/out the scenario and to turn it to the left and to the right. Finally there’s the scales – that informs you of your gain in power. If the right side of it is completely filled with gold, the current island is under your control and you can go on to the next...
Craving for Power...
Whether an alliance with another clan is successful or not also depends on the attitude of the captain. Three attitudes are available: ‘Passive’, ‘Neutral’ and ‘Aggressive’. If you want to trade with the people of a village you should choose a passive or neutral attitude – but if you want to conquer a colony, you should choose the aggressive level. Unfortunately this has an effect on the number of war victims, too...
Of course, during each campaign the player’s able to enlarge his army – by clicking with the mouse pointer on the ‘Get Men’ icon, the men of the conquered village will join your troops. Also the provision of food is an important factor in ‘PowerMonger’: particularly during the winter months your grain stores should be full to the brim...
As you can see, the game simulates the four seasons - but that’s not all: the people of the several towns and villages do their daily work; birds fly away when they hear loud noises, sheep baa and sometimes it rains and snows...
Another aspect of the program is the making of inventions - if there’s a workshop in one of your villages, the people who live there are able to create something useful. What kind of invention your men will make depends, among other things, on the raw materials – an example:
If the colony is located near the coast and a forest is close-by, too, with the utmost probability your people will build boats to go fishing...
More Power, more Men...
During the conquest your army will become bigger and bigger – so your first captain will need some assistance! Because of that, the king put several commanders under his control. If he wants to issue an order to one of the other commanders, he makes use of a carrier pigeon – of course that will take some time! Not until the bird has reached the whereabouts of the respective commander, the order will be taken...
As you can see, ‘PowerMonger’ is a very complex game – far more complex than its precursor ‘Populous’. Therefore, it may be not everybody’s cup of tea: at first blush, it looks like an enhanced version of its precursor – but soon you’ll discover that this isn’t the case! The user guidance is much more complex and the CPU opponents are extremely persistent...
This Bullfrog gem is a further classic and a real challenge for crafty strategists, too...
      |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
The graphics engine of ‘PowerMonger’ is a consistent advancement of the one of ‘Populous’. Unlike to the landscapes of that game, here the player’s able to turn them to the left and to the right respectively. Furthermore he can zoom in/out the current area – a far better overview is the result! The several manikins as well as animals - like e.g. sheep and birds - are cutely animated. Sadly on standard Amigas the speed is a little slow – therefore a turbo board is advisable. At last the intro sequence of the program is very atmospheric and gets the player in the right mood...
|
|
|
The title tune of the game is absolutely awesome – in my opinion it belongs to the very best computer game themes of all-time! But also the different noises (e.g. the baa of sheep, the clang of swords, the shrieks of the wounded, the breathing of your captain) sound great and very realistic...
|
|
|
Because the user interface is a little tricky and the game speed is a little slow (at least without using a turbo board) it’ll take a while until you’ve got the hang of it. Moreover the degree of difficulty is very high – you shouldn’t underestimate the intelligence of your opponents! Apart from that ‘PowerMonger’ offers a very sophisticated and enjoyable gameplay – just what you expect from a typical Bullfrog product...
|
|
|
| Although ‘PowerMonger’ isn’t as easily accessible as its precursor, it’s a more than worthy successor to ‘Populous’ – strictly speaking it represents a kind of spin-off to that legendary masterpiece! So, if you like the original, then you should try this one, too. By the way, there also exists a data disk called ‘PowerMonger – World War I Edition’ which contains not only new levels, but a completely new setting... |
|
|
 |
 |
|
Get Amiga Forever with pre-installed Workbench, games, applications, and much more.
It also contains the original Amiga ROM-files, 100% legally!
|
|
|
|
