History VideoGame / PopulousTheBeginning

Throughout the twenty-five missions of the campaign, the player leads their tribe across a solar system, dominating enemy tribes and tapping new sources of magic, with the ultimate goal of the shaman attaining godhood itself. The game, playing very different from earlier titles, was welcomed to mixed reviews, with reviewers noting the excellent graphics; complaints were directed at the artificial intelligence and the inability of the game to decide between being a real time strategy title or god game. The PC version of the game was released November 30, 1998; a PlayStation version was later developed and released on April 2, 1999.

** Blue: Player

** Yellow: Matak
** Green: Chamara

* GoshHornet: The Swarm spell. Summons a swarm of angry stinging insects that causes enemy units to panic (making them temporarily uncommandable), scatter and lightly damage them (or if they're already on the verge of death, kill them). It also forcibly vacates enemy buildings, boats and balloons, even if they have to jump out [[TooDumbToLive in the middle of water]] to not get stung.

** Despite the game's age, there are still [[http://poptb.com online multiplayer]] servers operating on the internet. The most used is [[http://popre.net Populous: Reincarnated]].

** Despite the game's age, there are still two multiplayer matchmaker servers operating on the internet. Using them is possible via installing the relevant patch.

* BeeBeeGun: The Swarm spell. Summons a swarm of angry stinging insects to scatter enemy units (and make them temporarily uncommandable) and lightly damage them (or if they're already on the verge of death, kill them). It also forcibly vacates enemy buildings.

* GoshHornet: Although it doesn't cause any damage. The Swarm Spell instills so much fear and panic that a boat full of enemy followers will gladly jump out [[TooDumbToLive in the middle of water]] to NOT get stung.

* PolishedPort: The Playstation version lacks the music that cues when a fight starts and there's an incorrect color assignment between the Matak and Chamara tribes.

* ColorCoded Multiplayer / ColorCodedArmies

* ImplacableMan: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uBDrPQ7KO4 The Uber Trick]] allows you to create followers with an ''[[ReadingsAreOffTheScale
INSANE amount of health]]''.

* OneHitKill: The Lightning spell is guaranteed to fry any person that it strikes. But only if they're standing still.

* CharmPerson: The Hypnotise spell. It temporarily converts enemy units to the caster's side. Cast it in the middle of a large group of firewarriors and watch [[HilarityEnsues hilarity]] [[OutOfSightOutOfMind ensue]].

* Remarkable in that on the PlayStation, a single savegame took 15 blocks (ie. a complete 32MB card) and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading took forever to save and load]].

'''Populous: The Beginning''' is the third game in the PC strategy god games of the ''{{Populous}}'' series, developed by BullfrogProductions in 1998. The game was the first in the series to use true 3D graphics. 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 from the earlier games and cast the player instead as a shaman, who directly leads her tribe against opponents.

** The sixth mission has two enemies for the first time. The main aim of the map is to raise a landbridge between their bases which makes them attack each other. Or to be more exact, the Matak will direct their attacks at the yellow base while the Chumara redirect their route to your base to lead right next to the Matak base.

* BeeBeeGun: The Swarm spell. Summons a swarm of angry stinging insects to scatter(making them temporarily unselectable) and lightly damage enemy units (or if they're already on the verge of death, kill them). It also forcibly vacates enemy buildings.

* MegaManning: The vast majority of singleplayer maps has this as it's main theme: the enemy possesses a new unit/spell and you can steal it from them (either by raiding the Vault of Knowledge storing it or completely wiping the enemy out). Afterwards, the unit/spell will be permanently available.

** One of the singleplayer maps is even based on this trope: you have to do the map with the shaman AND NOTHING ELSE. Dying even once is instant game over. The tradeoff however is that by the time you do this map, you already have your full arsenal.

* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Wood is the only resource, and trees always grow back unless you build buildings on top of them.
** And even then, the tree will grow back next to the building as close to it's original position as it can get.

** Despite the game's age, there are still two multiplayer matchmaker servers operating on the internet. Using them is possible via installing the relevant patch.
* GoodBadBugs: Using hypnotise on enemies and then sending them to train changes them to your side permanently, it also also allows you to gain more the the unit cap (200 followers) and potentially crash the game.

* GoodBugsBadBugs: Using hypnotise on enemies and then sending them to train changes them to your side permanently, it also also allows you to gain more the the unit cap (200 followers) and potentially crash the game.

* Remarkable in that on the PlayStation, a single savegame took 15 blocks (ie. a complete 32MB card) and took forever to save and load.