Anyone play Populous DS yet?

[Xian042]

I want to know if I should bother,

[Xian042]

I guess a lot of stores are getting it in today, I'd like to hear any thoughts.

[Cobra Commander]

Same here. I've loved Populous way back on the Genesis and SNES. A travel version is right up my alley.

[murdoc rose]

would love to hear how the game is

[Xian042]

I finally found a copy and gave it a try. I figured I wouldn't be happy until I found out for myself. Some quick thoughts…

So... I went through the tutorial and first level just to get the feel of it. The presentation seems nice, I like the music and artwork, I was a little scared at first because it seemed to be taking an anime style. Dont worry, its fine.

The tutorial can be kind of wordy, but maybe I was just impatient since I'm still familiar with the original. (On Genesis) Although I did forget about a few things so it was good to brush up.
I was a little wary about having the miracles broken up among different gods, but this seems to work ok. I wish each god had a bit more to work with though.

They start you off with the god of Earth. You get earthquakes, meteors, and swamps (?)
You have to be very precise when leveling the ground with the stylus. Its almost tedious as its VERY easy to over compensate and end up with a giant mountain or gaping hole at the slightest slip of the finger, and it can be a pain to get that last little ditch or mound perfectly level. My hands started to cramp from trying to be so careful with the stylus. You can still raise and lower the land the traditional way with the d-pad and buttons. I found myself going back and forth between the two; once my hand cramps up I use the buttons, but this is slower, so once feeling returns I go back to the stylus. I think this would be a pretty big pain if trying to play on the road. Especially in New England. Damn potholes. Now that I think about it, I remember reading you can flatten a swath of land in one fell swoop with a button combination. I should try that next time.

I was interested in the idea of the two screens, one to do your work on with an easy to see grid and colored blocks representing objects , and the other being the true game graphics. This does work well, but I wish there was an option to turn the grid off and do your work on the graphics view. The graphics aren’t by any means at the height of what the DS is capable of, but oldschool Populous fans will get a kick out them. However, I’m looking at the work grid and world map 90% of time, while only taking occasional glances at the graphics just to check out the buildings or watch the miracle animations, which I think are entertaining. This is a shame because there is quite the variety of terrain to play on, including Nintendoland.

When you finally call Armageddon, the classic song “Ode to Joy” plays in the back ground, I think it’s a poor fit, but I just learned each god has their own song that plays during Armageddon, so maybe the others will be ok.

So do I think the DP crew will like it? I think so, despite all the dollying up its still Populous after all. It certainly plays better than the Playstation version. A $19.99 price tag would have been fabulous, but hey, it’s a miracle this game was ever made and brought over at all!

Id like to know what the rest of you think.

[heybtbm]

A $19.99 price tag would have been fabulous, but hey, it’s a miracle this game was ever made and brought over at all!

For whatever reason, I thought this was a $19.99 game to begin with. At $29.99, I'm not so eager to run out and get this. I suspect a price drop in the near future.