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Being High Lord and Master is great, up to a point. You see, there are only so many citizens to be impaled. There are only so many traitors to be executed, and a limit to the amount of wives that one may behead (without bringing on a modicum of disapproval). When these limits have been reached, restless rulers look for other means of amusement. A foreign campaign, perhaps?

You happen to live in the far and frozen North, and it has occurred to you that a holiday home on the Southern shores would be a desirable thing. Being a vicious despot, packing the caravan and setting off doesn't cross your mind. Instead you decide to drag an unwilling army along, bludgeoning every town and village you come across on the way, and generally indulging in some World domination. Only when you reach the beach in the far South (195 countries away), will you settle down for good.

Along the way you have to feed your military entourage, trade with strangers, recruit new followers and kill, kill, kill. To add a dash of intrigue, you must form alliances with some dubious characters, and indulge in some spying as a fifth columnist. And you'll probably have to invent 195 new names for those countries.

Powermonger is an Amiga conversion. It belongs to the genre of God games started with Populous.

Move your captains from settlement to settlement, converting opposition armies to your side. Tip the symbolic scales completely to the right in each domain.

Powermonger is a complex game, operated through five windows. Between them they contain all the play and view options of your Captains. A brief explanation of each might help:

Every action possible in Powermonger is governed by an icon in the command strip. As well as actions, the strip allows you to flip between postures. These affect the manner in which your captain executes commands. This is important, and will be discussed later.

The overview window displays the whole domain you are currently playing. It shows the settlements as black dots, and major roads as black lines. White dots represent the position of your followers and your captains. The map is used for general orientation, sending your captain, and snapping to any area of map in the main window.

This window has two purposes, one of which is controlling the view, sensibly enough. A compass shows you the direction you are 'facing' in the main window. By holding the A button and moving the d-pad, you rotate the main window view through 360 degrees.

This is useful when one angle is obscured by hills. It is also possible to zoom in on a section of the main window, or zoom out for a larger view of the domain. The other function of the window is to show the symbolic scales.

These represent the degree of control you have in this domain. As they tip towards the right you are winning. You must remove all your opponent's grains to achieve total victory in that domain, and move on.

The main window displays a small section of the domain in isometric 3D. All map detail is contained here, including mountains, settlements, people and seasons. This is where the action takes place. You control a cursor which is used to direct men, or access information on any domain item.

Tactics and intrigue play their part in Powermonger. Firstly, recruiting other captains to your cause is essential to success. You may transfer men between captains to be kept in reserve or used in a pincer attack. However, each subsequent captain is further down the chain of command.

Orders from you have to be passed down the line by way of carrier pigeon. This takes some time, so you have to account for a delay in orders being executed.

The plot thickens when one of your captains turns to spying. Spying places your captain in the enemy camp, allowing you to see just how committed his troops are. If he is recruited, they are altered to the enemy's troop position. If you are discovered - it's a nasty case of the gillotine.

Settlements with workshops are the key to developing your own artifacts. A range of items and weapons, from plough to cannons may be constructed by craftsmen you have spared.

The item produced depends on the location of the settlement - in relation to the raw materials it needs. For example, forest areas produce wooden objects, while settlements in the mountains make mined objects, like pikes and cannons.

Nice or nasty: it's up to you. The line you take is governed by the three postures on the command bar - symbolised as one to three swords. Your posture affects the way each command is carried out. Attacking in a passive posture will save most enemy lives, but may not be decisive. Being aggressive may result in unnecessary slaughter. When it comes to recruiting men or taking food an aggressive captain is much more rigorous, collecting bigger quantities.

Food is the most vital resource you carry. Each settlement has a supply for its own people, and when you conquer it, you may take that supply. The amount of food available depends on the season, shown by the trees and weather.

Resources run very low in winter. You could breed resentment by leaving a village to starve. Another tactic is to leave food in caches in the countryside. These are safely hidden until you return in times of need. Killing sheep is another option.

As I read through the manual first (with Powermonger you have to) I nearly creamed myself. This could be a Megadrive classic! In the event it isn't, but that's not to condemn it. Having just played Sensible Mega-Lo-Mania, Powermonger seemed slow and a bit cumbersome.

Like the early levels of Populous, nothing much seems to happen at first. Of course, there's lots more to the game than that, and unlike Populous you do have complete control. What is lacking sometimes is the information you need to form proper tactics.

Text is displayed in a rambling form, when it should be a clear matter of facts and figures. Knowing how large an army you face would also be helpful. I also feel that some of the new ideas, like trade and invention should have been developed at the expense of season effects and different tree types.

Bullfrog should have copied Mega-Lo-Mania's line of being symbolic in representing the game's mechanics - not pseudo-realistic. That said, Powermonger is another rare specimen of a console strategy game (a not bad one), and should be treated with kindness just for that.

When I played the Amiga version years ago, I was mightily impressed by the brilliant strategy and fab graphics. Almost two years on, I'm still happy to play the game - especially as it's now on the Megadrive.

This version is just as good as the Amiga game, boasting an astounding level of detail and depth of play. My only real gripe about it is that perhaps it's trying to do too much and this leads to a very slow game.

Also, as Gus says, necessary facts and figures aren't forthcoming in a readily digestible form, which can be a bit frustrating. Hats off to EA for another decent (and different) game, but if it's the ultimate god game you're after, Mega-Lo-Mania rules supreme!

Presentation 80%
P. A massive manual, which is quite logical, and has a very helpful tutorial. Good on-screen presentation, and sensible control system. N. No options apart from the password system. A speed/skill setting would have been nice.

Graphics 77%
P. Highly impressive scrolling/rotating/zooming effects on the icometric map. Clear icons, and plenty of innovations. N. Sadly, the keenness to present detail, and the mountain contours.

Sound 50%
N. Very basic sound effects, employed in battles. Countryside sounds - none of which are either important or impressive.

Playability 79%
P. Plenty of tactical options open to players, a good playing atmosphere... N. Complicated at the beginning, and occasionally the slowness of the game is frustrating.

Lastability 83%
P. A massive challenge with 195 successive levels, each filled with enemies. N. The range of action doesn't increase in time. You keep doing the same things, only you must do them better.

Overall 82%
Powermonger improves on Populous, but doesn't match Mega-Lo-Mania. It's also rather slower than the average Megadrive game, but boasts excellent value for money.