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Ever felt the urge to play God? Now you can, thanks to this amazing Megadrive 16-bit computer conversion from Bullfrog/Electronic Arts.

The object is to eradicate the followers of the evil God - your opponent - by constantly improving conditions for your own followers. Raising and lowering the land gives your people a flat surface to live on, and they build houses in which to "create" more followers. And the more followers you have, the more manna (energy) they produce, and the stronger you become.

As you become more powerful, earthquakes, floods, and swamps can be created to destroy those who serve evil, and you can order your people and even create knights to fight and kill the enemy.

Success can only be achieved when all the enemy's people have been wiped out. Needless to say, he's not going to take this lying down! All the time you're cultivating the land, he's doing the same - so be prepared for the worst!

When you've destroyed all the evil God's people, you move onto the next level. There are 500 in all, and the evil God's abilities the further you progress - on later levels you need all your cunning to defeat him! Well, who said a God's life was easy?

The type of dwelling that your followers build is determined by the amount of flat land nearby that they can farm. They start off in tiny huts which soon become log cabins, keeps, and eventually full-blown castles.

The more buildings you have, the more manna (energy) is created. The type of building also detrmines the technological level of the inhabitants - and how good they are at fighting off attacking enemies!

There are four basic type of world in Populous. The first and most pleasant to your people in the Grassy Plain, around which are scattered trees and rocks. Next is the Ice World, which will kill your walkers if they travel too far.

Desert World is just as inimical to life, with just a few palm trees for cover. The most impressive is the hostile Rocky Hell, surrounded by a sea of lava - a good tactic is to drop the evil people into it!

Lots of laughs can be had by creating knights. To do this, your Leader must be in a castle, the energy of which is absorbed by the new knight. He then heads directly for the enemy, killing and burning as he goes (Don't ya love it?). This seriously depletes the Evil God's manna, but if your knight gets killed, it's even worse for you!

Populous is one of my favourite game on the Amiga, and I'm thrilled to see that this conversion is perfect in every respect. It's certainly not an arcade game, but neither is it a boring, long-winded strategy game.

The little people are hilarious - they sometimes stop to think, tapping their feet and wondering! The control system works surprisingly well on the Megadrive, and the game retains all the quality and addictiveness of other version. Simply brilliant.

When I first saw this, the seemingly complicated icons and distinct lack of mega laser death weapons put me off. However, after playing it a couple of times I was well and truly hooked. It's a weird game, neither arcade or true strategy, but once you start getting into the action it quickly becomes one of the most addictive games you'll ever play - it kept me up for many late nights!

It's incredibly rewarding watching your followers ggrow and grosper, and very, very satisfying plotting your enemy's downfall, especially when you see his little men fall foul of a swamp, get drowned by a flood or get bashed up and their houses burned by your mean 'n meaty knight!

Populous is an utterly brilliant game and is a real departure from the usual Megadrive arcade style games. Who needs super death weapons when you can stick a stonking great volcano up your enemy's nose, and then ruin all his good work with a land-wrecking earthquake?

Presentation 92%
Great opening screens, easy-to-understand icons and generally superb in-game presentation.

Graphics 91%
Excellent landscapes, and the sprites have to be seen to be believed.

Sound 87%
Those great Gregorian chants are there, and the rest of the effects are up to a high standard.

Playability 92%
As soon as you've learned when the icons do, you'll be completely hooked.

Lastability 95%
With 500 levels and an increasing challenge you'll keep coming back time and time again.

Overall 93%
This game has earned a place in the chronicles of computer gaming for a good reason. It's stunning.