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A couple of aeons have elapsed and you can now be a Divine Being again. Yes, Populous has reappeared as a budget game. Let there be cheering and let the multitudes issue forth into the streets and wave their headgear.

Populous, for those sad individuals who are unaware of it, is a strategy game played out over a series of worlds against your ST. You must nurture your tribe of followers by providing them with land to build on, a religious leader to follow and general good health. At the same time you can muck around with the other tribe.

Volcanoes, earthquakes and flooding are some of the effects that you can wreak on them from Heaven. The other god, of course, does the same to you. As the inhabitants of each world develop and multiply, the power of their respective deities increases. For the early part it's a cold war, escalating into a landscape-battering confrontation which sees the little men who represent the two tribes scattered around like nine-pins. Ideally, yours survive and win the battles against his, thus securing the planet. Time for the next detailed map and fresh conflict.

This is Populous' strength. The whole game is conducted in one screen format and everything is controlled by the mouse. The icons which surround the screen control all your options, and your power is measured by a moving bar on the right. It takes a while to learn, but you have fun while you're doing it, and once you know how, this and every world is your oyster.

The sound and graphics add a wonderful sense of atmosphere and style to a fascinating and deep game. The combined map and viewing screen look good as well as being functional, and the layout (in the shape of a large book) is a masterstroke.

Populous was hailed as a classic when it appeared a couple of years ago. Those doing the hailing were absolutely right. It's easy to use but tough to play and it draws you in. The power of being a god is too much to resist. If you haven't got Populous, now is the perfect time to rectify this. However, with Populous 2 now out you might want to spend the extra - look at our review on page 30 to see how far it's come. Buy one of them - at least! - and achieve immortality.

1. The first of its kind. Before Populous there was nothing like Populous.
2. Graphics and effects not as good as in the speedier Populous 2.
3. Since then, games such as Mega Lo Mania have emulated the approach with a lot of success, but the Populous style remains intact.
4. It's less fiddly than many icon-driven strategy games, making it easier to learn and quicker to master.