Some people worship gods, others just think they are gods. Now's your chance to get in on the heavenly act with the help of the budget release of this great god game from Bullfrog.

You play a mythical deity who controls the destinies of a small group of worshippers. It's your job to level the land and provide them with the means to lead happy, contented lives. In return, they invest more of their spiritual belief in you and so you become more powerful.

Unfortunately, a rival god has similar plans to your own, so you have a battle on your hands. As you gain strength from your worshippers you can unleash all kinds of disasters on your enemy's population - everything from earthquakes to volcanoes and hellfire.

There's a certain amount of strategy involved if you're to win and Populous turns into a highly-addictive and rewarding battle against totally impossible odds.

Promised Lands is a data-disk which offers five new worlds for you and a friend to squabble over - the Bit Plains, Blockland, the French Revolution and Wild West worlds are the most similar to the original Populous game, except their stars are Breton-shirted Frenchmen or cowboys and indians. Blockland looks like something out of a cranky Lego set and the Bit Plains is stuffed with computer-based images like holey paper and floppy disks. Silly World is just bizarre - it's like a surrealist's nightmare with little green men roaming around a cross-eyed chequered background.

Populous is controlled entirely with a mouse and - once you've got the hang of the icon system - is a doddle to play. Graphically, the game still looks superb, especially when you see your opponent's cult members go up in smoke. The sound samples are sparse, but highly effective.

Populous's pedigree is well-established - it's a classic game with stacks of playability and great-looking graphics. However, The Promised Lands disk seems more of a gimmick than a serious attempt at creating new worlds for Populous addicts. Despite that, this pack is well worth £12.99 of anyone's money, just don't make a martyr of yourself.

You can now get one of the best ever god games at a budget price.

Some of The Promised Lands are positively headache-inducing and a bit gimmicky.