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Well it looks like EA have captured the licence to top all licences, the ol' mighty one himself. In truth the incredibly nice woman who deals with EA's PA would like us to believe that Populous depicts the age old struggle between Good and Evil, but any game in which you can cause floods, earthquakes, and even the odd Armageddon reeks of divinity to me. Pass the tablets, as Moses once said.

When the world first comes into existence your total population and 'his' (him being your opponent - good or evil) total about four walkers (people who basically wander around following your commands). They can be told to settle in which case they mill off on their own doing their own little things until they find a nice piece of land and set up shop. The size and 'technology' level of the building they create varies in accordance with the landscape surrounding it. They range from a tent harbouring primitives with clubs up to huge castles with a population armed with swords and bows. If the land around the building is flat, it can be cultivated allowing the population to expand the buildings. Mountains, ditches, water and rocks all hinder the progress of the community, but being a god it's not too hard to remove them.

Another big buildings afford stronger defences and a more organised population there's quite a lot of room inside, so they take longer than small buildings to become over-crowded and produce new walkers. You can intervene by placing a hill next to the building, reducing it in size and giving a divine boot to a resident who will then go out into the world.

Your power is increased every time one of the aforementioned walkers is created or every time a building becomes larger. With your increased power (the proper term being Manna) you can raise or lower land or place a 'Papal Magnet' [Shome mishtake here, surely - Ed]. A Papal Magnet is the symbol of the people's faith. Your symbol is an Ankh, his is a skull. Your people can be summoned at any time to go to the Magnet where they will join up and become stronger. If you don't already have a leader the first person touching the magnet will take on the role.

The next power is Swamp Creation. By placing a swamp near an enemy settlement you affect their buildings. Anyone treading on the swamp drowns. These can only be eliminated by digging them out or building land over them. Another power lets you cause earthquakes, destroying any buildings and reshaping the land. My very favourite piece of divine intervention is the Knight. Selecting this icon turns your leader into a platinum-plated crusader who immediately takes off towards an enemy, kills everybody he finds, tramples the crops and burns the building down.

After the knight there is the Volcano. Find a piece of well-developed enemy land, hit this icon and all the land in that area is raised by between one and ten levels into a rugged mountain, destroying all enemy buildings. There's Flood, which makes Noah's look like a paddling pool, and finally Armageddon. Hit this and both papal magnets are placed at the centre of the world. Both populations make their way there and fight to the death. In short, the ultimate solution, only to be used in cases of extreme desperation.

Of the many worlds you can choose to settle on, there are desert planets, green ones which look like Kent, rock worlds and ice planets. Remarkably, you can play a two player game through a modem or via an Amiga to an ST (as well as Amiga to Amiga). What more could you ask for?

The graphics are not the most amazing ever seen on the Amiga, but somehow I couldn't imagine them in any other format, especially the cute little minions.

The sound is something else - a pounding heartbeat combined with some really weird sampled choral sounds, and as a final perfect touch the Amiga's power light pulsates in perfect time.

If EA had let me know sooner they were releasing a god simulator they could have just given me a call and I would have officially endorsed it for them. Despite this, Populous is the best game I have played yet on the Amiga. It's an outstanding work of imagination. Amazing.