•: March 31, 1999 •: July 20, 2000 Mode(s), Populous: The Beginning is a and is the third entry in the video game series, developed. The game was released in 1998 on, and in 1999 for the. Ayutha Ezhuthu Film Songs on this page. Unlike earlier games in the series, which cast the player in the role of a god influencing loyal followers, The Beginning took a radical departure and placed the player in the role of a, who directly leads her tribe against opponents. Throughout the twenty-five missions of the campaign, the player leads their tribe across a, dominating enemy tribes and tapping new sources of, with the ultimate goal of the shaman attaining godhood herself. Populous: The Beginning was the first entry in the series to use; Bullfrog waited four years after so that the graphics technology could catch up to their vision for a new and different game in the series. The developers considered the addition of terrain deformation and manipulation, combined with 'smart' villagers who automatically attended to tasks, to add an entirely new dimension to the series.
The game's original title was Populous: The Third Coming before being changed prior to the. Populous: The Beginning plays very differently from earlier titles and received mixed reviews. Critics noted the excellent graphics, while complaints were directed at the and the indecision in game design between being a title and a god game. 's Peter Olafson wrote that Populous: The Beginning was a good game but was 'without a quintessential quality that defined Populous.' The game's three-dimensional graphics engine allows the player to zoom out to see the entire world In Populous: The Beginning, the player controls a female shaman and the tribe which follows her. Unlike the previous games in the series, The Beginning allows the player to directly control the action of followers, by ordering them to build structures or attack enemies. In the campaign, the player must fight the opposing Dakini, Chumara and Matak tribes for dominion over the.