Four Tribes

Yep still does not play in landscape mode on the iPhone 7 Plus, this makes the game difficult to play. I would happily give it a five star rating if I can play it on my phone. I remember the old Populous game from my Amiga good days, and jumped at the chance to get this game.

This is a fun, good game with a lot of potential if the developer keeps polishing it. It has good bones but lacks sparkle. The core mechanic of raining down horrors on your enemies and prospering your tribe works very well. The graphics are so-so but they communicate what's happening. The controls are mostly natural. The "tutorial" levels are chaotic and undifferentiated. It would have been far better to start with colors isolated on their own islands to give new players a chance to experiment safely. The free-for-all chaos at the start of a level makes for more intense gameplay, but you'd expect the "very easy" levels to hold your hand a bit more. The difference between "very easy" and "hard" is subtle, not pronounced (more active enemy AI, I think?) One frustrating problem that bites you repeatedly is that you can't scroll beyond the level boundaries. When you're trying to flatten land on the edge of the map, frequently the bottom edge, you end up with accidental volcanoes instead, because the buttons are in the way. It would help a lot if landscape changes could be animated somehow. It's tricky to see what you're doing, and a bit of visual feedback for shaping the ground would help. I've spent a few hours playing this, and will likely spend more. I hope it keeps being upgraded!

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Been struggling to win level one on very easy. It’s a lot harder than the original populous because everyone starts randomly on the map, and you have very little control over what your guys do. There is a huge random element to every aspect of the game, especially offensive spells. The game just isn’t fun. I played it for about a half hour, then deleted it. Was a waste of two dollars.

Populus was a favorite of mine in the old days and this is very similar, if a little simpler. But very much fun! Sean O’Conner makes fantastic games and you should try them All and support his development efforts.

Really really not what I was hoping when I searched for populous