I'm a huge fan of the series and actually also loved Populous: The Beginning - there's few strategy games that I've played as much as this one. I'm aware that on the web there's a whole damn lot of people who hate The Beginning but most of them just make some sarcastic remarks (even here). So I must say, I really don't know why people hate it unless they're hardcore fanboys of the original two games and just hate it for sharing the same name while being a completely different game. Personally I consider it an ingenious and unique game.

So, any comments?

I made a mess of myself when I saw this headlining my GOG page. This is the best of them all without a doubt in my opinion. I've lost track of how many times I've bought or downloaded the game on to countless computers of mine to play it.

I Originally got a Demo of it with a PC magazine, fell in love as soon as I hit the second demo level. I spent months hunting the game down and haven't ever forgotten about it. This one game is the one I always come back to, no matter what.

Now its on GOG, no more hunting it down, ever!! (^.^)

I also loved this one, I replayed (and finished) the orignal one only two years ago.. Great time.

I don't get all the hate either. As much fun as the original Pop games are Pop 3 is every bit if not more enjoyable. I always thought the fully rotatable mini-worlds was a great touch. I also really liked that the Shaman as a central figure actually had a real role, and that you have some better control over your followers.

I bought these games as they came out back in the day. I can only guess that it was too different to pop 1 and 2. Taken by itself it is a great game (I am only saying why other people may not have liked it.) I put many more hours into this than the 1st two combined. The multilayer was pretty fun as well.

I recently tried to get it to work again (try every couple years.) I was thinking to myself the night before GOG put it up "I wish GOG would do that game next." :)

Before I buy it, I am guessing they fixed the messed up colors. I think that was the main thing that made it un-playable for me on Windows 7. So how is it on a modern system? is there a way to get wide screen native resolutions working?

Some seem to have issues. Can't speak for myself though. Good ole Intel HD 3000 and Win 7 handle the game in hardware mode in 32bit pretty well. I haven't seen any color issues to speak of when I tried out several different resolutions. The setup launcher actually gave me a few limited widescreen resolutions (which only show while playing, not in the main menu or the level/solar system screen). It'll all depend on what aspect ratio your monitor is I guess.

The Populous Reincarnated project had a load of fixes which worked very well for me on win7, still stuck using 800x600, however.

You can change the resolution to higher ones using the Populous Resolution Changer:
http://www.popre.net/downloads.php?f=10

Just make sure to use a resolution supported by your computer and 16 for the depth

I forgot about this game for a few months. I was reminded when the EA sale happened this week. I got this game and both Dungeon Keepers. OMG GOG have done a wonderful job on this one. It now works with no graphical glitches. Out of the box it works at 1280x1050x32. This is far superior to 800x600. I may not even bother to try to get it to work at higher resolutions. I am very pleased how it works flawlessly on Win 7 64bit. It is every bit as fun as I remember it (sometimes the memory is much better than reality, or it simply isn't as impressive as it was in the day.)

I've only played this Populous and I have always loved it. I have played through it start to end about 3 or 4 times now. I like how there is not just 1 way to beat a level. I tend to want to try and convert many of my enemies (in effect 'saving' them), so that sometimes drags the game out longer, but fun to basically chisel their force down to nothing and expand my own force at the same time. Though on the last level, 2 out of the 3 tribes refused to convert (not sure if it was bugged or they were just stubborn) so they unfortunately had to meet my wrath *evil laugh*

*ahem* Lots of fun!