PowerMonger

aka: Power Monger, Power Monger: Mashō no Bōryaku
Moby ID: 1993
Amiga Specs
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Description official descriptions

PowerMonger takes the basic design and concepts of Bullfrog's previous game Populous, and places it in a war context. The game cast the player as a dispossessed warlord plundering his way through 195 territories on the way to world conquest. Several other leaders have the same goal.

The gameworld is now made up of polygons, so the view can be rotated and moved with greater freedom than Populous. Trade, diplomacy, inventions, and scorched earth invasions all play a key role in how the player progresses through the game. Two-player games via modem links are available on computer versions.

Spellings

  • パワーモンガー - Japanese spelling
  • パワーモンガー 魔将の謀略 - Japanese Super Famicom spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Amiga version)

26 People (17 developers, 9 thanks) · View all

Programmed by
Graphics by
Sound by
Game Testing
Support
Powermonger is dedicated to
  • Nolie
Special thanks to
And thanks to
Intro‑Sequence by
  • E.S.D.
Intro Programming
Intro Graphics
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 80% (based on 50 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 55 ratings with 1 reviews)

Another Molyneux classic

The Good
Powermonger was a seminal event for any computer gamer at the time, with the game making its first appearance on the Amiga and then ported to the PC. It further cemented Peter Molyneux's position as a game programmer to be reckoned with, coming soon after his triumph with Populace. Here though, the player is demoted from all-controlling God to bloodthirsty general, tasked with taking over a huge map one chunk at a time with little more than a small platoon to start with. The graphics were nothing short of spectacular at the time, sporting a 3D landscape that you could rotate and zoom in and out. The army units were rendered in blah 2-D, but were given life in that limited palette nonetheless. Human touches like your unit huddled around a fire or hungrily decending on a helpless sheep for food gave life to the little pixelated blobs. Powermonger also continued Molyneux's trademark of immersive sound, with your huddled army mumbling around that crackling fire, the blatting of the sheep, or the clash and cry of raging battle. It also sported online multiplayer support, something of a rarity at the beginning of the 90's.

The Bad
The endlessly repeating gameplay. All that was required was to run as fast as you can to the various villages on the map and attack with a medium posture, ensuring maximum recruitment for your army. Once you were sporting 50 or so peeps then it was time to take out the other guys. Then do it over and over and over and over and over and over again across a map than spanned something like 4 full screens. Plus it suffered from icon creep, cluttering up the screen with a tonne of confusing buttons to press. This would be something that would haunt Molyneux until he eventually abolished icons in his magnum opus, Black & White.

The Bottom Line
A definite hall-of-famer, which sadly seems underrated and forgotten by many gamers. A real-time old-timer that paved the way for the Starcrafts and Command & Conquers of today.

DOS · by Ummagumma (74) · 2001

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Amiga version of Powermonger appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Awards

  • ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)
    • March 1991 (issue #42) – Included in the list Greatest Games of all Time in category Strategy Games (editorial staff choice)* Amiga Joker
    • Issue 01/1991 – Best Strategy Game in 1990
  • Amiga Power
    • May 1991 (Issue #00) – #32 in the "All Time Top 100 Amiga Games"
  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1991 (Issue #88) – Strategy Game of the Year
  • Enchanted Realms
    • March 1991 (issue #5) – Best Strategic Adventure (Amiga version)

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 1993
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by ClydeFrog.

SEGA CD, Genesis, SNES added by PCGamer77. Amiga added by Martin Smith. Atari ST added by ZZip. PC-98, FM Towns, Sharp X68000 added by Terok Nor. Macintosh added by Parf.

Additional contributors: RKL, Shoddyan, Alaka, Patrick Bregger, Rik Hideto, Narushima, Jo ST, FatherJack.

Game added July 18th, 2000. Last modified January 18th, 2024.