The only real problem with Populous: The Beginning is the difficulty in controlling your minions. Battles can be quite chaotic and frenetic, even at the lowest speed setting. Your minions can be difficult to control with any precision, as they often act with a mind of their own. This is both a good thing (they'll find work to do if they're standing around idle) and a bad thing (they'll often run headlong into battle while you're trying to formulate a plan). As it stands, Populous: The Beginning has enough innovation to make it more than just a run-of-the-mill real-time strategy game. It isn't really Populous, but it's a solid game with some interesting twists and features.