Tag Archives: RTS

Grand Openings: PowerMonger

You’d be hard-pressed not to feel your blood quicken in anticipation of the coming battles as the intro to 1990’s PowerMonger unfurls like a kingdom banner. The game intro featured in this installment of Grand Openings was a revelation on the Amiga computer, telling a whole narrative of conquest through stirring music and effective animations.

PowerMonger itself was a fun RTS, offering a huge landmass to take over and varying strategies with which to do it. While it eventually became a tad repetitive as you steamrollered opposing armies over and over again, the nearly endless permutations of lands to fight on and fascinating little touches in gameplay never let it get boring. 

You knew Peter Molyneux and his game company Bullfrog Productions had something grand up their sleeves as this mini-movie played at the beginning of their exceedingly fun war RTS game. To arms!

You can follow my commentary as I play through the first few levels of PowerMonger here in this TDE WePlay video.

PowerMonger computer video game

WePlay: PowerMonger on the Sega CD

PowerMonger, by Peter Molyneux’s Bullfrog Productions, was originally released for the Amiga and Atari ST computers in 1990. It was their follow-up to the blockbuster Populous, which helped to define the concept of the God Game. PowerMonger, however, brought things down from heavenly perspective to the earthly confines of battling warlords.

The Sega CD version featured in this WePlay video was released in 1994. The nifty polygonal graphics engine of the original is retained, with some added cinematics and landscape fly-bys. Watch Bill take you through three islands in the game here: