Impressions: Populous, Killing Time, Landstalker

I mentioned on the About page that I’m something of a lazy gamer.  Or, at the very least, I’m not a very dedicated gamer.  When I was younger, I could dedicate myself to a single game for hours on end, day after day.  I just don’t have the attention span for that anymore.  I think it happened when I started spending more time on the internet.  So either the internet destroyed my attention span, or I just grew up a little, I’m not sure what it is.  But either way, I play a lot of games, and I play a lot of games for a couple hours at a time.

Eventually, I’ll get around to playing each game long enough to properly review it.  (After all, that’s the point of this site.)  But in the meantime, I’m going to post quick impressions of the games that I’ve been playing lately but haven’t spent enough time with to properly review.  So here goes:

• Populous (SNES): I’m not sure what it says about a game when its tutorial mode provides absolutely no instructions in any way.  I bought the game used, cart-only, and was utterly lost.  Shouldn’t a tutorial at least describe what all the buttons on the screen do?  Once I found a transcription of the manual online, things fell into place.  This is an unusual sim/strategy/god game where your main power is to raise and lower the land so your followers can farm, gain strength, and eradicate the followers of your rival deity.  I’m going to have to spend a lot more time with this one before I really form much of an opinion of it, but I’ve found it intriguing so far.
• Killing Time (3DO): Another awkward early 3D game for the 3DO.  It’s an FPS that does a few things right and a few other things horribly wrong.  I love the seamless transitions between areas/levels, as if it’s one big environment I’m exploring, rather than segmented levels.  I hate the ugly enemy sprites that repeat ad nauseum (there are only one or two different enemies per area).  I’ve only played through the first few areas, but so far, it seems like a technically sound game with smooth controls being brought down by poor enemy variety and a total lack of ammo.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I have to ditch my current save because I only have one bullet left and about four enemies to kill to advance any further.  Argh.
• Landstalker (Genesis): Now this game is promising.  It’s a fun action-adventure/RPG with platforming elements, puzzle-solving, and fantastic graphics that manage to look appealing despite the miniscule color palette of the Genesis.  I was a fan of Dark Savior on the Saturn, so it’s no wonder I’m liking this one.  I’m just having some doubts about the controls, though.  It’s an isometric game, so you spend a lot of time moving in diagonals.  I’m not sure yet if the controls are unresponsive or if the six-button pad that comes with the Genesis 3 just doesn’t do diagonals well.  I think I’ll track down a different controller before making my final judgment, but so far so good.

What have you guys been playing lately?  Have any quick impressions of your own to share?  Hit the comments…