Well, it's about time. This game in my opinion is a first. Although the storyline is a bit linear, what you do along the way is not. You are a god called down to the island by the prayer of two parents. Once you save their son a deity is born. Your goal is to interact with the denizens of the island and procure their belief in you. With that belief comes worship and power. Battling other gods for dominance over the lands & providing food and shelter for your people are just some of the encounters you'll have in your world. Be good or evil? It's up to you.

As the game begins you enter into a rather extensive tutorial on how to navigate and manipulate your world. The explanations are simple and concise and allow you to cut your teeth on your newly acquired godliness. The controls are a nice combination of mouse and keyboard, and other than getting used to the view navigation, they're easy to understand and operate.

One aspect of the game that is crucial is saving. Once you've exited the tutorial and begun your daily activities as a reigning deity save immediately. This way if you do decide that you want to begin again as your progress isn't moving in quite the direction you were looking for you won't have to endure the entire tutorial again. Every action you take and decision you make moves you into the realm of evil demon or compassionate savior. Make sure that you've saved before you select your creature.

Every aspect of the villagers lives are controlled by you. Whether it's "We need more civic buildings", or "The villagers need food", it is up to you to provide for them. As they utilize the natural resources around the village they may become depleted in which case it will be your job to provide those resources directly using your godly powers. Worship provides this power and will allow you to perform miracles which enhances belief even more. This gives more power and the cycle continues.

Once you've begun showing your competence as a God your people will offer a creature to you to assist you in your endeavors. It will be an extension of your hand within the village. Training the creature is a heady task and provides another interesting aspect in the game. How you guide and discipline your creature will have a direct effect on how it interacts with your followers. You will be laughing one minute and kicking your CPU the next at its antics. My creature has the annoying habit of picking up villagers and showing them to me? To date I haven't figured out why so I just pet him and get on with my duties as the almighty. Once your creature is ready he can fight other God's creatures as well.

Creature training in itself is an entirely different game within your world. There are different leashes they may wear. The most important being the leash of learning in the beginning. As you perform miracles and actions your creature will follow in your footsteps. For example, I was casting the rain spell on my villagers crops a few times. Upon completion of this act I moved to provide a magical forest for them to obtain lumber when I hear a spell being cast. I turn and look at my monkey who is casting the rain spell for which he got a rub on the tummy.

I did read some message boards with some players expressing disdain at the performance on some systems. I have to report that I have no complaints other than the length of time it takes to save. The graphics are smooth and crisp. The landscapes are beautiful and serene. Realism is definitely a factor in the programming of this game and you can interact with almost everything. If your villagers need lumber just rip a few trees out of the ground (roots and all) and throw them into the lumber yard (which your creature will do too, hehe, if he sees you doing it). If you want to chuck a boulder at someone's home causing it to collapse, do that too! The sound is wonderful (other than the three shipbuilders singing every time you choose them) and is a pleasure to listen to. As per most games you can toggle the game music on or off. I never have game music on but that's personal preference.

Playing multiplayer allows you to battle other players online, creature vs. creature. In Skirmish mode you can test your skills against other gods. I haven't tried this yet but I hear it's a blast! My monkey is still too immature to battle. The tiger kicks butt though. ;)

Until my next review... Keep on playin'!