B&W was weird. It took its key game mechanic (training up your creature) and denied it to you in one of the (only 5) levels making it just another RTS type thing. Wait, what?
Peter Molyneux did some amazing stuff but overpromised and underdelivered a lot. [1]
But some stuff was amazing, PowerMonger was pretty impressive too, but didn't have the succinctness Populous had.