Interesting Game..

[insein]

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/politicalmachine/review.html

Can't wait for November 2? Skip the rest of the campaigning season, and get right to the election results now with The Political Machine, a strategy game from Stardock that lets you manage the campaigns of presidential hopefuls like John Kerry and George W. Bush. The game is a bit on the rough side overall, but it still has a simplistic charm and a somewhat compulsive replayability factor. This isn't the Abraham Lincoln of political strategy games, but it isn't the Jimmy Carter either.



Just like in real life, the Streisand-and-Madonna crowd can get involved in the campaign. Movie big shots can make or break you in a state.
The game's structure is very similar to that of a traditional board game. You sign on as a Democratic or Republican campaign manager to guide candidates around a map of the US for the 41 weeks leading up to Election Day. Play is turn-based, with each turn representing one week, and movement is limited by cash reserves and candidate stamina points. Even the hardiest political hopeful can only visit so many states in seven days, so you have to carefully plan out your agenda. For example, one week you might decide to drum up support in the Northeast, and the next week you might devote to winning over those crucial Florida retirees.

Actions in each state are reasonably well varied, if predictable and a bit repetitive. Primarily, you give speeches either touting your policies or slamming those of your opponent. You launch newspaper, radio, and TV ad campaigns along these same lines, and you hold fund-raising events to keep your overall campaign in the black. Headquarters can be built and upgraded in each state, thus raising your visibility and allowing staffers to gauge the top state issues. Aiming your speeches and advertisements at the right events is key to winning over the people, so you need to deal with the outsourcing of jobs in blue-collar states like Pennsylvania and Ohio while gingerly handling concerns about the environment and gay marriage in liberal California. And, of course, you must make lots of promises about Social Security in Florida.

Successful campaigns require a balanced approach--and no shortage of dirty tricks. Each turn's supply of stamina points can be spent on political capital. This is used to purchase either state operatives or the endorsement of national organizations. So if you want to derail an opponent, you can acquire the services of a spin doctor to increase your issue ratings by 15 percent, or you can hire a smear merchant to decrease your opponent's issue ratings by the same amount. Other agents are also featured. The consultant raises your profile, while the intimidator keeps voters away from the polls. Additionally, the webmaster gets you deals on advertising, while the fixer can be sent in to take out rival operatives. The cost of buying these devious employees increases with each one purchased, thus preventing you from blitzing the country with an army of spin doctors.



Election Night tension is boosted by a scroll from East to West. The states slowly turn red or blue to tell you if you should start preparing for either your inauguration speech or life as the next Al Gore.
Of course, if you want to enhance your national profile, you have to buy endorsements. Procure the support of the Christian Confederation and your traditional values rise at the expense of your credibility on abortion rights. Sign up with the National Organization for the Support of Colored People and up go your civil rights and affirmative action ratings. Link with the National Organization for Women and you see an increase in abortion rights and gay marriage scores. As with operatives, the 10 alliances available in the game are each expensive, so you can't buy the affiliation of rival groups to cover all voters.

Unfortunately, campaigns in The Political Machine take place in a vacuum. This is a particular problem on default settings in the otherwise interesting campaign mode of play, where you sign up with either the Democrats or Republicans to take on a ladder of 10 unlockable opponents (you eventually take on figures like Ulysses S. Grant and William Howard Taft) that get tougher with each of your electoral victories. Just as in a board game, where events are governed in every play session by the same cards and tokens, the game system here is rigid. You repeat the 2004 election, no matter if you're running John Kerry or someone from the game's list of quasi-fantasy candidates, which includes Hillary Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The big public concerns are always the war on terror, the war in Iraq, and jobs
continued in link above

Funny stuff.

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

This reminds me of something I've been meaning to put on here somewhere. There is a game called President Forever you can download. You can run the campaign for Bush, Kerry, Nader, or Gary Nolan (the game came out before the Libertarian convention) for the last six weeks of the election. You can also change scenerios to the 1992, 1980, or 1960 elections. You can also edit candidates or create your own. Pretty fun game and it's only about 12 or 14 dollars. I have to warn you though, it's addictive.

http://www.80soft.com/index.htm