A fun and interesting look at American politics
The Political Machine 2008 is a strategy game allowing the player to run a presidential campaign, forcing them to pander and electioneer with the best of them. Using such diverse elements as campaign headquarters, TV appearances, and speeches, the player travels frantically around the country in an attempt to round up the most votes in forty-one weeks. The game’s website calls it a strategy game however, not a simulation attempting to fully recreate the 2008 election. The emphasis is on gameplay, despite the realistic database of voter distributions and their reactions to your positions on the issues. The game’s deep strategic elements and light-hearted presentation make it an experience worth the $20 price tag for any gamer interested at all in politics.
The game offers Republican and Democratic campaign modes that pit your chosen candidate against historical greats from the other party in the 2008 scenario. These campaigns are all the same map and situation, against very slightly different opponents, typically unlocking them after your election victory. The lack of variety to each campaign game makes this mode a bit tedious. It’s simply not worth the effort when the quick play scenarios offer much different and more interesting experiences. Quick play gives you four scenarios to campaign across, with 2008 and 1860 American elections, a comedic look at Europe, (“from an American high school student’s point of view”) and the Drengi scenario in space, from Stardock’s other games. Each of these give very different big states to focus on, issues to work with, and TV shows to appear on. The extra scenarios in quick play give life to a game that would otherwise have serious replayability issues.
Once the game has actually begun, there are plenty of interesting choices to tackle. The candidate’s home state seems to be on lock to begin with, but you can be sure that your opponent will attack your votes there if you aren’t careful. States’ votes depend on their awareness of a candidate, multiplied by how they agree with the candidates’ positions determined by their personal ideology (or lack thereof). Extra candidate attributes such as minority or religious vote appeal also count. These stats are constantly in flux from candidate visits, speeches, or operatives. In general, this gives the player a very interesting set of choices to look at, though games longer than the default forty-one weeks get awfully tedious as the states are solidly in support of one candidate or another. The introduction of running mates halfway through the campaign tend to revitalize the game, giving a huge money boost to both players. It is worth noting that the player can create their own candidate, using a fairly extensive editor, which can then be used either as a primary candidate or a running mate.
The game is presented in a light-hearted and often funny manner, besides just the representation of candidates as bobble heads. For example, the Europa scenario features voter issues such as “Picking on France”, “getting invaded”, and “chocolate”. The tutorials are presented as a scribbled-in high school textbook, with some funny edited screenshots from the game as pictures. For the $20 price, the game sports good production values, with graphics that don’t burn your eyes, unlike many other strategy games. The music is appropriate and not irritating, which is again stellar for a budget strategy game.
The game doesn’t at all disappoint for what it is. If you’re into politics or at least the strategy genre, then this is the most accessible of that sort of game you’ll find. It would also serve well for educating young gamers about the political process, with plenty of information on state demographics and current issues. The game is a fun and interesting look at American politics, and deserves a buy for only twenty dollars.
The Bad: Campaigns far too long, games over “normal” length get tedious
Silver Y Award