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- Quick specs
- Price: Free to try (12 weeks of campaign); $30.00 to buy
- Operating system: Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
- Date added: August 25, 2004
- Total Downloads: 49,973
- Downloads last week: 21
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 10 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
Don't look for political philosophy in The Political Machine. Cold calculation and efficient resource appropriation are the keys to success. An easy-to-use interface, well-organized political data, and various difficulty levels make this simulation highly enjoyable. The only problems are the demo limitations: no custom characters, no fantasy play, and no multiplayer mode. The fictional matchup of Abraham Lincoln and Ross Perot vs. Ralph Nader and William Jennings Bryan is only available in the full game.
The demo lets you play either John Kerry or George W. Bush in two modes: Campaign Play or Quick Play. Campaign Play initiates a series of 10 matchups against prominent potential candidates from the other party. Quick Play instantly starts a race between Kerry and Bush. Although advertising and stump speeches offer no room for nuance, budget choices (such as spin doctors and smear merchants) combined with reactions to poll results make for deep strategy. Besides the gameplay limitations listed above, the demo campaigns only last 12 weeks, instead of 41 in the full version. We also found one annoying bug: The Polls button at the top left of the interface skips forward to Election Day, ending your game. Strategy fans and aspiring power brokers should enjoy The Political Machine.
Publisher's description
From Stardock :Take on the role of a campaign manager in the 2004 election. It's Bush vs. Kerry in this new strategy game. Take out ads, give speeches, hire operatives, and spin the media.
The Political Machine is a strategy game in which players must put all their political knowledge to the test as they campaign around the country in an effort to garner enough voters to win on Election Day. The game makes heavy use of real-world demographic information to provide a realistic playing field, and it models contemporary issues, such as the war on terror, the economy, and policy in Iraq. Players take out political ads, build campaign headquarters, make speeches, go on cable TV shows, and even deal with spin doctors, scandalmongers, and smear merchants. Players can create their own candidates from scratch or make use of historical candidates from Bill Clinton to Abraham Lincoln.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 2.3 stars out of 10 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 9 user reviewsSee all 9 user reviews
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: The Political Machine 1.01
"Depends on your political views"
Pros: Interesting game. Good soundtrack.
Cons: If you are a Democrat, you're likely to enjoy the game. Republicans will be left frustrated as the game is really biased. I actually bought the game before I saw I could run a demo, hindsight 20/20, I would not have bought it.
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: The Political Machine 1.01
"Decent simulation with some improvements needed."
Summary: I enjoy the set-up of this game. It is a little simplistic at times, and at easier settings is fairly easy to insure a victory. However, at the harder settings the game is challenging. The one thing I would have enjoyed seeing incorporated into t... read more >>
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Version: The Political Machine 1.01
"Not as deep or good as other political games"
Pros: Nice graphics, and some of the cartoony stuff is quite nice
Cons: Doesnt really cover political issues in any depth, just an election game. Not much depth to it or replayability compared with some other games on the topic.
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: The Political Machine 1.01
"Neat demo but I wouldn't buy it"
Summary: It was fun to try out a couple of times, but I don't see much replayability of this game and wouldn't recomend buying it. You can pick a conadidate and go through a campaign but once you do that once or twice I couldn't imagine playing the game aga... read more >>
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Version: The Political Machine 1.01
Summary: I am a big fan of political strategy and thought this game would be right up my alley. However the gameplay is somewhat simplistic and there appear to be a few bugs. I tried to run my candidate's campeign into the ground but every stupid thing i d... read more >>
- See all 9 user reviews Write review
