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Monotonous and boring

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: October 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

There is no soul to this game. It's all just about numbers. You have to visit every state regularly or the state begins to turn to the other opponent--no matter what ads you have in that state. In the end, it's about visiting every state as often as possible and putting out more ads than the opponent. I got 5 organizations to back my candidate, and still broke even with the opponent (who had none), so it appears the organization sponsorship is a temporary benefit. I played this game once, took about 2 hours, and now I'm ready to give it away. Could have been much better. Another gripe I have is this: why can't you choose any other party besides the two big ones? What about libertarian, etc? This game was too short sighted.

Read before buying, because, wow, this is bad tech support!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: September 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have to agree with other reviewers, this game CAN be bad if you don't the exact specs they state it won't work at all!
Here's the list of video cards they support...this list cannot be found on the box...I had to open the game and install it before I discovered that my new computer's configuration wasn't supported.

GeForce(TM) 2/3/4/FX/6 families
ATI(R) Radeon(TM) 7000/8000/9000 families
Matrox 400-450 and Parhelia(TM)
Hercules Kyro I & II
Intel(R) Extreme

I was able to get the program to work...kinda...on my computer at work. Even though this computer has a Radeon 7000 vid card, there are still some graphics that do not work as they should. If you are looking for a game that you can load and play and not have to worry about problems (i.e., like every other game I've ever purchased) DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. There is a very good chance that you will have to do a lot of techie-type fixes to get this game to work properly.

Tech support isn't any help at all. They place all the blame for problems on the CD-ROM burning process...the manual states "this game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some CD-RW, DVD-RW, and virtual drives" but IT DOESN'T STATE WHICH DRIVES MAY BE A PROBLEM! I have a new basic HP laptop...and it doesn't work.
Have they given me a suggested solution? Yes, I should
1.download their update to their latest patch
2.contact tech support
3.post on the support forum
4.in a pinch they'll send me an "unofficial version"
That's a lot of work to fix something that should work out of the box. Plus, I have yet to get this thing to work on my home computer.

When I contacted tech support they acted as though they can't be faulted since the game worked in their labs! Arggh. They should be apologetic and exceedingly helpful. They're not. Instead, I wouldn't be surprised if they're busy posting postive reviews on Amazon to con people into buying this game...though I admit that is complete speculation.

Anyway, I played the game on my work computer over lunches and it's not bad. It's certainly not as good as it could be, but it is kinda fun. I agree with the reviewer who got the impression that the political scope of the designers was narrow, though I noticed many liberal-leaning assumptions.

I'm not sure I agree with the reviewer who stated that this is for people with higher IQs. It certainly is politics made simple. The very premise of the game is offensive when you think about it. The goal is not improve the United States by standing up for what you believe is correct, it's to win the Presidency. The very nature of the game encourages players to say whatever they can to sway voters. You don't try to convince voters you are right, you simply need to say what they want to hear...I know that is common in politics today, but I'm not sure I can rave about a game that encourages people to think about a campaign as a time when you say things that people want to hear...it should be a time when you tell people what you believe and pray that whoever wins will help the country move forward.

Fun Game, but sloppy and filled with historical errors

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: February 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

First off, let me say that this game is a fun game if you are into this kind of stuff. I have beaten it several times and yet i still play it once in a while because it is kinda fun.

My problem with the game has nothing to do with the gameplay, but rather with the historical accuracy of it. There are several glaring errors which should be corrected for any future versions. Some of these errors include the game saying that Teddy Roosevelt was elected President in 1858 (which would have been before Lincoln) when he was actually elected in 1900. Another is that it lists Woodrow Wilson as from Georgia when he was actually born in Virginia but raised in New Jersey. But perhaps the biggest blunder is that the two "final guys" in the campaign race, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, are listed under the wrong parties. The game has Washington as a Republican and Jefferson as a Democrat. They should be switched. Anyone who knows about colonial politics knows that Washington was a federalist (i.e. strong central government and lots of federal power over the states) and Jefferson was the first Republican president we had (who among other things advocated states rights and was against federal meddling).

Not a big deal, and it doesn't really take away from the gameplay, but I just think that if a game is going to include famous presidents they should at least get the dates they served and their parties correct. And how is JFK, perhaps the most popular president ever, not one of the Democratic candidates?

Pretty Cheesy

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: November 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am not sure where it gets all 538 electoral votes -- DC is not there. No debates. Unrealistic rules. For example: it should be possible to set up a multi-state advertising campaign without visiting each state indendendantly, and reproducing the same ad. Likewise, the positions are divided in support by Dems, Ind, and Reps, there is no assignment per candidate. -- In other words - no track record on positions. Additionally, it is unclear if any candidate is deemd the incumbant.

I bought the gane before the post election price reduction. I did get enjoyment out of it, but could have gotten more enjoyment out of the same $ with something else.

One review mentioned fun for Democratss, and not for Republicans -- I don't get that analysis. It is pretty easy to win or lose with any candidate and any party.

Good, simple, easy fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: September 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

For anybody who is skilled enough to turn on a computer, this game is easy to install, run, and use. Political Machine is also fun, humorous, and perfect for the season. Good graphics, great idea, and the spoofs of this years candidates made me giggle. I would definitely recommend this to anybody, even those who do not have an interest in politics. In some ways, this is a bit of a learning game, too.

Worth The Buy, but less than I expected...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: June 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game was good. I like politics and computer games. But this game really just turned into a gag, featuring long-faced Kerry nad monkey Bush. They din't even have Nader. But this game is different every time, and the challengers do get tougher every time. But I feel that you just can't do enough to win an election in the game, besides ads and speeches. You run out of money constantly, and lose "stamina" every time you go to a different state. But the answers on Barry King (Larry King) and other media shows that you give do refer to that of Republican and Democrat. But the one thing that truly brings this game down are the state elections themselves. States like California nad New York, which are profoundly Democrat in real life, are not in this game. Every state starts out at about thirty percent going Democrat, Republican and Independent. You have to give ads and speeches to win that state, every state. You just run out of time.

This game was fun, but the lack of reality in a reality-mocking game brings it down to three stars.

The Political Machine: Political Thriller that Just Stopped Short of Divine

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: December 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The Political Machine is not like most PC games. It is not a war game. It is not an economic game. It is not about world or european history. It is about American history, about American elections, and about American leaders. It presents a very accurate portrayal of the election process. You can pick from the various 2004 possible Presidential candidates or design one yourself and use it in campaign mode to unlock future possible candidates (Condeleeza Rice) and historical ones (Washington, Roosevelt) You post ads, give speeches, establish campaign HQs, gather endorsements, pick a Vice President, and talk to the media. You do everything which candidates for president in our day and age may do. However, as the game portrays the 2004 election, it will gradually go out of date in terms of modern candidates. It is my personal hope that Ubisoft decides to make a sequel to this game for 2008. The reason I claimed that the game stops just short of divine is because you run for president, but then what? Win or lose, the game ends. You do not experience being the president, nore do you experience losing and going back to being a senator, governor, etc. Though, since I have yet to see such a game, I can hardly fault The Political Machine for lacking these aspects. Some claim that the game has Republican bias by classifying Washington as a Republican when that party did not exist at that point. However, we have had two main ideologies in this country, liberal and conservative, and they have evolved and changed parties several times. Washington was center-right in mindset. He is classified historically as a Federalist along with John Adams, a conservative. The Federalists later became the Whigs, the party of such notable men as Zachary Taylor, which then became the Republicans, the party of Lincoln and Ike. The Democrats evolved from the Democratic Republicans, the party of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, and then became the Democrats, the party of FDR and Jackson. Anyway, I'm getting a little off topic here. I would recommend this game to anyone with political leanings, for it is not so out of date yet.

Republican Propaganda Game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 16 / 50
Date: September 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is ok as a game and midly entertaining but I resent how obvious it is that the creators are republican and are lying about people's attributes in this game.

Such as republicans integrity being higher (almost all) than democrats. Or the media bias being consistantly higher for democrats when studies have proven that there are more positive stories about republicans in the press and more negative stories about democrats.

Also blatant historical inaccuracies such as washington being a republican, the republican party didn't even exist until Lincoln and back then the republicans were the progressive party so in todays terms he would be a democrat.

Would be lots of fun if it only had a brain

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 16
Date: August 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In the 1980s, there were lots of really intelligent political games, like SSI's President Elect for the Apple II. This one adds some delightful board gamey features, but the creator clearly has more experience designing games than reading about how politics really works. Typos and misuses of terminology abound (candidates are called "president-elect"), and a goofily Bill O'Reilly-ish world view pervades, depicting the Democrats as out of touch with independent voters. When you go to campaign in California and are told that both Bush and Kerry are identically "pro-environment," you realize how much games have been dumbed down since the glory days of SSI's "President Elect" -- another game designed by a Republican (Reagan always won), but with way more smarts.

President Forever Is Better

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 18
Date: October 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a fun game, but "President Forever" is much more detailed and comprehensive. Give it a try.

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