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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.

zero compatibility!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 16
Date: August 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

watch out for this game. it is only compatible with a thin minority of computers (as far as I have experienced). It only works on certain brands of video cards. So even if you have a great video card, if its not on their list, the thing won't even start. As far as programming goes, that is just terrible. I don't know what they were thinking. So be warned- read the sys req list CAREFULLY and be sure you have one of their listed video cards. otherwise you will be disappointed.

Simplistic, therefore boring

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 13
Date: September 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game held my interest for about a half hour before it became clear that it was just a repetitive low quality sim game. I played it thru three elections looking for some kind of variety in the game play and I was sorely disappointed.

It's not particularly smart, either. It seems to have been written by someone with only a passing understanding of politics and the nuances that comprises it. To compound that, it seems to have an extreme Republican bias. There's no complexity of issues. You go to give a speech on the environment, you're choices are that you are either for or against it or your opponent is either for or against it. That's true for every aspect of the campaign. Media interactions (take-offs of real opinion shows) are written in a way to make the right answer easy to spot. It's embarrasingly easy to win an election, at least in the early stages, and I just wasn't compelled to continue playing past that point.

I'd give this game a pass. In fact, I'm a little irritated that I spent money on it myself.

Doesn't work and support is terrible

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 11
Date: August 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game only to find out that it apparently doesn't work with the ATI Radeon 320M which is supposedly one of the supported video cards. I found the problem listed a couple of times on the message board. To make matters worse when I contacted them about the problem they acted like they knew nothing about it. So I described the problem and they guided me through the same steps that the guided the other posters through which didn't work for them either. They then tried to convince me that it was a problem with my computer. The same tactic they tried with the others. When I explained my computer was 1 month old and that there were others they gave the same story to they told me they weren't getting enough info. Like it was my fault. Hello they are the tech support people. Either tech support isn't talking to each other to know that this is a repeated problem or they think that the blame the consumer approach is effective. Either way poor customer service, but hey they got you you paid your $20 and you can't take opened software back.

Gets old quick. Very quick

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The game starts out as a very quick, lively game involving campaigning to become president. While put out in time for the 2004 Election season, you can choose among a cadre of many different politicians, from modern senators, to ex-presidents, to "legends" such as George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, etc.

The routine is a very fun, turn-based thing in which you must travel across the country, build campaign headquarters, give speeches, pay for ads, hire political operatives (such as smear merchant to lower your candidates approval in the state, or even intimidators who raise your approval by 5% per turn) or political capital to gain the support of organizations such as the NRA, NAACP, Women's groups, environmental groups, etc, and fundraisers.

However, as soon as election night comes around and you either win or lose, that's pretty much the end of the game. There's no replay value in the game, as everything goes exactly the same way and can be fully accomplished within an hour

So far, so bad

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: September 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I can't get this game to work properly. The states don't show up on the map. The company has so far provided little assistance on this matter. Like so many games in recent years, it is heavy on graphics--which even here are cartoonish and silly--but weak on concept design and artificial intelligence. The candidate choices are strange. There have been better presidential election simulation games. Save your money.

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.

Childish

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: November 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In case you don't know already, this is a game where you manage a US presidential campaign. You're Karl Rove, Bob Shrum, whoever.
Long ago, I enjoyed a game on Apple called "President Elect." I had often wondered why there wasn't some sort of sim for this area. And now there is. Unfortunately, the Apple game from 20 years ago was better, which is sort of unbelievable since the whole file was probably 64K. A game available on the web, "President Forever" (which I heard about from another reviewer) is also better. Details:

1. GRAPHICS: The graphics are childish and cartoony. Kind of like Leisure Suit Larry or Animaniacs (but not as good as Animaniacs). I wonder why. It feels like they were designing the game and then some executive said "Hey, I want you to jazz it up for the 10 year olds! Make Bush and Kerry look kind of wacky, like the Camel ads with the smoking camel -- put some fun into it!" Well, in the end it sets the wrong tone and its hard to get away from. Also, the colors are a bit odd and make navigating around the states just a bit less easy than it should be.

2. PLAYABILITY: The whole advertising system is unrealistic. Also it is a shame that they did not include more potential candidates. No Richard Lugar? No Richard Gephardt? It would be fun to play out races where people other than the actual nominees could run. No such luck (actually they have a few but not many or you could jury rig it by designing your own Gephardt, for instance, but only if you've got a lot of time). Example 3: there are various specialists you can hire. Few feel realistic and they all have childish names like "The Fixer" and "The Smear Merchant." That's really targeted at the Batman audience. Are there a lot of 10 year olds signing up to play this game or something?

3. MULTIPLAYER: This is the game least likely to be a multiplayer hit in the game universe. Again, somebody looked at some auidience research and said "hey, you know what all the kids go for these days -- multiplayer!" Make it multiplayer. It's a minor annoyance but when a window pops up and someone says "Hey!" it's kind of an unpleasant moment.

4. CAMPAIGN PLAY: Again, the appeal of a sim like this is that its semi-realistic. To set it up as a campaign with increasingly difficult opponents is missing the point. Its a generic game development approach that winds up seeming out of place in this context and reinforces the notion that no one had a particularly unique, strong vision for this game.

In sum, this is a good idea for a game but the people who designed it didn't know who they were making the game for and I think they missed their target.

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.

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.

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