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Not as good as the last one

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: August 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game has great graphics, but honestly I enjoyed the 2004 version of Political Machine better.

All in all it's worth the 20 bones... learn demographics

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: August 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Political Machine 2008 review

Well the new election is coming up and I was eagerly awaited the updated Political Machine 2008 release (PM08.)

The Good:
First, PM08 is easy to jump right into and start playing. It is more intuitive than PM04. The graphics are upgraded and cool. You can use the extensive controls to design your own bobble head to play with. I made an evil DNC hipster guy w/ multiple piercings and a GOP dominatrix with a cane. New 121 week campaign is awesome.

The Bad:
PM08 is not as hard as PM04. It might be the issues are more neutral this time, but I found, that on the Masochistic setting I had no problem beating the machine. It may just be my assumptions about the character settings that serve me so well. The AI is weak and fails to fully respond to my specific attacks. On the other hand, maybe I'm Karl Rove and Lee Atwater hybrid and don't know it. It does crash in Vista 64 every about 8-10 hours. Sometimes it is hard to find specific characters on a state in order to "Fix" them this isn't a big problem in short campaign but if your running 20-30 ads in California and have 3-4 Smear Merchants in state finding the enemy Definer is difficult.

The Ugly politics of it all.
Now for an example screwed up of player data. Money (wealth) is all screwed up. Starting with the richest John Kerry (7 rating) who doesn't count since Theresa doesn't let him touch it.

Mitt Romney (6 rating) worth 300-500 million should be getting a 10 but gets only a 6.
Cheney (7 rating) worth $90-110 million should be 9
Bush (8 rating) is worth $15-25 million should be 6
Obama (6 rating) is worth around $2 million including the corrupt Chicago land deals
McCain (6 rating) worth $25-40 million should be 6
Bill Clinton (6 rating) worth about $35 million is about right.
Hillary Clinton (8 rating) huh? worth the same, unless a divorcee came through.
John Edwards (6 rating) worth about $30 to 60 million. Should be 7.

So the numbers are all screwed up Obama only gets a 7 for fund raising. Bill Clinton rightfully gets a 9 and W gets a deserved proper 8. Obama should have a 2-3 for money and a 10 for fund razing. The polls are too kind to the GOP on Iraq. In the same vain they are far to kind to the DNP on High Gas Prices. I could go on.

This is really a great tool for learning demographics. Click on those states and learn the make-up of the people that live there. All in all it's worth the 20 bones.

Very Good Game for the High IQ Crowd

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 16
Date: June 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I never thought companies would make games for the 120+ IQ crowd anymore.
Well, i was wrong. Stardock has made a good, solid game with good graphics that mimics the real world to a large extent.
This edition is a huge improvement on the 2004 version in following areas:
1. AI is stronger and somehow McCain starts with a 20 point lead (which is surprising).
2. The sheer availability of radical choices like money making, spending, raising awareness is sharpened.
3. The graphics are colorful and great, yet cool on eyes.
What's Bad :
1. Installation of game requires upgrading to Impulse (a new download engine). This replaces the stardock control panel and stardock is quiet on Impulse as replacement of Stardock Control Panel.
2. The earlier version is not uninstalled when you install this version. Yes, i agree this is a new game. But still...
3. No Upgrade path. You pay retail at FULL price. Price is very low: $19.99 for digital download. But still if stardock could give us $5 off for upgrading, then it would be good.

Best game of its kind out there--excellent UI, graphics and features

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game and fully expected it to be like other political turn-based games: weak, unexciting, unchallenging. Boy, I was wrong.

You get to creae a candidate, their looks, their clothes. Then , you choose which of 20 characteristics they are strong in: charisma, experience, looks,etc. You can play alone or aginst friends. Each candidate participates in a week by week turn-based campaign of 41 weeks.

Each turn, a candidate can do 1 or more of the following in each state:

1. Travel there or have a political operative or VP fly there
2. Build campaign headquarters, consulting centers, or outreach centers
3. Create ongoing TV, radio, or newspaper ads
4 Make speeches for a given issue
5. Hold fund-raising activities

In addition, after acquiring political clout one can hire operatives of all kind: spin doctors, initimidators, money men, webmasters, smear artists,etc. Most can be sent to specific states and moved.

One can also seek the endorsement of few dozen groups ranging from NRA, Unions to minority groups.

I find the game fascinating. The graphics can be adjusted all the way up to 1080. No bugs found yet at all.

Challenging since playing alone..you are matched with an opponent and starts with beginners and after each victory, the opponents get tougher and tougher.

The great part is the map of US can be viewed several ways: by # of elecoralvotes, party affiliation, etc.

In addition, there is a weekly summary screen after each turn showing popular vote, electoral votes (projected), newsflashes. Occasionally, you will also be asked to appear on talk shows!

The conclusion,when the map lights up state by state either reed or blue is awesome. Also, win or lose..you receive an anaysis explaining your loss or victory, exit polls, etc.

I highly recommend this game to anyone interested in politics, elections, or just having fun. This game, while exceptionl, coudl have its heuristics enahnecd even further to be quite complex.

Enjoy! Best $20 I ever spent!

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