The Political Machine

"Why is this game fun?!"

The Political Machine is not exactly the type of game that I would willingly spend money on. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm not somewhat of a political junkie but for me there was always a fine line between video games and the real world. Besides, a sim where you one a presidential campaign? Whoopie.

But I received the game as a gift from a friend and figured what the heck, I might as well try it, right? Right. I was surprised to discover that not only is it an interesting game, but it's a pretty fun game to boot. Caricatures of some of the nations top political faces of not only the present but the past fill the game as playable characters. No one side is insinuated as being better then the other.

Anyway, let us get down to the meat and potatoes of the game

Graphics: 6/10

The game itself has a very cartoony look. For the purpose of what it is trying to accomplish, these graphics are really quite attractive. The opening sequence is also quite well done. Frankly, for a five dollar discount shelf game I was impressed that there was an opening sequence at all.

Obviously come in knowing what you're getting though, this isn't some big name title like Halo or Half Life. It's just a nice, quirky little game about the presidential election.

Sound: 4/10

So there aren't any riveting musical tracks that you'll remember. The music is servicable and pleasant to listen to. Though there isn't much of it and you may find yourself turning to other means of background noise after a few games.

Gameplay: 8/10

This is where the real fun comes. The game is almost a strategy game of sorts. You start by picking your candidate this can be any of a variety of characters from George W. Bush and John Kerry, to past presidents and others. As the game starts you have some money (based upon the candidate's overall wealth, for instance George W. Bush is reflected in the game as having money and good fundraising abilities but the media hates him) and control of your home state. Now you must spend your money wisely as you fly around the country purchasing ads (television, radio, newspaper) and hiring political operatives. You can spend money to build headquarters to help you with what issues are important in that state to plan your ad campaign properly.

Or you can spend your time building up political capital which can be spent to hire operatives (such as the webmaster who helps decrease your advertising expenses in the state he is in) or capture endorsements that help your overall appeal. The interesting thing is anything on the map you control can be flown to another state, with some exceptions.

As you play through the game you'll notice question mark icons and cameras appear. Cameras of the same color as your party are interviews that are offered for you to go to. Generally there are only a few of these in the game but they can help your popularity quite a bit. Question marks are events, usually these events will lead you to getting special political operatives but sometimes they are bad. These special operatives are quite interesting from the kook (who looks suspiciously like Michael Moore) who can help or hurt you to the movie star who helps your platform.

The game is fast, a game can probably end at tops in an hour. And at the end of the campaign all of the states vote and whoever has 270+ electoral votes wins. Victory in the game invariably comes down to capturing the big states such as New York, California, and Texas so expect to do a lot of campaigning in those places.

The game also has several different modes and setting to tinker with. Quick play lets you quickly start a match between you and a rival candidate and change some settings. Want to play in a situation of global war? You can. Want to play in a situation of world peace? That's ok too.

Campaign mode has you run a candidate against ten opponents of increasing difficulty. The neat thing about campaign mode is that as you begin to clear it, you will unlock other characters that can be played as or used as opponents.

Fantasy Play is a lot like quick mode only with more settings - there is even an online mode that one can partake in against a human opponent.

The only trouble is that the game is simple and most of the things that can be done can be done in only a few games so after awhile The Political Machine is little more then old hat. It's a shame the developers couldn't have done more interesting things like had multiple political parties or be able to launch conspiracies and other dirty tactics.

Still, the game is quite fun and well worth playing

Controls 7/10

Point and click, simple. You select the object on the map you want to interact with (almost invariably your candidate but you may find yourself moving political operatives and the VP nominee around a lot as well) and then right click where you want to fly it to. The game doesn't have districts so you only have to worry about the state itself.

Overall 7/10

Ok, so it isn't the summer blockbuster. But hey, it's only $10 or so these days and it is a pretty fun game to play. This time around you can be Kerry's manager and win his campaign properly. All in all, quite fun.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/10/05