The Political Machine is an easygoing, charming title with a lot of pick-up-and-play appeal.
User Rating: 7.6 | The Political Machine PC
It would be all too easy to pass by The Political Machine after glancing it on store shelves in favor of flashier titles, or to dismiss it as another mediocre budget game cashing in on a quick buck in an election year. But Stardock is no lame duck: this turn-based strategy game is an addictive little gem sure to suck the time from unsuspecting gamers with its colorful presentation and original concept. It may wear thin for gamers who want more strategic depth, and it’s simple presentation won’t be winning any technical awards, but The Political Machine is still a fun, quirky mix of election year shenanigans and tactical board game fun easily worth its $19.99 price tag. The premise is rather simple: you act as campaign manager to a presidential candidate and order him (or her) around the U.S. map, using stamina points for various activities until the turn – and an in-game week - is over. You also start with a supply of cash that dwindles over time as you build and upgrade campaign headquarters, start smear campaigns, and travel from state to state garnering support. You can also spend stamina points by giving speeches or purchasing political capital, which is then used to hire political operatives or garner endorsements. Cash is replenished by holding fundraisers, although the amount of cash available in any given state depends on its wealth, and decreases as you raise funds in that particular state. The campaign mode will, oddly enough, take you through a series of 2004 elections against progressively tougher candidates; quick mode will let you play through a single election; fantasy mode allows you to create a candidate from scratch; and you can also play against another via the internet, which gives you limited time in which to complete your turn. The platform you can take in any given state depends on your degree of awareness there, and the easiest way to increase it is to upgrade your headquarters, which opens up issues previously unavailable to you. The importance of these issues varies from state to state, so you need to be sure to choose a speech topic that interests voters in that region. How your stance on those issues will affect you with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents are presented clearly, although those groups remain mostly static from state to state: for example, Republicans will always support tax cuts, regardless of which state you visit, and the population distribution amongst those factions won’t change throughout the game. You can also start ad campaigns in newspapers, on the radio, or on television, and they can be presented in a positive (“I support the environment”) or negative (“My opponent opposes the environment”) fashion. As the game progresses, you can use stamina points to purchase political capital, which is used for two purposes: to gain the endorsement of a political lobby, such as the National Organization of Women; and to hire operatives that affect you or your opponent’s standing in a given state. Endorsements will affect your issue rating across the entire nation, and purchasing one requires 8 capital points, so they are effective but relatively expensive, which means that usually you may purchase only one or two in any given election. Your operatives require a lot more strategy, depending on how they affect ratings and whether or not they are mobile. For example, The Fixer will remove an opponent’s political operative from any given state, but it is a one-time deal. Other operatives, like the Smear Merchant, can be moved from state to state if they are needed elsewhere, and your most important operative – the Vice President – will be offered up automatically later in the game. He is mobile and doesn’t spend any stamina points, but has only one job: to increase awareness in the state he occupies and the surrounding states. He adds wealth as soon as he is on board, which also makes him a valuable asset. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other events will become available as well, and work like landing on the “chance” space in Monopoly. Sometimes you will find an additional operative behind the intriguing question mark on your screen, although they may have negative impact as well. Other times, media opportunities will become available, letting you answer a series of questions for such celebrity interviewers as Barry King (get it?). Aside from that, there isn’t a lot more to The Political Machine’s actual gameplay, but the game itself becomes an interesting tug-of-war as you battle for the electoral votes in key states, particularly as operatives come into play. The artificial intelligence will focus immediately on the most important regions, and makes no bones about attacking your candidate from the get-go. You may raise a brow, though, as you watch your opponent spends more than enough time in states without a lot of electoral votes, such as South Dakota or Alaska. Weekly recaps humorously point out any progress, and feature interesting (but sadly oft-too-recycled) commentary from each side’s campaign advisor. We just wish there was more to do. Creating a candidate in fantasy mode sounds like fun, but in reality, doesn’t add much enjoyment, since playing with pre-existing politicos is much more interesting. The Political Machine plays out as a board game, which is fine in and of itself, but since you are stuck playing the 2004 election with mostly familiar election issues, you will find yourself wishing for a broader scope. You unlock new candidates over the course of the campaign, and the gameplay is just as addictive as you may expect, adding a ton of replay value as you pass the hours blissfully giving speeches on the war on terror. Generally, though, while there is plenty of opportunity to employ different strategies, the same tactics will be mostly successful each time you play: build and upgrade headquarters in key states; duke it out in Texas, California, New York, and other important battleground states; and make last-ditch efforts with your operatives to save swing states that could go either way. It would have been nice to see changes to the political landscape, such as variable electoral votes, national crises to avert, or other surprises. Once you have gotten the core gameplay down pat, there just isn’t much more to discover. The online mode can be fun, but finding a competitor is often a futile endeavor. The Political Machine’s graphics and sound are mostly utilitarian; there is nothing terribly exciting about them, nor are they outstanding in any way, but they certainly lend character. Candidate portraits are done in the style of an editorial comic, and are as charming as the rest of the presentation, even if the candidates’ icons on the map – and the others too, actually – are small and difficult to find if you have turned your attentions elsewhere for a moment. Still, aside from the oft-cluttered main map, the visual presentation is colorful, even though at its heart, it simply represents a strategic board game. The music has a “six-o’clock-news” style to it, particularly on election night, although throughout most of the game, it becomes repetitive and annoying. Sound effects convey the necessary information, but it’s too bad they aren’t as quirky as the rest of the presentation. There are numerous tiny annoyances to be found within, on top of the sometimes simplistic gameplay, such as various misspellings and database errors, in which, for example, the word “state” appears where the state name should be. These frustrations aside, there is no doubt that The Political Machine is oddly compelling, and its budget price makes it a must-buy for casual gamers and strategy fans alike. The game isn’t terribly expansive and may become somewhat monotonous over time, but there isn’t much to dislike. Stardock has created an easygoing, charming title with a lot of pick-up-and-play appeal. Give it a shot, and like us, you may be pleasantly surprised.
