Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Stardock
EAN: 0708192010660
ESRB Age Rating: Everyone 10+
Format: CD-ROM
Label: Stardock
Manufacturer: Stardock
Model: 708192010660
Packaged Height: 150 hundredths-inches
Packaged Length: 740 hundredths-inches
Packaged Weight: 40 hundredths-pounds
Packaged Width: 540 hundredths-inches
Platform: Windows Vista
Platform: Windows XP
Publisher: Stardock
Release Date: 2008-06-16
Studio: Stardock
Product Description:
The Political Machine 2008 puts players in control of the 2008 presidential campaign. Play as the campaign manager for a host of candidates including Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, historical candidates or design one from scratch. Players then choose their campaign battlegrounds and are off on the campaign trail to face a host of challenges including fundraising, talk show appearances, hiring spin doctors and winning endorsements. The game is won on Election Day by the player who gets the necessary electoral votes to become President. The Political Machine is both a single and a multiplayer game - players can either compete against the computer or against others online.
The Political Machine is a strategy game that takes the real world mechanics of political campaigning and uses it to create an award-winning strategy game. Raise money, hire spin-doctors, win the endorsements of important groups, go on TV interviews, take out ads, fight off smear merchants and much more in your quest to win the 270 electoral votes you need to get into the white house.
Your opponents can be controlled either by human players over the Internet or by a diabolical computer AI designed by Stardock's renowned artificial intelligence team. With multiple maps and scenarios to choose from, a candidate editor and much more, The Poliltical Machine is not just a timely bit of fun during the campaign season but a strategy game that will stand the test of time.
Customer Reviews:
1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
 Best game of its kind out there--excellent UI, graphics and features, 2008-09-04
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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