Election season is upon us, and as the new season spun up it seems a smaller developer wanted to help everyone get into the mood. Don’t be fooled by its cartoonish candidates and vibe the steam store page gives it. The game itself is a surprisingly comprehensive Presidential Election management game.
Not what is seems
Let me be honest, I thought this game was going to be more of a “haha lets laugh at politics” game. From the store front page to Candidate creation page I thought it would be a giant joke and in some ways it is. It has a style to the design that makes everyone look like bobble heads, has a giant meteor and comet as candidates and even has some fun with names of ideologies and allows for AI VS AI games. However, the gameplay and set up allows for a somewhat realistic depiction of how elections go.
The characters
The candidates also have things you have to manage. Each one has a couple different attributes. Things like minority appeal, stamina, media appeal. Just basic things that people look at in candidates. If real candidates from the two major parties aren’t enough then you can just make your own. They have a wide variety of options ranging from issue stances, to ideology. Only weak point I really see in the character creator is the inability to create an ideology. Even as small as this criticism is for some reason it really bothers me. I wanted to create my own party and ideology. On the other hand, the game has ideologies from conservatism all the way to yang singularity. It even has socialism and fascism in the mix. This is why I say it is caught somewhere between joke game and straight faced management sim.
The parties
Another area where it does a good job is in parties edges. The republicans and democrats have edges in certain states. For republicans they are not as big on the west coast or north east. But have the edge in the south and Midwest. Another area where I think the game makes you think in terms of election strategies. Trying to count what states give you the proper electoral votes and that you can win in. Like ideologies there is no feature to create new parties. The game doesn't even have any party beyond republican and democrat.
The gameplay
The game requires careful management of money, votes, stamina, choosing the right running mate and even selecting your strategy for winning states over. It has adjustable difficulty and also advanced settings to edit things like length and funds.
Like actual elections each state provides a select number of votes. To win you have to win them over. It has a 21 week time limit on a standard game. At the end all the states votes. Over the weeks the player gains support. This is done by giving speeches, Fundraising, Interviews, putting out ads, spreading ideology and hiring campaign operatives, you can even build HQ. All of these things cost money and stamina however. Stamina is set and cannot be increased. Money also will go quickly so a player should be careful with it.
The most effective thing is giving speeches, as the game says "Talk is cheap".
This is done by simply checking a box on a issue and saying I support/Oppose or my opponent supports/Opposes.
Fundraising is the only way to get money, you fly to a state and hit the button for it. The game will give the player a enthusiasm percent. Beware, if the rating is below 50% you will probably loose money. So a player should be careful.
Interviews also will periodically come up. You get invited and then answer questions from one of about 4 dialog choices.
Putting out adds are like speeches but they cost money and have maintenance costs.
You will get ideology points every once and a while. These can be used to unlock issues for your chosen ideology and help you gain support.
Operatives are also a good way to effect the election. You can hire spin doctors, cheerleaders, instigators and more. They as well can be deployed to different states. They are very useful but the price of maintenance builds up quickly. So only keeping a few on-hand is best.
As much as these systems are interesting and expansive. They are all caught in this weird area. Yeah everything is cartoonish, but none were really funny. Even the interviews and ideologies. Most are pretty straight faced and accurate. It isn't bad, not everything has to be funny. The tone just seems off though. Even when the interviews had a goofy answer, I just didn't want to choose it. It felt as if the game would punish me if I did.
The game does have a AI VS AI feature which is something that was probably a good idea. I sometimes run certain Candidates just to see who will win. Some have some surprising results. Like 3 out of 5 times the republicans picked George Bush as a running mate. Another was Dan Crenshaw almost losing to a literal fascist who chose Burnie sanders as his running mate.
Mods
The game on steam is a part of the workshop system. Unfortunately only two mods were listed. The murica and conspiracy ideologies, and like the game are caught between serious and joking. I personally wish it was more a joke game than serious.
In my final verdict I would say this game personally was more fun to watch than it was to play. The AI VS AI makes for interesting thought experiments, and also just fun to watch a fascist run against a socialist. The game is currently $14.99, and is relatively fun. But anyone looking to pick it up could wait for a sale maybe. I would recommend this game for those who enjoy management games. Maybe someone will one day win as a giant meteor.
Written by Rooty.
4/13/2020
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