The Political Machine 2008 (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.5 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Brett Todd
• Reviewed on: 06/20/2008
• Released on: 06/24/2008
• Originally published on GameSpot: The Political Machine 2008 (PC) Review

Four years seem to be making a lot of difference in the real American political landscape, but things haven't changed all that much in the virtual one created by Stardock. The Political Machine 2008 is nearly indistinguishable from its 2004 predecessor, with the same board-game-style mechanics, fast pace, and charming personality. Although it may be a bit disappointing to see that the new boss is pretty much the same as the old boss, the basic turn-based gameplay remains as catchy as ever, and new features such as alternate-world scenarios and an in-depth candidate editor freshen up this familiar face.

Sort of. If you didn't like the original Political Machine, or grew tired of using it to beat up on Dubya during the past few years, there isn't much here to draw you back to the table. Core game mechanics haven't changed at all. You still take the role of a U.S. presidential candidate with 41 weeks to go before election day. You still zip around the country like a lunatic during each turn, building campaign headquarters, giving speeches, raising money, and approving ad campaigns until your cash or your stamina points run out. And you still work hard at earning the endorsements of groups including the gun lobby, and hiring political operatives who spin the issues and smear opponents.

The one somewhat significant alteration is the addition of PR clout, earned by the construction of new buildings called Outreach Centers. However, all this does is replace political capital as the currency used to purchase endorsements from lobby groups, so it doesn't require much of an adjustment to your playing style. Instead of a single stream of resources used to buy endorsements and operatives, you now have to deal with two. If you played the original game, you'll be able to sit down here and start blazing a trail to the White House without even a glance at the tutorials.

Nevertheless, this isn't a carbon copy. The old 2D map has been replaced by a full 3D one that is much easier to read, and the comic-strip candidates have been swapped out for rather creepy-looking bobblehead dolls. Consequently, the game at least looks strikingly different and much more modern. Many issues from the front lines of the campaign have been pulled from today's headlines. Pressing concerns include high gas prices, withdrawing from Iraq, addressing climate change, and other political talking points that you've been hearing nonstop on the news during the past year. New candidates are also featured this time around. Obama is the star, of course, but lesser lights such as Bill Richardson and Mitt Romney are also on the docket, along with oddball choices such as Lord Kona, a genocidal Drengin supremo from Stardock's Galactic Civilizations franchise. (Lord Kona unfortunately looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle here in bobblehead form.) A detailed new candidate editor allows you to make your own bobblehead presidential wannabe, too, and allows you to customize everything from appearance to smarts to political leanings.

Four new scenarios have been included for quick solo play or competition online against human presidential wannabes (unfortunately, you can't play them in the ladder-style single-player campaign). The scenarios range from the 2008 and 1860 US elections, to an across-the-pond election that takes place in a high-school student's Europe with misnamed countries and extra nations, and a Drengin election on the evil aliens' homeworld. (That Electoral College system really gets around.) These liven things up with some new issues, but the mechanics that you use to address them are largely unchanged.

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