DVD GAME THE POLITICAL MACHINE 2008

Running a campaign the way you want it !

Last year, the world was on fire with American politics. Will the president be white or black? Man or woman? Democrat or Republican ? Thankfully, all that is behind us and now we can focus on the more depressing state affairs. Or can we ?

Think you know how to run John McCain's campaign better than he did? Want to show the world the first US female president? Then The Political Machine 2008 is the game for you.

The games starts off fairly simple; you can pick the political candidate who suits you best, or you can create a candidate to run for President. If you create a candidate, you can customize his or her appearance and fund-raising ability.

And just like any real politician during the campaign, you can change your platform to take advantage of public sentiments. You can change your ad campaign's focus, how you reply to issues talkshow hosts ask, or get backing from various groups which support the issues you want to cover. If all else fails, smear your opponent.

In this turn-based game, you spend action points, or stamina points, by indulging in various activities for that turn.

While campaigning hard, you will notice that your success can bring in plenty of cash, which can be channeled towards bulding up your infranstucture in various states. You will also gain public relations clout as another way to boost your hold among the voters.

The artificial intelligence for the other candidates running against you will attempt to counter your moves. But if you hit them where it hurts, you will reap some benefits. This part is easy since we all know where Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the others stand and what they will most likely use in their campaigns.






And if you are bored with the current political scene in America, why not give 1860s America a try? Or Europe, form the viewpoint of high school students? Or a planet full of murderous alliens Or play online against other players?

The game is fairly easy to get acquinted with. Its layout of information windows is simple and presents quick statistics so you cam see your fare at a glance.

More importantly, the game is interesting and worth replaying just to see how things would turn out if you were to try a different approach.

The Political Machine 2008 is not different from other turn-based strategy games, except it used politics instead of bullets.

TITLE : The Political Machine 2008
Publisher : Kalypso
Developer : Stardock
Availability: New Era Interactive Software Sdn Bhd (Tel : 603-77298777)
Price : RM 119.90
Package : 1 game DVD, Manual

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows XP SP2/Vista
1GHz CPU
512MB RAM
64MB DirectX 9.0c graphics card
1GB hard disk space