The Political Machine 2020

There's a lot to campaigning for the office of president that gets overlooked, though this strategy game attempts to reference the depth of the entire process. Does The Political Machine 2020 manage to succeed? In a basic way, it hints at the complexity of the political campaigning machine and then tries to fast-track it by providing a resource gathering element (such as fundraising, spending cash on staff, or advertising) while scratching the surface of the issues facing the country. Yes, there are real-world people included to give some credibility to the foundation, but the way the game's put together almost trivializes the process. Players get points to build ideologies and take a stance on the issues, then traverse the country trying to win votes. The graphical elements aren't all that complex, which is good because that puts the challenge on the strategic elements. Honestly, the game is actually won or lost early when ideology and positions on issues are assigned points by the computer, because from that moment on, the player is either on the upswing or struggling.

The Political Machine 2020 allows for good customization and a great range of difficulty levels, and those are both positives. The downside is that it attempts to tackle a subject that's far too deep to embrace the entertainment elements of the RTS (real-time strategy) genre. Give the publisher kudos for the effort, and a round of applause for actually acknowledging how involved a campaign can be, but because the game is built for entertainment, it stumbles in the polls.