By Ned Jordan
The Political Machine 2008 gives you the chance to take on the
role of a presidential candidate on the campaign trail. Getting elected
president is no easy task, but The Political Machine 2008 does a nice job of
abstracting the process to the point where it can be simulated by a board game.
In a typical game, you select a candidate from among the pre-primary hopefuls of
both parties and begin the game 41 weeks (one week equals one turn here) before
Election Day. The game board consists of a map of the US and each turn you are
given a limited number of stamina points that can be used to move your candidate
between states and perform actions in those states. Actions include giving
speeches, holding fund raisers, and launching ad campaigns.
As in the real world, running a successful campaign depends on
effectively managing your limited resources. Cash is generated by attending fund
raisers, but these eat up precious time that could be spent persuading people to
vote for you. However, without cash you won't be able to establish campaign
headquarters or even to afford to fly from one state to another. Campaign
headquarters cost a lot of money, but without them you won't be able to generate
the political clout you need to hire consultants or win endorsements. And then
there are the states themselves – you can't spend your time in all of them, so
you need to decide which battleground states you can take and which states you
have a chance to steal from your opponent. Of course, you'll also need to keep
an eye on your opponent so that he or she doesn't steal a state that you thought
you had in your back pocket.
The Political Machine 2008 is one of those games that's fun
for a bit, but then begins to grow repetitive. The problem here is twofold.
First, the road to the White House is a well–worn path; you'll need to approach
each game in pretty much the same way. There's no room here for trying out
radically different strategies or approaches. Second, the game's level of
abstraction is so high that it alleviates the need to make any hard decisions.
You can spend all of your time making speeches that you're against high gas
prices and terrorism and keep all of the voters happy. The game does try to
inject some variety into the play by including scenarios based on historic
elections and alternate maps set in Europe and on an alien planet, but the
novelty of these variants doesn't last very long.
The Political Machine 2008 is more like a board game than a
computer game, and those looking for a sophisticated simulation are likely to be
disappointed. Those who like to keep their games on the simple side, or who
enjoy returning time and again to classic board games, like Monopoly, will get
more enjoyment from this game. It can also make for a good learning tool for
kids who are beginning to learn about civics and our government. And if your
candidate loses on November 4th, you can always use it to try and change history
more to your liking.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
70%. The Political Machine 2008 is best suited to those in the board game crowd with a decided interest in politics.
