Sigma Theory: Global Cold War
Sigma Theory is a good niche product that was incorrectly exposed to the public. Yes indeed, it is a turn-based strategy game about spies, but it is far from Phantom Doctrine or any other action-packed tactical title. Jeez, in the very old “Spy vs Spy” game was much more direct action! Sigma Theory is text-based. It is a board game by the set of rules and overall dynamics. Think of Battlestar Galactica, think of Monopoly. In the realm of video games, think of The Witcher Adventure Game or maybe Plague Inc: Evolved , in a way.
– Real player with 94.1 hrs in game
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This game is a dream come true for me. I’ve always been a fan of the spy genre (video games, tabletop games, tv shows, movies, board games, card games), I think Sid Meyers Cover Action is one of the best espionage games ever made; with Invisible Inc and Phantom Doctrine coming in at close second; totally different games but they mange to make you feel like you’re a real intelligence officer on the job. Now there is a new spy game in town and I have to say this game is the type of spy game I’ve been looking for, for years! Ever since I played Streets of Chaos (it’s a game where you run a criminal origination. You send out gang members to do crime all over a fictional city) and another hidden gem called Black Closet (in the game you’re like the president of boarding school, and you send out your team to investigate students; to avoid scandals from destroying the school). I thought to myself, both of these games have great micromanagement mechanics and they’re not very graphic heavy, it would be great to have a spy game that played a lot like those 2 games, and now that game is here!
– Real player with 55.0 hrs in game
Advanced Intelligence Surveillance Agency
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Introduction: Advanced Intelligence Surveillance Agency(AISA) is a surveillance system building game. You will control an intelligence surveillance agency, you will need to achieve mission goals by establishing the surveillance system in the city. A news system will be provided in the game to provide players with the latest mission information. You can customize your equipment according to your needs in the Research center, including surveillance probes, surveillance drones, large reconnaissance drones, etc, and you can choose the way to complete the task according to the current intelligence. The location of the surveillance system you deploy, the detection range of the surveillance system, the efficiency of eliminating threats, and the casualties of civilians will all affect the success probability of your mission. Every action you take may have different effects.
Initiating foreign territory surveillance program
Protocol ‘AISAS-984XN’
Get main objectives:
– Establish surveillance network
– Search and Eliminate threats
Administrator detected
Initiating ‘Briefing’ protocol
Welcome to Advanced Intelligence Surveillance Agency (AISA)
– AISA is an intelligence surveillance agency approved by the Foreign Territory Land Monitoring Act, which is subordinate to the Ministry of National Defense.
– AISA is mainly responsible for the detection and elimination of terrorist activities in overseas territories and cities.
– The surveillance plan will allow administrators to place surveillance equipment anywhere in the city.
– Any individual entering the surveillance area will be scanned by the surveillance equipment and obtain personal information.
– If the surveillance device locates the threat, the administrator will be asked to take action.
– Administrators will be authorized to use equipment including military detectors, drones, and electronic warfare weapons.
– The administrator will be able to customize the equipment research plan according to the needs.
Authorizing the deployment of surveillance equipment
Authorized. Monitoring equipment is now free to deploy in the city
System diagnosing:
– Command center ready
– Research center ready
– Operation center ready
– Black Ops center offline
Bypassing local reinforcement security network
Succeed
Requesting citizens information
Completed
Inquiry parallel projects status:
– PRISM (Decoy)
– Upstream Collection (Decoy)
– ECHELON (Activated)
Gathering Intelligence from base stations
…
…
…
…
Access denied, additional equipment required
Initiate program complete
Waiting for commands
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Lawgivers
A simple political simulator focusing on a gameplay element that was missing in Democracy 3 and not well developed in Urban Empire.
To keep it short: The game is fun, but somewhat lacking in depth and can be rather random at times. Better to watch gameplay videos to see if it is for you, unless you really love politics and want a parliament simulator badly.
To be more elaborate: The game offers a variety of policies that are unlocked through research. Policy effects are very clearcut and not as complicated and multi-layered as in Democracy 3. Also they tend to be rather simple. For instance there is a policy to establish a pension system, but it is not explained what kind of system it is, nor is it possible to have different types of systems (Democracy 3 at least distinguished between private and public pension schemes).
– Real player with 27.1 hrs in game
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Mixed leaning negative, with lots of caveats
Firstly, I love the presentation, the UI design, the idea of the sim. It is nice to see so many countries represented, with an actual democratic method of passing or repealing laws and legislation, via voting done by members of the chamber. It is a solid base for the game to (hopefully) improve with in time.
But, sadly, I feel the overtly positive points halt here.
While many countries are represented each one works exactly the same, even if their constitutions and ideology differs. Each will start with the same rules and a empty parliamentary chamber. It is like establishing the very first government. And then the system does not emulate the country you are supposed to be. Every country gets the chamber filled, and then the “lawgivers” themselves pick a PM/President. Not the majority holder. Not public vote. Not the popular vote or the most weighted votes as seen in real systems across the world. Only through pushing new rules and laws can you actually get around to emulating your chosen countries real system.
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
Citystate II
Don’t buy.
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Unfinished game
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Bugs
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The “realistic economics” in this game leaves a lot to be desired and calling it realistic is laughable.
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The dev has been MIA since early October (within weeks of release).
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Developer is either a huckster or lacks any sense of professionalism.
The misrepresentation that you are buying a finished game on the store page and the fact that the developer just disappeared makes me feel as if I’ve been had. The excuse on discord by some person who is not the dev is that he has a family and he takes long breaks. Make of that what you will, but I will not buy another product from this developer.
– Real player with 65.1 hrs in game
You simply can’t play more extreme ideologies anymore (Left & Right) which Is kinda where alot of the fun came from. Everything needs to be balanced. It’s okay but at some point you’ll run into bugs that remove zones not just buildings and tank everything. Tbh it gets boring after it happens a few times. Oh and after many hrs my political leaning instantly went from 47-53 to 100-0 to the left which sent everyone into a riot and the whole city was destroyed. That right there is a game breaking bug. I’d honestly say buy the first one. I’m not hating btw, I actually really wanted to like it.
– Real player with 25.3 hrs in game
Tropico 3
Day 1:start game ,listen to a overly excited probably bribed anouncer welcome you in,build house,no one lives in said house,
Day 2:i want to build a farm,builders refuse to build farm,i get mad,i use army to “convince” the builders to build,
Day 3: the people no longer like me now, i have 8 rebels on my small island…my army still cant find them,
i cower in fear in my palace.
Day 4: They have attacked, i’m the only one left, the one last man in the army. i’ve taken out only 2, now i retreat in shame. where are my people?
– Real player with 733.9 hrs in game
El Presidente Version 3
This is my first Tropico Game and after some time of frustrating restarts and head meets desk moments,
i finally figured out how to be a good El Presidente.
Sure some folks are always bothering me, but meh i got a prison.
You have many ways of getting rid of negative people as well as options to make your people happy.
Beating these small shacks, your worst enemies, can be difficult, since they tend to pop up in the worst moments.
Also your workers are damn lazy, they dont build your houses and ignore the big ass transport ships in your harbor -.-
– Real player with 30.5 hrs in game
Tropico 5
A good successor to Tropico 4, but with some missing features and less micromanagements. If you like city building games, I would recommend. Unlike most city builders, you can fail multiple ways. It has more innovation, challenging offers, and playstyles than Tropico 4.
Comparing to Tropico 4
Pros
Technology system and Era - Progress through eras to unlock new managers, buildings, and amendments. An awesome addition.
Constitution- allows you to run your nation. Form militias, create a free market, establish as theocracy, many different playstyles are available. A drawback is that some amendments are overpowered, and some are underpowered, but for the most part they are balanced.
– Real player with 159.6 hrs in game
The Tropico series has always played it safe, never pushing too hard to renovate making sure people know what to expect each time. Tropico 5 is no exception, with the same infrastructure and demands those familiar with the series will know exactly what to expect. With that said, significant changes have been made to the economy, development and elections systems that Tropico 5 holds its own unique identity within the series.
One new feature is a redesign of the campaign, while in previous games each mission would start on a new island beginning with the basic building blocks each time. Now players are given the choice between two islands, once the player completes a mission on the choose island the player must then complete the next mission on the second island. Levels are not reset and any development on the islands remains throughout the campaign. This change allows players to watch an island flourish over time, crawling up from its colonial roots to its own independent metropolis. Each choice becomes a much greater decision as it will not only effect the player for that level but for later missions that follow. While it provides a much greater sense of accomplishment it’s a system with many drawbacks. The greatest of this being put into an automatic lose situation.
– Real player with 114.0 hrs in game
A pirate quartermaster
Don’t overlook this curious little gem of a game! Do yourself a favor and give it a try. I’ve never played anything quite like it.
As an added bonus the developer is very active and present, and has already provided several bug fixes and added improvements.
Edit 16th of October:
An earlier version of this review mentioned that the game needed some serious rebalancing, as it was very difficult to keep going for any significant amount of watches. The developer has since changed a number of things, and it is now much, much easier to progress in my experience.
– Real player with 92.0 hrs in game
This game is truly charming.
It has got style and character and a great atmosphere (it does not struggle to create a feel-good one).
You gotta love the music, absolutely enjoyable and this goes for most everything of this game.
It also has very good achievements that are desirable but seldomly quick to get.
They let you know there is more adventure for you in this game sort of in addition to the already
solid watch to watch “routine” of being the quartermaster.
Make smart decisions (one of them is not to think “1 portion” ought to be enough when there is no better reason to skimp there other than saving a few coins when that is not crucial) and you can sail a fearsome, capable pirate ship you will mourn to ever lose. This might even entail mourning the loss of your former captain (I admit that happened to me ;-) ).
– Real player with 54.1 hrs in game
Lawgivers II
The sequel to Lawgivers is in the works!! Join our communities and contribute to one of the most ambitious political simulation game!
Lawgivers II is a political sandbox game which offers multiple ways to experience the process of ruling and approving bills. Start your political adventure from the very bottom and perhaps lead your nation one day to become the most influential in the world.
World
The game comes with a world map featuring the most well-known nations and up to two levels of administrative subdivisions. Players will have comfortable filters to display population, relations, gdp growth, election outcomes by districs, etc.
Parliament
Enter the parliament/congress with your lawmakers to approve or abolish laws in a much expanded and realistic way. Elect the speaker of the house to watch over parliamentary democracy and set up committees for personalized laws. Request a secret vote, or ask for impeachment. Many graphs will assist players with their choice.
Government
Run for the highest seat in presidential and semi-presidential republics or become the prime minister in parliamentary republics. Form a government alone or with a coalition of party and try to survive motions of no confidence. Bypass the parliament if necessary to satisfy your needs but be prepared to face the consequences.
Laws
Personalize and approve laws like never before. With constitutional amendments you can control the workflow of the most important institutions of the country. Players will enjoy total freedom of choosing whether to insert a bill in constitution or just approve it as an ordinary law.
Lawmakers
In Lawgivers II all lawmakers will have their own opinion about laws and way to rule. If there are to many points of view in a party, some politicians might leave it or found another one. Check out their personal history and be sure to have their trust.
Organisations and Lobbies
Organisations and Lobbies might achieve a lot of influence in your country. Ask them for support by hiring one of their gentlemen or try to practice honest and clean politics.
War & Trade
Raise your influence over the world and secure important resources for your country. Corrupt other parties in poorer countries or organise “legal” referendums to annect other regions. Enter war with other nations in order to reach economic and political supremacy.
Multiplayer
Join with your friends in a coalition to form the government, rr simply stay in opposition and get ready for your first chance to grab power. (The multiplayer will be available at a later development stage)
Mods
The game will come with Steamworks support. Modders will be able to add new countries, laws, events, resources, ideologies and more content just with a simple text editor. The appearance of lawmakers will be completely cutomizable too so you can draw and import your favourite politicians.
Democracy 3
pro’s
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in depth simulation
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easy to play somewhat hard to master (not to much of a difficulty curve)
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the ability to use loopholes so that policy’s pay for themselfs, but is punished by triggering a event.
con’s:
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populations stay fixed.
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the rate at which people seem to convert to other political ideals i quite fast. (not quite realistic how you can transfer the whole country to atheist in 2 years)
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population stays fixed and does not create problems. (if this would be too hard for starters please add an option to turn this on and off)
– Real player with 78.1 hrs in game
Even though I think the game should be played by anyone who enjoys simulation games, I found a lot of negative points that kind of ruined the experience of the game for me:
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The game feels super linear. There is an option for randomizing initial conditions that improves this, but if you don’t play with that, there’s basically a very narrow path of choices you need to take to ensure you’re not overthrown and win the game.
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There is no “just one more turn please”. You either win or lose, and when you do that’s it, it’s over.
– Real player with 41.8 hrs in game
Government Simulator
Okay, so I decided to write up my general thoughts of this game and why I don’t necessarily believe it’s a bad game, but a game that has potential and needs a lot of work to get to a point where it can be considered realistic and fun to play.
Economy
I enjoy the main concept behind the economy; managing your taxes and spending to meet every growing demand of the nation. However, there seems to be a great deal of rebalancing of the economics that needs to go on before this side can be considered final.
– Real player with 17.9 hrs in game
Sooo.. Now I finally played this wonderful game (I was hyped since the announcement). It is very similiar to Democracy 3. Actually there are so many negative reviews.. I understand why, but not every review is justified in my opinion, because this game isn’t for the popular mass, it’s genre is a niche. I play games like these a lot, even if there are just a few (Democracy 3, Political Simulator, …).
I like how the game looks and feels. It feels very professional and it shows a bunch of statistics. The animations and graphs have very smooth animations and overall the game feels very great.
– Real player with 13.3 hrs in game