270 | Two Seventy US Election
So, at first I only picked this up as it was free on the PC but i’m so glad I did!
If you’re looking for deep political strategy, this is not the game for you. If you’re looking for a colorful, fun and competitive game with a political theme then this is a great game for you. It’s easy to learn and a relatively quick play.
You start with a number of available characters, enough to learn the gameplay. Play against the AI and you will get a good feel for the strategies (hint: focus on those state groups boosted by your character’s stats). Essentially you are raising and spending money to buy influence that gives you electoral college votes. Reach 270 by the time of a ballot and you win.
– Real player with 637.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy Politics Games.
I rarely review games but feel compelled to review this in the hope the Devs at least read the reviews. I have played this for 80 hours and in the beginning it was an amazing game and the basic mechanics are solid, the whole budget and campaigning system is cool and you can apply some pretty involved strategy to get you to the oval office. However, it does get repetitive and the Devs seem hell bent on churning out more and more ridiculous candidates (Kanye West etc.) which cost more and more money, and the game has basically become a pay to win greedy scam. Even having a VP costs money if you are playing online multi player you have no chance without spending money. Time and time again we see games ruined by greed and this is a classic example. If the Devs spent more time adding some variety to the mechanics such as adding the effects of social media, newspaper and tv campaigns etc and included all the candidates in the core game, I would happily pay £10+ for this game, I would even pay a further one off £5+ for a DLC with a bunch of new candidates and content as say an annual update, but as it is its just become too annoying to play without spending repeatedly and for that reason I am saying dont touch it!
– Real player with 80.4 hrs in game
Megalo Polis
A game that was pushed out for the elections? Probably.
If these elections weren’t so crazy would a game like this succeed? Probably not.
It’s a cute concept and I could see it as a humorous time killer on mobile but I’m not too sure anyone would put in more than 2 hours in this game.
– Real player with 8.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy Indie Games.
The concept of the game is fantastic and gets you hooked right off the bat, however, the it can become a bit repititive as the game progresses. The cartoonish gameplay keeps the player entertained, great move by the developers incorporating tacky campaign speech by the candidates, very funny. The game in its current state is great but I expect more to come once the game is fully polished and released. The time zones in each state add a sense of urgency when campaigning and certainly applies the pressure; I enjoy the tackiness, the cartoony enviroment, and the overall concept of the game. All I ask from the game devs is to alleviate some of the repititiveness of the game by providing the player with more features than just going disctrict by district and hoping the voters rally around you, even though that’s kinda what the candidates are doing IRL.
– Real player with 5.2 hrs in game
Death Trader: Cold War
This game was great! It was super fun and im suprised its not more laggy and gltchy than it is, i was sceptical buying it but im glad i did, lots of fun, you need to fix a few bugs but i loved it otherwise and suggest you buy it! One thing I would like to see is things like being able to change the time you start like 1960, 62', 65, etc. I would also like to see more weapons from more country’s, I would like a variety in this game.
– Real player with 31.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy Indie Games.
Oct 28
The game has a few kinks but the dev(s?) have been quick to patch. It is worthwhile, especially on sale. I’ve not been able to get more than 2 years into the 30 that the game has due to bugs but I’ve gotten a lot of fun out of it.
Nov 8
I can now play 15 out of the 30 years of the game before it crashes or becomes unplayable. The majority of the early bugs are gone, the gameplay is more user friendly with a better ui/tooltip, was a fun game before but it’s even better now. The devs may have released it prematurely, even as early access, but it’s been rapidly improved.
– Real player with 18.7 hrs in game
Is the President a Traitor?
Author’s note: In the event more playing time is logged after this review, all three endings were witnessed for the sake of providing an informed review. All except one achievement was earned in that time as well.
Overview
Without naming names, ol' Il Pallino is sure everyone wanted to see at least one American President removed from office in disgrace given how in the past eight years, there have been both a Democrat and a Republican who was President of the United States, and now the real time strategy game Is the President a Traitor? makes this dream possible. With the main character being incorruptible, exceptional, and patriotic, two insiders in the intelligence community agree (with one being reluctant) that the President must be investigated after evidence has been found that infers the President is under the influence of an enemy nation. After a briefing, the player decides if they wish to operate under the “act now” philosophy of the boss known as Smoking Man or the “careful approach” philosophy of Glasses Man, but regardless of the path taken, the player quickly learns through surveillance what was suspected all along. From there the player builds up files on not just the President and their cabinet, but also numerous non-politicians, and sixteen Members of Congress. The investigation uncovers people like spies and conspirators, and from there, the player must investigate, indict, and prosecute spies and conspirators. Once (at least) most of the guilty people are out of the way and evidence of treason has been discovered, the player is to either build more evidence in order to seek a federal indictment against the President, or “persuade” various people to be more patriotic and less corrupt who have the power to impeach or remove from office via the 25’th. Amendment of the US Constitution.
– Real player with 20.9 hrs in game
I suppose this is the other half of a “neutral” review.
This is a modern espionage game based on real life events, involving the President of the United States. It evokes memories of games of old, such as Floor 13, or Sid Meiers Covert Operations.
While the game is very enjoyable at first, the mechanics soon become slightly transparent. The game is procedurally generated, but that has just mean each game is random, as opposed to dynamic. You have a set amount of money to use to investigate the President, but you largely do that by surveilling targets or tapping their calls.
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Neocolonialism
The correct name of this game should be :
Corporativism
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REVIEW :
ABOUT THE GAME:
It is not like “Plague Inc. Evolved”, where you play against the people of the world. No, here, you and the other players are competing each other to get as much money they can extract from each region.
Play agaisnt the IA is an easy win. The fun is on multiplayer, where you don’t know who will vote to whom; and you can chat privately with other players to work together (temporaly, of course) or join forces to go against another player.
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
Overview
Neocolonialism is an excellent game whose brevity and simplicity belies a profound critique of capitalism. Designed as a “Marxist strategy game”, Neocolonialism challenges the player to ruin the world by playing as a member of the bourgeoisie. In that capacity, the player must invest their capital throughout the world to purchase votes, which is then utilized to accumulate more capital. The player wins by possessing the most capital in their Swiss bank account by the end of the twelfth turn, which is achieved by liquidating their assets (namely, purchased votes). At the end of twelve turns (each turn comprising three phases), the world has been ruined, ostensibly due to the consequences that capitalism inexorably produces.
– Real player with 5.7 hrs in game
Shadow Council: The Puppeteers
First of all: I do this Review especially for the developers, since I hope they will read this and respond, like they did with other Reviews.
The game has a pretty cool idea and really nice concept, however there are some slight issues or rather.. inconveniences?
For example there is a common lack of transparancy, you really should get much more information about who supports you, how much money do you get, what will exactly happen if youdo this or that - a good idea to achieve this would be the implentation of things like “military support-23% conservatives support 75% socialist support 1%”.
– Real player with 8.4 hrs in game
Honestly the game has died, for $15 this is very unfilled and doesn’t have content. The game is basically a wait along that pits you against a country (or more fittingly it’s many different provinces which I will admit have a good tid bit of backstory) fighting to get the people to uprise against their government. The game is a shell, a husk waiting to be filled by content like (not story) mechanics, game speeds, a pause option, and other valid criticisms made by the buyers of this.
And if the developer answers this, I have seen you comment and try to communicate with the community but honestly I have not seen many updates actually be fulfilled and action being done. Please, if you want to improve your game then stop using the good ol' politician’s response of promising and waiting for it all to blow right over.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
The President
The President
– Real player with 1082.2 hrs in game
It’s election time!
Time to choose who’s going to run the country. Will they bring prosperity to an ailing economy, will they to go to war, will they reduce military presence, will they bring better health care and schooling, or will they make cut backs? Have you ever thought, I could run the country better? Well here’s your chance to prove it in this political strategy game.
You play as Tom Reed, a rising star who reached the top of the Democratic Party, now the youngest President of the Republic of Dora. As a small country of around 12 million people, how hard can it really be if Donald Trump is President of the US of A?
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
Dead In The Tropics
Outlive your friends in this social multiplayer elimination game. Once a day, a player must be sacrificed so the others can live. What lengths will you go to to be the last remaining?
The group must decide who is the next to be eliminated. How could you make that impossible choice? You only see one option. At night you vote.
Work together during the day, turn against each other at night. Will you be defeated by the starvation, the trials of the island, or the complicated island politics?
Key features:
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Deep, strategic, turn-based gameplay. Simple & easy-to-learn mechanics that cause nuanced, social consequences.
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Online multiplayer. Betray real-world friends or strangers on the internet.
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A game with voting at it’s core. Do you lie & scheme, or fly under-the-radar? How you play is up to you.
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Balance your individual goals with the survival of the group. Eating more will give you a survival advantage, but it will not make your popular.
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Randomly generated events and tools, along with the unique turn-order system, make every playthrough different. The decisions you make early will determine how the week plays out.
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The AI of the island will decide your circumstances. Those met with good luck may find themselves targeted by others, while the unfortunate may be ignored as unthreatening. Adapt your strategy to the hand you’ve been dealt.
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Those eliminated will still have a role to play on the final day if you choose to stick around. Short sessions mean it won’t be long until you’re back in the action!
To learn more about Dead In The Tropics, please visit:
Divinity: Dragon Commander
This review contains of three parts:
1. What game is it actually/what does it contain?
2. How do I feel about certain parts of it?
3. Summary.
1. Divinity : Dragon Commander
This game is an interesting mixture of turn-based strategy, RTS with a possibility of turning to TPP and continuing the fight, and to some degree a Empire builder. I will use few comparisions in order to describe it for newcommers. If You liked Total War series for the turn based strategy and the possibility to command Your troops on a RTS battlefield, but You found both parts a bit too complex this game may just fit Your taste. How is the RTS part handling? Well it can be compared to Warhammer 40K Dawn of War, but again in a more simplistic way. The places on which You build are not only limited but also fixed, and the whole game is basing on the land controll with one resource involved. The number of units avaiable is smaller and there are no fraction specyfic units. That doesn’t mean that there is no micro/macro cntroll involved. In fact the ‘rock-paper-scissors’ mechanic seems fair enough and even the most low tech units remain usable in late-campagin matches thanks to their special abilities. Storyline? Hymmm. I can’t say I did not sink into it, but it really is a rather linear story with one ending. Again I would compare it to the Witcher style of handling the storyline. You can do various things by anwsering many choices. There are no good anwsers as each option rewards ou with something and punishes You with a other one. But ultimately there are three acts, that lead the main storyline. You can either win the campagin or loose it. There is also a random campagin mode that takes out only one part of the story and gives You a chance of discovering personal plots and endings without the need to go through the same three maps again. Multiplayer. As it stands the UI is a bit lacking at the moment but still the matches give a lot of fun. With dragons fighting in the skies while micro managing their armies and macro managing the factories the RTS gets really interesting.
– Real player with 92.5 hrs in game
It’s a pretty good game that could have been really awesome. They were really ambitious with it.
The main issue is that they didn’t have the budget for this one and Divinity Original sin, which they were developing at the same time.
So they had to pick one or the other, and they picked D:OS, which makes sense because it was more in line with what they’re good at doing.
Even so, Dragon Commander got made, though they ended up cutting a HUGE amount of content. Like, the game that you see is about 30% of the final product that they strung together and published before moving over to D:OS
– Real player with 55.6 hrs in game
Sim Junta
This is a very fun and easy to play game, but is very difficult to win. Previous reviews have explained what this game is about, so I will try to share some things I have found out the hard way. Please note that all my suggestions are for Normal Level.
New Game:
After creating a new game check Army Chief and Police Chief Ambition. If it is too high better start another game and don’t waste your time. Is already hard enough as it is to avoid a revolution from the various parties, the Guerillas or the Prisoners. The most common way to get overthrown and lost this game is if your Police or Army Chief betray you and try to seize the power.
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
This game is great for the bargin I’ve gotten it for! It’s a game set during the Cold War in which you are “Mr.President”, the current military president of Risuena, a backwater, third-world country. This game is sorta like if Tropico had an orgy with Papers, Please, add a dash of Haiti, and this would be it’s love child. It’s also somewhat like that game Dictator on the ZX Spectrum (look it up, it’s an old school game).
Anyways, this game is a management economy game without building shit and instead just passing out edicts and stuff. What you then do is balence the economy by raising taxes and creating bills to pass, however, don’t think that you can just fuck around and not get away with it (believe me, it happened to me a couple times). If you do decide to diddlydick around, the different factions will try to plot against you by either trying to form a revolution or to try to kill your ass.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game