The Political Machine 2016

Its possible to make California vote Republican and Texas vote Democrat. Unrealistic 10/10

You can lose Oklahoma as a Republican. You can win Alaska as a Democrat. Also, remember to campaign in Kentucky, it's hard to win there for whatever reason. Also, I wish that you could have debates. That'd be fun. Game's fun but not realistic.

Pretty much the same as the last two, with updated candidates and an improved user interface. However, it's a pretty good game. It's much simpler than 270soft’s President Forever, which is now called President Infinity, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. President Infinity can feel bogged down; the game can sometimes feel like a chore, and little mistakes like barnstorming with low stamina in a key state can ruin you instantly (I’m looking at you, Ohio and Florida). TPM is quick and fun, but there are certain strategies which will assure victory on all but the highest of difficulty settings. After TPM 2012 came out, I was really hoping they would include primaries in this one, but I guess not. Where President Infinity is more realistic, TPM can be more fun. There’s no happy medium. If you’re a political junkie or *gasp* want an insight into how elections break down, I’d say that this game is definitely worth the asking price. The past version saw a small free expansion pack released partway through its lifecycle which added in historical candidates like Richard Nixon… I mean… me. Whereas that hasn’t been confirmed for this release, I have seen Marco Rubio pick Abraham Lincoln (an unplayable character right now) as his running mate, so I assume it’s coming. Pick it up and give it shot.

So probably not that surprisingly this Political Machine is almost exactly the same as the previous 2012 version. And yes its early access, but really that does not mean that much, they’re going to add a few issues as they arise throughout the next year probably, and yes it does have the current political heavy weights, but that does not change the gameplay in any significant way. It lacks depth, depth I’m sure the audience this game appeals to would not be turned off by. On top of that the game does not have primary debates, or presidential debates, the most exciting/significant aspect of the political season is simply omitted. Basically this game amounts to a low effort money generator for the developers.

This game I've put way too many hours into just out of creating characters with friends and having them go at it. In terms of an actual game, it's the exact same as its predecessor. Not at all worth the money. Especially when they have Jill Stein as a Dem and Gary Johnson as a Rep... Things to add: 3rd Party support (at the very least the Green and Libertarian parties) Debates Primaries Add these three and the game immediately becomes great (again).

It's fun to play as Trump and stump people, but the game seems to have a strong Democrat bias. You have a higher chance of winning the game if you play as someone like Hillary or Bernie, while this is true in real life, it turns people off from playing as Republicans. The custom character customizer could also be better. The game is fun, but also lacks a lot of features such as debating. You also shouldn't be able to change you're politican of picks stances on the fly. For example, I could go into New York playing as Donald Trump saying that I support illegal immigration, but can then go into Texas and say I do not support illegal immigration without any consequences. It's a great game, fun and relaxing, but misses some features. 7/10.

This is a fantastic, well-made, pretty accurate game. I'm impressed with how thorough and expansive this game is. I'm not here to criticize this, as in my almost 20 hours this week of this game I have only found one pressing issue. I just want to give some suggestions to potentially better the game. Pretty fantastic idea, having custom characters btw. 1. Add the option for a third-party candidate. Maybe create a conglomeration of parties for this? Libertarian, Green, and normal Independent. This could add an interesting and fun alternative to the normal process. 2. Add debates! This would add such a fun and potentially game-changing aspect to the election cycle. You could put the option on the game setup screen, where you could set the number of debates from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of say, 6? 3. I don't know how practical it would be so this is a tentative suggestion. Maybe add an option for a three-way election? Pit all three parties (assuming you add a third party) against each other! Or two of one party against one of another! Or three people from the same party! Just a cool thought, if you couldn't implement it that's understandable. 4. Make the point system for issues better. This is my one issue with the game. When creating a custom character, there are 20+ issues that you only have 100 points to spread over. Maybe lessen issues, or add more points, or make it require less points to strongly be for or against an issue. It's not game-ruining, but it can get a bit frustrating when trying to truly customize a character. 5. This is to potentially help diversify gameplay even more. Maybe, when you get the option to randomize issue importance, have a customize option? I'd understand if you don't allow games with customized issue importance to go on leaderboards or something (too easy to tailor issues for you to win) but I think it would add a cool element to elections. For example, I made an Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis character and have been trying to randomize issues to include Ending Human Trafficking, BlackLivesMatter, and Confederate Flag Display, or issues related to the civil war. Obviously, with the depth of issues in the game it's nearly impossible to get the election centered around exactly what I want, and it made me think of adding that kind of option. So that's it. I think this is an amazing game, and I'll be playing it a lot in the months to come. Hope my review and suggestions helped! 9.5/10 stars from me

Fun, witty little parody of the U.S. electoral process. You can create custom candidates and choose between a very wide range of issues for them to stand for or against, from #blacklivesmatter to saving the bees! CONS: The game starts at the general election between two candidates. I would have enjoyed the primaries in this game. Also, you can only associate with the two party system. I would have enjoyed being able to pick third parties, or better yet, being able to make a custom party.

I've been holding off to write a review for this game for a while. I wanted to get a complete review out, and now, 33 hours later, I feel like I'm finally ready to write a complete review. So, here it is. My review for The Political Machine 2016. Let me just clarify that I did not play The Political Machine 2012. Summary: The Political Machine 2016 is an election simulator made by Stardock Entertainment. In this game, you can simulate the presidential election with a variety of candidates. If you play your cards right, you can come out on top with all 50 states, or, if you utterly fail, you can end up being humiliated by your political rival. Whether you win or lose is entirely up to you. Candidates: Some of the candidates included are candidates in the early stages of the 2016 Presidential election. This includes Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders, and Ted Cruz. This is only a small amount of the candidates. There are also memorable politicians such as Sarah Palin, Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Obama, and John Kerry. There are of course many more potential candidates than this, including some independents who barely agree with the party they are placed with(Gary Johnson is a Republican, and Michael Bloomberg is a Democrat). However, with the DLC, many more candidates are added, such as Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon. I won't spoil the rest, since part of the fun is finding out who the other candidates are. There are a total of 6 candidates to beat(and unlock) for each party. Game Mechanics: Once you start your campaign towards the White House, there are many things to need to do. You can upgrade your Campaign Headquarters to bring in more cash rather than fundraising(trust me, you'll need to fundraise either way. Campaign Headquarters only bring in about $90,000, which is tiny compared to the costs of ads.). You can also build Outreach centers, which help you get endorsement points. Endorsements are very important, and can change the whole election for the better or for the worse. The last building you can build is a Consulting Office. These help give you points to hire operatives, which are crucial to the game. Operatives can give you a strategic advantage in certain states(such as keeping the rising democrat ratings in California when you have awareness maxed out), and can help you secure a victory. The next mechanic in the game is ads. You can make Ground game ads, which are small ads promoting a certain view. They are extremely cheap, but very weak. If you want to get your views out there, you're gonna have to spend a lot more. This will let you place a TV ad, which can shift certain state demographics outside of the state you placed the ad in. TV ads are very useful, but very expensive. Use them wisely. The other extremely useful mechanic is the speech mechanic. Speeches can shift entire states, and allow you to turn that state towards your side, if your awareness is low. Be careful, however, since speeches in states with maxed out awareness can hurt you. The final crucial mechanic is fundraising. At some point in your campaign, you will lose money, in which case you will need to fundraise. In richer states, you can earn up to $450,000. This is a lot of money, when compared to the amount some less populated states will give you. Playability: This game is very fun. With the amount of variables such as Candidates and demographics, this will keep you very entertained. Also, with the campaign DLC, you could be spending a lot of time trying to get the really good characters. At some point, you will hit a wall, though. That is unfortunate about this game, since the first 10-20 hours are very fun(or even 30 hours in my case). Errors: While most of the time the game runs very smoothly, it does occasionally crash and freeze. I've seen many cases where I finish giving a speech, only to see the game run extremely slow, causing me to restart the game. And when the game restarts, it sets you back. It doesn't save where you left off, it set you back about 4 weeks. This is very annoying. Another issue is when a certain black box appears in the middle of the screen and breaks the game. Restart, setting the game back. This is by far the most annoying part of the game. Final Verdict: In the end, I'm very glad I bought this game. I feel like I got my money's worth. With all the candidates, and the possible creation of a custom candidate, this game is well worth the $9.99 price tag. The mechanics in the game are very smooth. While there are many glitches and crashes, and the game does hit a wall in terms of replayability, it was an overall fun experience. The Campaign DLC is worth it's price tag. In the end, I feel like this game was well worth the money I paid for it. With all factors considered, I'm going to give this game a final score of 84/100. I liked most of the game, however, I feel like Stardock could have done more to fix errors and put more things into the game. If they put those things in, this game is easily a 90/100. So, I leave you with that score and a lot to think about. If you are considering buying this game, understand that it may be not the most accurate, but it is certainly more fun than most political sims out there.