The Pol Machine first impressions! Terrific!

from PolMach Forums
I downloaded the game from TotalGaming.net. I didn't take part in the beta so this was a new experience for me.

First TIP: PRINT THE MANUAL. This game was a very different experience for me than my other strategy games. Once I got the hang of it, the game is incredibly easy to play but rich in strategic options. I made the mistake of playing the game without reading the manual and really didn't understand what I was doing.

I played one quick game as George W. Bush on the easy level. Once I started using the endorsements some the game because quite a bit easier to win for me. I don't know much on politics so I made use of the game view that shows how many electoral votes I need and then I used the strategy view to figure out which states I needed.

I LOVE THE OPERATIVES. The operatives make the game. You've got 5 of these guys you can buy who have different powers. The first one is just a consultant who beefs up your awareness in a state. Awareness is the key to victory because you only have 40 turns before the election so having more guys who can power up your awareness is good. There is also the intimidator who kills your enemy's awareness in a state. There's then the smear merchant who makes your opponents ratings tank in a state. I love this guy because as soon as he come in, you can see the state's color tint change dramatically. The spin doctor is the opposite of the smear merchant but doesn't seem quite as powerful. There is also the web master. This guy looks useless at first but he's very important because you will need to take out ads to win. I created a bunch of ads to try to win New York and then put a web master there who makes them cost only half as much to maintain. And lastly there is the fixer who kills enemy operatives.

Me and Kerry were going back and forth doing very bad things to each other. I also took out a lot of ads. I spent a lot of time trying to be the leader on the war on terror while Kerry was pushing the economy and outsourcing of jobs angle. I did end up losing my last game because I lost Florida and Ohio to Kerry. I think I could have won Florida if I had paid better attention. Kerry put in a big old Social Security TV ad in Florida early on. I just couldn't come back from that by the time I saw what was happening.

I have not had time to play the campaign mode or fantasy or multiplayer. I'll wait until I'm more set on the regular game.

Pros: The graphics are really good. A lot better than Galactic Civilizations. The game plays very smoothly. Good replay value. I really like how the operatives are done.

Cons: I want more settings. I want to be able to play to 100 weeks if I want or 20 weeks. Give me more options. I miss the metaverse. I want to submit my final score to the Metaverse! Any chance you guys can put that in? More options to set up the base costs of things.

I'm not into politics but had a ball. I bet if you even remotely like politics you'll love this.
8,001 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from PolMach Forums Top

Glad you like the game.  Regarding more settings, when things calm down a bit from the initial launch we'll be able to do more.

I'd like to see the Metaverse added in, we'll see what we can do.

Reply #2 from PolMach Forums Top
Good review and I agree with everything. Though I would recommend every new player try campaign first rather than just the normal game. It starts out pretty easy and you can adjust the difficulty setting as well. It has the added incentive of unlocking new politicians for play.
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from PolMach Forums Top
Game is fun. But campaign is really hard. I finally managed to beat Clark and then got waxed 440 to 80 by one Jimmy Carter. Ouch.
Probably just need to practice more.

Main thing is I have seen little benefit from endorsements, though playing certain TV ads can be huge.

And I love the interviews. "I am either gonna kick butt or chew bubblegum, and I am always outta bubblegum." Love that answer about terrorism response lol.
Reply #4 from PolMach Forums Top
Agree with most of what the reviewer said. My first impressions are that the game is great but needs a few tweaks.

1. Much, much slower election night results. It goes way too fast. I'd like to savor each state result.

2. More ways to increase national awareness. If I don't visit Idaho, the 70-30 ratio of Republicans to Democrats should still deliver the state to Bush in most cases.

3. Endorsements are too powerful. I was creaming John Kerry in my last game, then he ran off with the Christian, Women's, and Union endorsements and suddenly nearly won the game. He had two sets of conflicting endorsements (Christian v. Women, and Chamber of Commerce v. Unions) and still suddenly made up about 5-10 points in states like California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois.

4. The game needs to avoid letting a candidate run up ridiculous margins in a state. It makes no sense for me to win ANY state 80-20, but this happens all the time (actually, the AI does this more than I do). In the frozen candidate game I played earlier today, Kerry won Washington 99-1. There just is no way for a candidate to ever win any state in the union by that margin. The game needs sort of a min/max for party support.

5. Way too few candidates. I know you want the campaign game to unlock other people, but my goodness, the VP candidates for the GOP are HORRIBLE! Laura and Barbara Bush!? They aren't even politicians. Bob Dole/Bill Mason is retired. Arnold isn't even eligible. The only real GOP VP's are Cheney and Forbes. Where are Ridge, Frist, F. Thompson, etc.? Just way too limited choices.

6. My only other criticism is that the game is too short.
Reply #5 from PolMach Forums Top
5. Way too few candidates. I know you want the campaign game to unlock other people, but my goodness, the VP candidates for the GOP are HORRIBLE! Laura and Barbara Bush!? They aren't even politicians. Bob Dole/Bill Mason is retired. Arnold isn't even eligible. The only real GOP VP's are Cheney and Forbes. Where are Ridge, Frist, F. Thompson, etc.? Just way too limited choices.


I'm guessing that the campaign game will probably unlock a lot of those candidates you list.. no way to know for sure until it is done. If you don't want to play campaign, it has said before that the game has cheats you can use.

You have to remember this game is not just a political simulator created for realism but it is suppose to be entertaining as well. Personally I enjoy the wide range of personalities available (including Laura and Barbara, Dole, Mason, Arnold, and Carter, amoung others). I think these make the game funner for people who may not be so 'politically inclined' such as myself.
Reply #6 from PolMach Forums Top
I just wanted to say, this is a great game.
I played thru 2 campaign missions last night and totally creamed both candidates (Condolezza Rice and Arnold Schwartanegger).

I knew nothing about politics until just recently because I have been concerned about this election and the state of the nation.
I was drawn to this game so that I could learn more about the political process.

Now while I was waiting for this game I purchased another Election simulator and could just not beat the game no matter what I did.
However, when I got this one, the instructions explained things much more clearly.
Both games are very similar but this one has a much more pleasing look and much more useful interface.
In addition the campaign mode eases you into the game much better by playing against easier opponents at first instead of just throwing you at the wolves.

I may try the other game again now to see if I can do better.