The Political Machine 2008 [PC]

There are a few other small problems here and there. The biggest annoyance is the inability to distinguish between all the ads and political operatives that are bunched together in the states. It's not as a big a deal in places like Texas or California, but when you've got ten or twelve folks in New York sharing space with half a dozen print and TV ads, it can be difficult to know just what's going on. The developers should also include a handy summary screen so you can see all your ads in one place, particularly those running at a national level. We've occasionally found ourselves paying to run duplicate ads just because we weren't sure if we had one running already.

We were also a little disappointed that there's no real use for political clout late in the game. It's an absolutely essential resource during the early part of the campaign in order to pick up those lucrative national endorsements. But once you and your opponent have divided up the handful of eligible organizations, your clout just keeps building and building for no real purpose. It would be nice if there were someway to leverage that once the endorsements are all claimed.

Closing Comments
For twenty bucks, The Political Machine 2008 isn't necessarily a bad deal, but it's a one-note affair that inhabits that misty gray region between comfortable familiarity and dull predictability. As a light-hearted treatment of American politics in 2008, The Political Machine definitely succeeds and we've had a bit of fun roleplaying our own values on the road to the White House. There's no doubt that it's an enjoyable experience, but the main campaign just has you playing out the same battle over and over again. The other campaigns are interesting and introduce some genuinely funny and thought provoking issues but they're not quite as comprehensible or recognizable as the 2008 US campaign.

©2008-06-18, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved