military and historical

This may go down as one of the most over-hyped computer games in history. Don't get me wrong, the game is pretty good, but it has been touted for so long, and delayed so many times; various reviewers over the last few years have carried on about its remarkable flexibility and wonderful graphics and game engine. In the end, it's good, but doesn't quite live up to the hype.

The game is intended to be a political simulator. You play an insurgent or visionary in an Eastern European country, part of the former USSR. The aim is to overthrow the President and become president yourself. You do this by recruiting helpers with various skills and abilities, and putting them to use in turning the population of various cities to support you. Amongst other things, you can leaflet a district, arrange for the bashing of a rival to weaken their resolve, vandalise an opposing factions' district to weaken their support, and hold public rallies to build up popular support. In this way, it is quite flexible.

However, this is essentially a turn-based game; the ever-running clock merely limits the time you have to decide on your actions in each turn. Also, the manual and 'tutorial' in the game are not well written and therefore not very helpful. As such, you'll find yourself learning as you play and it will probably take some time before you find all the commands and options you have access to.

Perhaps my biggest gripe is that the ideology model is quite one dimensional, with anti capitalism/pro-union on the left, freedom/democracy in the centre, and capitalism/free-market on the right. Then again, while real world politics has many more dimensions, this is probably a relatively accurate portrayal of major parties in many countries.

Overall, if you are interested in politics and want to try a very different sort of game from your average first person shooter or RTS, I'd heartily recommend it, but don't be fooled by all the hype from the last few years.

I spent $50 on this trash, thinking it a good game. I read previews, but not reviews. The game is a good idea, but they did it terribly. I would not even spend $5 on it.

First of all after the 2nd hour of the game. You have to be on top of everything to control all the territory and win support. I mean everywhere. If u try and control one area the others lower. Extremely annoying. Secondly They don't speak english. I don't even thing its a language. The Sims make more sense then them. The conversations are useless due to this. DON'T BUY IT!