The Political Machine 2008 PC
  • Publisher: Stardock
  • Release Date: Jun 24, 2008
The Political Machine 2008 Image
Metascore
73 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.6 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 5 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
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  • Summary: The Political Machine is a strategy game that takes the real world mechanics of political campaigning and uses it to create an award-winning strategy game. Raise money, hire spin-doctors, win the endorsements of important groups, go on TV interviews, take out ads, fight off smear merchants and much more in your quest to win the 270 electoral votes you need to get into the white house. [Stardock]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. GamePro
    90
    Political junkies will almost certainly find themselves sucked in, along with those who have only a smattering of knowledge about the American political process.
  2. Armchair Empire
    85
    The game’s straightforward interface, light sense of humor and cute graphics might be sufficiently charming to engage and possibly teach a thing or two to players who are moderately interested in electoral politics.
  3. IGN
    73
    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.
  4. Thunderbolt
    70
    You’ve a solid game that, whilst incredibly similar to its forerunner, brings the series up to date, especially in such a historic US election. Just don’t expect too much deviation as every play-through is anything but a winding road.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 2 out of 3
  1. CharlesLentz
    9
    For a $20 political game, you get quite a lot of gameplay. The single player experience is pretty cool and the 3D bobble heads and map are nice updates from PM2004. The candidate editor is great. There's more replay-ability than before with the campaign mode and a few different scenarios. Then you can play LAN or online multiplayer. Since release, the developers have added some features, tweaks, bug fixes, and more candidate body parts. Updates are always appreciated.

    I'll give it a 9/10, because there's always room for improvement.    … Expand
  2. DrIron
    3
    The Political Machine 2008 is, sadly, the one awful game (beyond its predecessor) to come from Stardock, a blemish on an otherwise good company history.
    It's graphically ugly: The interface is atrocious and the bobbleheads hardly look like anyone they're supposed to.
    The game mechanics are clunky and at times confusing, there's some horrible balance issues, the candidate creator is terrible...
    All together this feels like an alpha for a game we never got. I refuse to believe this is really a finished game.    … Expand
  3. Andrew
    3
    This is a game that has great potential. The first version of the game was pretty simplistic, but still a lot of fun. This time around, everyone expected a more refined version, with deeper features.

    Unfortunately that didn't happen. The game is (somehow) a resource hog - largely because of the "patriotic glow" on the map, and the animated bobble heads. I have no idea why they would demand so many resources, but regardless.

    Secondly, the game dynamics are pretty much exactly the same. The same endorsements, the same political hires, mostly the same issues. The determinations as to who is "strong" on what issue are still very arbitrary.

    There are no debates. There are no primaries. There are very few questions on the "TV Interviews" that you can have. There are no independent happenings or events that impact the campaign.

    This game had great potential, but they didn't bother to actually act on it. Sad.    … Expand

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