Democracy 3

About as insipid as democracy is in reality.

Democracy 1 is a great game. You can buy it at their website for about US$10. Hey GOG, when Dem 3 is at US$2.99 I'll buy it. 'K?

I played D2 and haven't played D3, however it looks like the same game with better graphics, so take this with a grain of salt. How D2 worked is you have a bunch of 'people' that are representative of the population of your country, and they care for things a certain amount. As it is a political simulator your job is to make as many of them happy as you can. the game does a great job of handling this with policies and budgets you get to decide upon, but keep in mind everyone likes a booming economy, lots of government spending, and no deficit. it is doubtful that you will be able to achieve such a utopia in a short four year span so you need to do what you can for people's happiness now. Now the bad part is that this whole thing is in a vacuum, so if you decide to fire your entire military and police force you won't have to worry about your neighbor invading you, or some rebel faction starting a civil war. If you decide to cut taxes and give incentives to big business they don't flock to you from other countries, or your existing ones don't begin to use that as leverage to corner markets abroad. At some point they will involve some outside influences to give a challenge and some variety to their scenarios, at which point the game will be worth more than $5-$10, until then wait until the price drops.

I haven't played D3 but I have played D2 and based on the screen shots the changes don't look revolutionary. Since many aren't familiar with the series, I'll share my thoughts on what it's like. D is a game for people who like to tinker with complex systems and watch how small changes can snowball into big ones. You start with a country that is saddled with a variety of conditions, such as the state of the economy, the quality of roads, general health and education of the population, as well as policies such as taxes, drug or alcohol prohibition, social welfare or immigration. The number of different components is astounding and all have the potential to affect one another. You also have your population made up of social groups, each with its own preferred agenda. The more you appeal to a groups ideology, the more support you get in elections. Lose an election and lose the game. But your policies can also cause a group to shift in population, so it's possible to make major social transformations over time. D tries to model accepted mainstream political and economic theory so there is a bias that might not appeal to you if you favor a more extreme view; however, D2 was moddable for anybody who wants to invest the time. The interface looks complicated but the mechanics are well streamlined. Once you understand how one "dot" works, you'll find that the all the others aren't so scarey. I like the series but I would wait for a price drop before purchasing.