Even before I worked at Stardock, I loved Stardock games.. I have a very short list of games I keep around and play, but one game that keeps coming back for more around here, is Political Machine. The election is long over, but the game lives on, and its something we play around my house quite regularly. I can't explain why, its just a very entertaining product, it has slick and stylish graphics, pleasing mechanics, and a difficulty level that makes it a challenge.

All too often I complain about games that lack depth, playability, and difficulty... Sid Meiers Pirates! remake was a recent example of a huge disappointment, and I blogged that. But there have been a string of boring, overly simple games that just don't challenge my mind. Is it that developers lack creativity, or is it they are trying to appeal to a wide range of audiences? Or is it that gamers nowadays, are just overly simple and don't like cerebral challenges in their games? Is it the console mentality pushing developers to design fast and simple games, that only require minutes to play, and are exciting to people with ADD? Or is it more sinister, are publishers not writing checks for games that have complex mechanics and gameplay? I don't know what the answer is, but I do know the current state of PC gaming sucks (with a few special exceptions)! Years ago, when I purchased a computer game, I could usually count on difficult and challenging gameplay, and a ton of replay value. Nowadays, I have to assume a game will be easy, and appealing to a 12 year old with a 5 minute attention span, and no ability to learn new concepts.

Which brings me to Political Machine.. I was wandering through CompUSA around the time it was just released last year, and saw it priced at $19, I flipped over the box, liked the graphics and noticed it was a Stardock product. It was a no brainer to purchase it, I support local companies, and I support developers that design quality games - and Stardock is one of those companies - besides the price was right. I grabbed two copies, one for me, and one to mail down to my dad, he'd probably get a kick out of it I thought..

Well Political Machine didn't disappoint, and was become a household favorite - even today, more than a month after the election! In fact, I just finished a game only about 2 hours ago where I made some key mistakes, and the AI in the game exploited my mistakes, and totally destroyed me.. Ugh...

The best part about this game, is both of my sons were watching me as it ticked down to the 41st week. Then as the election finished, and the states were called off one by one, my sons and I cheered together as I won some key battleground states. My oldest son jumped up and started clapping in excitement, but that was short lived once I realized my critical mistake that the AI capitalized on - and I lost - but it was great! Now that's replay value! I think one of the reasons I like it so much is that its presentation is just slick as hell - its attractive, has nice music, and has elements that make it pretty special in my opinion.

If you haven't purchased it, give it a try! If you are remotely interested in challenging strategy games that have deep replayability, then what are you waiting for? Buy it! The metacritic scores on it are pretty solid overall, with a couple of puzzling low scores, which are probably from people that just didn't get it (Go see how they rate Pirates! in contrast I guess).. With any luck, we will be blessed with Political Machine 2 at some point in the future, I know *I* can't wait! Now all I have to do is find out how to unlock any easter eggs in it.