My review for Positech's Democracy 2 will be out shortly and there is a pretty significant gap between my score for the first one (4.8) and my relatively better score for the second one (6.3).

I still gave a lot of the same criticisms against 2 as I did the original, so I felt it was my duty to explain the disparity between the two and my thoughts on the franchise as a whole. Think of this thread as sort of my stream-of-consciousness thoughts that I couldn't squeeze into my review without it becoming too wordy.

First of all, Democracy is a very casual game. UK publisher Ascaron is trying to bring the original Democracy over to the states this February. The thing is, Democracy 1 is nearly 3 years old. Even if it was a AAA title in 2005, it would be pushing itself in 2008 for what's expected now. As far as I know, it will be coming with no real enhancements from the 2005 version. If it was good enough to bring over here, then why wouldn't it have made it in 2005? A much more pressing question is this: If it was good enough to bring to the states, then it was good enough to expand upon into a fuller game. The $30 price tag for a 3 year old casual game is just way too high in my opinion and the lack of audio and interesting graphics doesn't help. The gameplay is actually very deep on the original, yet could be expanded upon (like in Democracy 2). Football Manager sells extremely well in the UK and there's practically 0 graphics in that game; it's all statistics and more statistics. Democracy is a lot like that. It's just, for a game that's based 99.9% percent on information processing and strategizing, there is a serious dearth of it. Not all information has to be relevant to your next choice either. People like hard facts, they also like fun (if trivial facts), too.


Democracy 2 expands on Democracy 1 and is a much more satisfying experience. First off, the game can be quite easily updated in-game. Positech also doesn't leave you as the user to take it upon yourself to create all the experiences by modding. Sure, it's incredibly easy to mod, but don't expect us to make the game ourselves. Democracy 2 handles this better IMO. Also, the GUI, will very similar to the original has a new sleek look to it and subtle changes. One thing you have to know about how the gameplay works in Democracy is that there are all sorts of policies and situations that need attending too. Things like How much money you are paying the police force, whether you're teaching creationism or evolution in schools (or both), and if you are researching biofuels, etc. When you fund one of these things, they affect many other statistics. Liberals don't like gun laws, so a restriction on them will boost your rating with liberals. But Patriots love guns (as Yahtzee says, we're a bunch of sign-shooting rednecks in America), so by restricting gun control, you lose face with the Patriots. You can see all the interactions with everything by simply hovering the mouse over the icon, of which there are many on the screen. It looks confusing and complex at first, but is actually really easy to understand when you get the gist of it. With Democracy 2, when you hover over an icon, everything except it and what else it affects (other policies, situations, voter demographics) goes black. So you are only looking at it. A simple idea but it works wonders to clarify data.

Also, in Democracy 2 you can get the trivial facts I was referring to that were absent in Democracy 1. There is an Encyclopedia tab on some of the policies that you can get some background information on. These are cool, fun facts that are actually educational. Combine these educational facts with the complex simulation, and you have a very education and school-friendly game here. Also, Democracy 2 allows you to appoint and fire ministers. If you find that your minister is sympathetic towards alcholics and you are trying to tax/put restricitons on alcohol, you better fire that minister and hire someone else who will speedily implement the policy and not hate you afterwards.

Finally, my favorite addition to Democracy 2 is the extremist groups. There's a couple factions out there that are so extremist that if you aren't representing them in the gov't, they'll make attempts on your life. Therefore, you are more forced to balance your associations to get the population to like you. Or else, "An expert marksman" will put a bullet through your head "while you are attending an event to open a new school".

Add in Democracy 2's easy-to-download game at the price of only $23 dollars as opposed to $30 for its inferior, outdated cousin, and Democracy is actually a good deal. I strongly recommend that parents buy it for their kids or teachers for their social studies students, but for a gamer looking for the next big thing. Opt out. Similar to the original, you will probably find yourself playing 4 hours or less before you feel like you've worn it out.


That's all for now, feel free to ask questions and whatnot. Just had to get that off my mind.