Games for Lunch: The Political Machine 2008

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0:31 We're loading up my battle with Grant. The timpani-heavy background music is repetitive, but not awful.

0:33 We're starting off 41 weeks from election day. Grant starts off by immediately building a new HQ in North Carolina and a consulting office in New Mexico. Some cute little animations show Grant flying around the country. The interface is kind of confusing, but it looks like almost 68 percent of voters nationwide are undecided. Good lord! What parallel, unpolarized universe is this?

0:35 Clicking on the various states, I find I'm way behind in practically every state! Even California, which hasn't gone Republican for decades! Maybe the game is just giving me a hole to climb out of to make things interesting? Or maybe my mix of inexperience and issue positions just puts me at a disadvantage.

0:36 I decide to upgrade my Maryland HQ to start. It saps four of my nine stamina, but gives me more money per week and helps my awareness. I use the rest of my stamina to give a speech about my approval for gun control. Independents and Democrats like it and my numbers in Maryland get a slight bump. You'd think my home state would have already been safe, but I needed that bump, actually.

0:39 Grant builds HQs in Texas and Florida. I'd like to counter with my own HQs, but I can't seem to figure out how to travel to other states. Clicking on the states just gives me data on that state. Maryland is great and all, but I have to get out there!

0:43 Oh. I have to right-click to travel to a state. That took me WAY too long to figure out. Why didn't they just say so? I go out and solidify my base with an HQ in California, but then I'm done for the turn. Grant's stamina advantage is going to be tough to overcome.

0:44 Grant tries to snipe New Hampshire with a consulting office and matches my HQ in Cali. I get some HQs in Ohio and Washington. We're apparently in the "staking out our ground" stage of the campaign.

0:47 I plant an HQ in Colorado (which I feel is ripe for a pick up) and some fundraising in rich New York. I get $229,000 for my troubles, nearly enough to pay for the entire HQ. Whoo!

0:48 Grant goes for Delaware. Wait, Delaware? Really? It borders my home state of Maryland AND it's been solidly Democratic for a long time. Then again, I am losing there currently. I have to bring up my awareness, it seems. What better way than a TV ad? I tell everyone I'm for improving the economy, unlike my opponent, who wants to bankrupt America and send all our jobs to Mexico, I guess. The ad costs a pretty penny, but I'm up to even in New York, so that's good.

0:51 I'm really not a fan of this interface. Where are the mapping options that show if a state is red or blue, or how many electoral votes it has? Getting info on a specific state means double-clicking on it, but I don't always have the time or inclination to drill down everywhere. Sometime I want the bigger view.