"Democracy" Review

"Democracy" is a thought-provoking sim game, that will challenge you to provide a balance of what the people want and what you think they need on everything from gay marriage to road expansion. "Democracy" does exactly what it sets out to do - get you thinking about how even small changes effect different groups of people.

Pros

Cons

You start out as a newly elected official, of the one of the listed countries, that must work to keep the voters on your side. If they aren't not happy with your performance, you can be sure they will let you know, by not voting for you again!

A large portion of the screen is devoted to different groups within a the country. A meter is shown for each group to indicate how they feel about your policies that are important to them. For example, a commuter cares about road expansion.

After each turn is taken, information will be given to you about ratings and the budget. You will also be given an issue you need to make a decision about. A common issue I got was whether to allow gay marriage or not or appointing officials. You have to make a decision, which will impact polls, before moving on to the next turn.

A lot of data is available to you, regarding the budget, laws effects, and the population. You are left on your own to figure out what all the numbers mean. This is where an advisor system would help.

It's a challenge to keep everyone at least partially happy. I often found situations that would come up that did not have an obvious solution and what I did try often didn't appear to help. On a related note, it takes time for some decisions and budget changes to take effect. Making it difficult to decide to make further changes or wait it out.

"Democracy" is like other text-based games (ie "Baseball Mogul"). The focus is on the numbers and getting them to work in your favor.