Democracy 2

Let me start out by saying that I have a degree focusing on Political Science and have worked in the sector.... The Socioeconomic policies do not reflect what happens in the real world, more what someone idealizes how they should work. The Human Element is not well represented, such as in situations where a positive outcome is seen, but the electorate is unhappy due to outlying political/social/etc beliefs (e.g. the goal is accomplished, but not HOW the populace wanted it accomplished, etc). The Political system is rather simplified and this makes a Democratic Socialist approach far too easy and ignores key psychological responses that have been observed in the real world when certain situations arise. After playing for a few hours, using demographic knowledge of game developers, and knowing the political beliefs behind certain policies, I easily beat the game with a Social Democracy....which appears to be the ultimate point of the developers. Comparatively, I attempted a few othe...

Overall 5/10 Pros: - The idea behind it is good, you get to play a government and using different policies you try to get reelected while improving a country. - Some concepts behind it are solid, both in terms of ecomics and social policies. - It is easy to understand what each polciy does. Cons: - It is probably too easy to beat, just a bunch of algorithms to beat. - There's only one way to "win" and that is pretty much going full "social democrat", nothing else seem to work. - Very few scenarios. - The consequences of some actions are totally off, like raising VAT to 70% and seeing your opinion rating go up. I truly like the idea behind it, and I hope the author gets backing to develop it into 1) a real game, made by pros and 2) a more realistic simulation, but as it is now I cannot reccomend it.

I managed to create a socialist paradise by cranking up my GDP to the point where the bare minimum of taxes off of corporations paid for public education, transportation, healthcare, retirement pensions, the military, and basically everything else. I created a socalist utopia through the magic of the free market and laissez-faire capitalism.

My biggest complaint is that there is no way to win the different scenarios if you choose any other political path than "progressive liberalism."

aka a progressive pipe dream. no rewards for cutting taxes, reducing regulation, or otherwise doing things which actually improve society.

A good concept, but poorly executed. If you want a political simulator, this is not the one to play. As for which one is... that I am less certain about. Either way, don't bother with this one. I wish I didn't. :(

Overpriced, unbalanced, inflexible. This is a game that is over 4 years old now, and still costs 20 dollars. It's ridiculous! Second, many of the in-game options are unbalanced. I have been assassinated, by environmentalists, when I had a carbon tax and strong anti-pollution regulations. Most importantly, I find, the amount of actual changes you can make besides different degrees of neoliberal capitalism is very low. You can't have any kind of socialism(Social democracy is very attainable, but the closest thing to a leftist ideology in the game, and it's still capitalist.), you can't abolish the government, and limited government doesn't work great either. You can't really have fascism either. Even the sequel to this game(Democracy 3) is still plagued by many of these problems, but slighty less so. If you really want a game like this, just skip this one and get Democracy 3, but the entire series isn't the best, I find. There isn't a really high amount of replayability, either, it all...

Definitely a great game, but you have to fit the right niche. No flashy graphics to distract you, just a screen and some government policy options. It's pretty fun to try to build different types of countries, such as a socialist one or a pure capitalist democracy, or even try to model it after the style of leadership of an individual. It's your chance to create a country the way you see fit, so why not take it!

Just buy Dem 3. Better in all ways.

Basically play socialist democracy or lose the game.