Political Animals Reviews

A cute, simple game. (: Definitely throws some curve balls at you from time to time, but nothing you can't learn from for the next game!

I randomized EVERYTHING at the start, including difficulty. Lost with 44% of the vote to 44% of the vote, 352k to 354k votes. It was well worth the playthrough and I can't wait for the next one. Considering the fact that the whole campaign only lasted 2 hours, it was complex enough. Maybe not the best strategy game, but it'll be hard to find a better strategy that requires less of your time.

It is a simple game to play, but after a couple of gameplays it becomes boring. There is not much depth to this game. This game is not worth $15.

Do you think you can do better than the current politician? Now's your chance to prove it.... but first, you need to get elected. Political Animals is a game about the campaign trail. The music and art is cute. And the animal sounds are adorable. But behind the cute music hides the fact that you are going to be a corrupt and lying animal. But wait, didn't you want to be on the rightious path? Then, go ahead. But don't expect the other guy to do what it takes to win. They will bribe, cheat, and steal to win the elections. Do you still think you can win an election without any scandal? This game will prove you wrong.

I'm an ultimate newbie here, but here's my experience with the game so far: 1. Customization - I'm very particular about details, so I really, really liked customizing every bit of the traits, skills, and weaknesses of my Lion and staff (my favorite so far is Eduardog the Preacher) and my platform. You also get to choose the length of the campaign, starting funds, and difficulty of your AI opponent. (Since it was my first game, I opted for the shortest campaign, the highest amount of funds and an easy but corrupt AI opponent.) 2. Difficulty - it took me some time to get all the actions (e.g. bribing, rallying, raising funds, giving gifts to district patrons), but the tutorial helped a lot. The game uses funds and logistics as requirements for each action, so the challenge lies in effectively using these resources to build your reputation on the island. Random situations and events will pop up mid game, leaving moral dilemmas. I originally wanted a clean campaign for myself, but when I started losing funds, I found myself agreeing to under-the-table deals for additional funds and patron relationship. (I used influence to help a Patron's child enter a school when he/she didn't pass the entrance exam. (yikes) I also loaned from a cute Shark!) Given that I won by only 100,000+ votes (whew!) against a corrupt donkey in the Autumn Island (the easiest map), I really am looking forward to trying out the difficult maps and competing with their best AI. Has anyone won against a Crazy - level opponent in the most difficult island? 3. Strategy from beginning to finish - this game really has strategy written all over it. Every action requires studying the available data about the districts (e.g. population, available funds, concerns, relationship with the patrons) and planning tactics for your next turns. If you prefer research-like tasks like I do, then you might want to try the game out. Also, all actions have a corresponding variety of advantages and disadvantages, so the outcome will really depend on your own strategy. (I gained Patron's support after helping his child, but this made me vulnerable to scandals. Mr. Shark loaned me a significant amount, but he billed me with huge interest during my next turn.) I found Giving Gifts to Patrons helpful in minimizing the logistic costs, but this meant spending more for the gifts at the beginning. I remember opting to change one of my staff to a Bunny who has great taste in gifts for some bonus points. Overall, the customization, sound, appearance, and mechanics made it entertaining for me. :) I’ll see if I can win against a difficult AI without using dirty actions on my next game! P.S. In giving gifts to patrons, developers might want to consider adding another slider for the percentage. I just thought that this way, there won't be a need to move the fund slider back and forth just to reach my desired percentage.

This game has a great concept, but there simply isn't enough base content in the game to be worth the price. The fun of the game gets lost after the first two or three games, as the formula of what you need to do is essentially the same thing every game. (Please see comments for more information on what I disliked about the game.)

This game is loads of fun! If you are looking for a deep political simulation, this is NOT your game. But if you are looking for a game that takes careful planning and strategy, requires you to make some tough choices, and is more than a little humourous; look no further! Barn yard animals haven't been this political since "Animal Farm"!

An adorable game with possible outcomes. Cute drawings and tactical madness with just a flare or chaos to make each game unique and adds to the replay value. I'd recommend this for anyone who follows elections.

I don't normally write reviews, this is my first one in fact. But I saw some of the negative reviews and just thought I would put my two cents in. To start, yes it is a pretty straight forward game. You won't find much depth here compared to Democracy. However, what is there is quite fun. I've only played through a few campaigns so far, but I enjoyed all my experiences. My first playthrough I just sort of got used to how turns worked and to efficiently use my staff. I abandoned that game and started a second, and I was pretty easily able to get a landslide victory in Autumn Island (USA basically) on the games default settings. Looking for more of a challenge, I tried a harder difficulty campaign on Winter Island (UK plus Ireland), with a different opponent (you can choose their personality, clean, corrupt, pragmatic or unpredictable. This effects what kind of staff they hire and how they play the game.) Anyway, my third game was wildly different from my first. In the first two games we started out on the east and west coast of Autumn Island and pretty much used the whole time to lockdown states near the start with minimal fighting in the middle of the country over any state. On Winter Island however, the two most populous starting provinces are relatively close, and there is a choke point province between them that can be blockaded to make it difficult for the opposing party to move. Suddenly I was having to send my staff through neutral and red territory, wasting turns trying to get to a specific province. The point is, if you choose the easiest map on the default difficulty, win easily and decide to shelve this game, you are missing out. Solid 8/10 in my opinion.

I liked the idea behind the game, and I even enjoyed it for a moment, but after playing through two campaigns with generally negligible differences at moderate difficulty, I quickly realized that I had purchased a game that I would maybe play for an hour or two, and would collect digital dust in my library. Pros - I enjoyed the event scenarios that generated random perks and drawbacks. Stuck in traffic? A police officer will help you out and gain you some logistics points (basically this game's action points), but the scandal will follow you around. A well-connected individual approaches you for some favors for his son? Expose him and gain an uptick in public opinion or help him for added fundraising perks. Cons - Once you've played through the game and learned the mechanics, there is very little challenge to it. Scandals only matter for a few thousand voters and do not seem to impact the election unless it's close (it's never really that close). If you have the money and logistics, the election is easily won. The animal politicians are superficial sprites. They do not give you individual strengths and weaknesses; they're only the representation of your character. You can have a peaceful, religious lion (which matters little except for the preferred campaign platforms for each district) or an aggressive, money hungry mouse. If I had discovered this game for $5 on my cell phone, I might be tempted to recommend it, but for $14.99 on the PC, I think you will thank me for recommending that you spend that money elsewhere.