Congresswolf Reviews

Big fan of choose your own adventure books and this is a good read! I have a ton of these on my tablet but this one on steam is still a favorite!

I've always liked Choice of Games' selection and I wasn't disapointed by this game. I absolutely love the parallels to civil rights issues we are currently facing to the issue of werewolf rights. Some may harp on the game for having a political bias, but the game is literally about politics! It's not excessivly in your face to me and seems as realistic (as it can be) when it comes to how often you have to deal with the issue and how the options you have. It's especially fun when you have to navigate the pollitcal landscape and dodge dangerous terroist groups, all while having to deal with your canidate's "furry little problem"!

Well... It's a text-based game where you get to manage the election campaign of a candidate in an alternate reality, where werewolves fight for their rights. Yeah, it screams GAY RIGHTS all over you from the get go and has all the typical stuff packed into it talking about human rights and all that. But really being a 32-year old, I'd say if you want to raise an issue of human rights and especially if it's a TEXT-based game, you'd better prepare something more interesting than boilerplate arguments and primitive (democrats-good-love people republicans-crooked-hate everyone) world outlook. If you really expect me to read the whole thing, then don't let the game make Hillary's ads look like Tolstoy's War and Peace in comparison. I enjoyed the previous games because they were intellectually rewarding even though graphically challenged, while this game is neither here nor there. Talking about the gameplay itself, you manage the campaign, you make choices, you talk to people, you wade through tonnes of text. You can get involved in some irrelevant romances which don't really matter, you can be rude or nice, none of this matters much anyway. Your choices aren't obvious in how they influence your stats, and the stats themselves aren't obvious in how they influence the game. To sum it up, the whole thing plays or should I say, reads more like an interactive novel than an actual game. It doesn't feel polished. It does look that the author has tried to say something, but he really doesn't have anything interesting to say. Your choices don't really matter, you'd really need to try hard to screw up and even if you fail trying to stop the new werewolf rights bill from passing betting all your political influence on it, you can still have your guy become the congressman. Your time is better spent elsewhere.

This is fun, and such a great premise. I love the weaving of werewolf issues and the madness of political campaigns, two great tastes that are even better together. This is definitely one I'll play a few times through.

This is basically a choose your own adventure novel, so if you like those (and you're into paranormal romance/political thrillers), you'll like this. It's a fairly short game. I've only played through once, but it seems like it has replay value.

I'm going to have to go with a thumbs down for this game. The story is written like it should've just been a short novel rather than a choose your own adventure because the author speaks for you and tells you how you feel in different scenarios 95% of the time. Your only real input being the Campaign manager simulation & romancing someone and even then the author is dictating your emotions and your stress levels. For instance as soon as I started to romance Abby, it immediately jumped from the sweet kindling fires of the budding relationship to [i] 'OMG you're a campaign manager, how can we ever make anything work with your work schedule! You hardly have time for me! Will we make it or is this a mistake and we're destined to fail!?' [/i] Like it ain't that life & death serious. For 1 I'm only a campaign manager until my Candidate wins/loses in a few months which will open up a lot of time and 2 normal people don't enter into relationships without having all their dooms day fears assuaged from the jump. Now speaking on the campaign manager simulation... I just couldn't get into it. It was written from the perspective of a college graduate trechcoat/loafer wearing go getter bottom feeder trying to crawl up the ranks in the limited time dominion of their political candidate. Since that's not a life I've ever found interesting, the inner monologue and statements the author would make for my character felt alien & dull with a pinch of cowardice. Like I could never imagine myself describing a car driving in the rain as 'hydroplaning', flooding my system with lattes just to make it through the day or shaking in my boots while trying to put on a poker face when confronting an antagonistic dip stick. Another thing I didn't like is the upfront Bias in descriptions of republicans and democrats. All the democrat descriptions were written like lovable champions of the people with little money while all the Republicans were written like snakes who were just staying afloat with their very fat wallet rafts. I'm not really a political creature but I just felt like the author was a little too caught up in their personal feelings there and gave an inaccurate depiction of the 2 political parties to color the readers views with their own. I personally found this inappropriate. Also "Play as any gender, play as gay or straight" is a lie depending on your perspective. It could be that the author uses gender neutral pronouns because they wanted the reader to imagine their own genders as their going along, but I'm firmly in the camp of having specified pronouns present because the whole gender neutral thing made me feel disconnected. I could never really feel whether I was playing a man or woman. This in turn made the romances seem somewhat awkward or rather intangible for me.

I've only done one playthrough, but I can't wait to try another one. Great premise, tight writing and lots of replay potential. There may be only two outcomes to an election, but there seems to be room for nuance when it comes to which plot to explore and it's a lot of fun to play.

Not the best COG game I've played, but still enjoyable. The campaign managing element was definitely the strongpoint, I really enjoyed making the decisions, even if they were a bit basic. The plot was entertaining even if the werewolf element felt out of place, this could easily have been a game with no supernatural elements whatsoever. I didn't feel much investment in any of the characters, though I guess they weren't the focus. My character in particular felt vacant thanks to the lack of customisation options, I suppose the player is supposed to project him/herself onto them, but even the most basic level of customisation (such as male or female options) would've given me much more of a connection. Almost all of the previous COG games I've played have had this, so I don't know why this one didn't. The length was average, I felt satisfied after playing which is more than I can say for some previous instalments, I wish there could've been a little more as I definitely enjoyed it, maybe a greater length would've allowed us to get a bit more in-depth with the campaign tactics. Overall, a solid 7/10! I'd definitely recommend it, but not before you play some better COG games such as Choice Of Robots, or one of their better hosted games, like A Study In Steampunk.

As I write this the first thing I have to say is: this Game isn't "Bad", but it isn't "Good" either. I just think the story isn't well executed and the "preview" is misleading. Just to clarify this Isn't about you be a Werewolf trying to do your job as a Politic Campaign Manager, it's just about you trying to do your Job as a Politic Campaign Manager, while living in a world where Werewolfs openly live in the society and are subject to discrimination. What I'm trying to say is: Just don't expect too much from this game (I give it a 5/10) The Bad: 1.) My first problem with this Game is the lack of the starting choices to define who you are in the story, this Is the first CoG I have played who give no importance to define your gender or your sexual orientation but it's heavily implied from the choice of the names and writing that you're a girl (there is no way you can read the story from another perspective: from the protagonist reactions of the events, to "her" circle of friends,etc. ) It isn't a big problem (heck I think if they've given me straight you're girl I've would have be more than happy!) but here the ambiguity is so huge i've doubts I've played the entire game like I'm a really delicate guy or a really manly girl. So the "it isn't important who you are but what you do" kinda of approach is heavily forced on you leaving no room for diversity (Personalize the protagonist) The Moral compass is there, but you know: it's a game about politics (so you can guess what the "right" choices to do are, even if to be fair the game give you the choice to play "fair" or "dirty" and the writer did a good job about it): This Game: "Everyone is equal" My Answer: "But He's a freaking Werewolf!" 2.) the second problem and this is the more serious one is that the "twist" of the story get demolished pretty early. Won't tell you what but the description when you meet for the first time that person and later when you meet the police again is too explicit that gives away the mystery, ruining the surprise effect. It's like the writer is throwing the stick too near the dog (player) and then don't expect to get it back, leaving us puppies to wait in vain a chance to answer/give the stick back and the Writer just go on intentionally mislead you to believe you don't have such answer yet (unless of course you're the kind of guy who skip entire pages of the book in that case a "distract" reader will be shocked by the "Big" revelation) The Good 1.) The Best aspect of the Game believe it or not is the Management of the Candidates the idea is new and the writing interesting to read but as I said early isn't well executed: The Assistant I choose should be more present in the story and give me an hand in my work, managing the finances and other things right? nope no lead if what you're doing is good or bad (or why is bad) so you're feeling really like you're the only one on the job and everyone just waiting to see when you will fail but that is an acceptable situation as it give possibility to the player to replay the game and give them chances to understand the difference between the 4 possible candidates you could represent (each have a more interesting story/personality than the protagonist and fit to a specific Politic Campaign strategy, even if you could try to promote them in a different way ;-). This Make the Game a blind guess game on Who from 4 possible candidates you could promote and try to make it to the top (win the Election) is the most indicate to be shown in a determinated light: Is He/she a Good Man/Woman who work for the right of the weaks ? or a strong Man/Woman needed in time of need after the Economy crisis, it isn't important if is the truth what idea you trying to sell it's your doing, which events and interviews should he or she partecipate, what to say to the media and what kind of people you're trying to reach and appeal, you cure the entire Public apperance of this 4 possible candidates and your success is relative on how much you understand the strengths and difects your candidates have. 2.) Werewolf ? well they're in there believe me, even if like a bunch of hippy protesters but the idea of a "Monster" society is appealing (even if not completely explored) the same concept remind me of a different game from Hosted Game: "Vampire House" and show potential to promote the message: "Differences aren't bad and shouldn't scare" (everyone is special in his own way) but I personally advice against saying: everyone is equal (taking away what make that person special is just a way to not recognize him/her for what it is and what he fight for) In the End should I advice someone to play this game ? for the way CoG promote it the answer should be: No there's better Choices out there and storywise much better But as a "Simulator" game for Political Campaign Manager I say: sure give it a try

When I bought this game, I had very high hopes for it. I've loved every "Choice of" game I've played, and I have a sometimes offputting obsession with the idea of being a werewolf. The writing is very engaging and had me laughing in a good way at multiple points, and even a politically challenged individual like myself managed to get my candidate elected twice in a row (though the first campaign did [b]markedly[/b] better than the second). And even though my second playthrough was much faster than my first (having seen most of it already), there was enough content for me to feel, well... Content. However, content doesn't get me chomping at the bit for more. Right out of the gate I was taken aback by the lack of character options this had as opposed to other games in the 'Choice' lineup. The only thing you determine about your character's identity is their name. No gender or anything of the sort is specified, and the resulting gender-neutral text throughout the game in referring to your character makes them more difficult to identify with. A small detail, I know, but it makes a difference. Additionally, there are several stats in the game that don't make their purposes as obvious as I feel that they should be. In other 'Choice Of' games, I know that swinging a sword would be affected by stats like blades, strength, or some combination depending on the circumstances. In this game however, I have no idea if talking to the press about the economy is affected by Job Performance, Insider, (Wo)Man of the People, or Spinmeister(or whatever the name is of the stat that I assume influences your ability to bulls*** effectively). The game doesn't really make it all that clear how each stat affects or is affected by each choice. You have four choices for candidates to manage, and all of them are different in certain ways. One has more money, one is a people person, and so on. However, that information is only really given to you at the point at which you choose them. There is no way to track how good they are at certain things or how bad they are at others. You just need to keep the fact that your candidate is terrible with voter interactions in the back of your mind at all times since they don't have any stats of their own to keep track of. This seems like a big opportunity missed, as managing the campaign would be much more interesting if you could actually manage your candidate reliably. There are only a few plot points involving werewolves (more on that in a bit), and some of them try to be mysterious. Or rather, they try to [i]sound[/i] mysterious despite all but explicitly telling you the answer almost as soon as you interact with or learn the smallest thing about the characters in question. The only shred of doubt I had was vanquished as soon as another character appeared (very early on, mind you) who was the textbook definition of suspiscious. And finally, this is more a personal issue I had than an actual problem. Maybe I was just too good (or bad, I dunno) on my first playthrough, but I actually failed to become a werewolf. On top of that, all of the plot points involving werewolves seem 100% secondary or even tertiary even though they feature prominently in the game's advertising blurb. I suppose [i]Wolf[/i] does have second billing to [i]Congress[/i] in the title, but I still expected much more than what was there. Even when you do become a werewolf, (as I did on my second playthrough) it seems to have shockingly little impact on the story as a whole. There's never even a dillema on wether or not to legally register when it is confirmed that you're a werewolf, and that was a dynamic I was very much looking forward to exploring. You just kind of keep it a secret, even though in my real train of thought, coming out as recently turned but still on their side would have potentially secured the werewolf vote in the election while not ostracising too many due to my previously open support of werewolves anyways. The Good: [list] [*]The writing and tone are very good. [*]The politicking is mostly simple enough for a layman to grasp. [*]There is a fair amount of content for a once-through. [/list] The Bad: [list] [*]Character customization is extremely minimal. [*]The character statistics and how your choices affect them are quite vague. [*]Your choice of candidate is very poorly tracked and monitored. [*]Many of the major plot elements are incredibly obvious, leaving little to the imagination. [*]Despite being a selling point of the game, the werewolf aspect isn't really explored very thoroughly. Massive opportunity wasted imho. At the end of the day, can I recommend this game? I'd give it a 3 overall out of 5. So no, not particularly. Not when I already have a slight bias in favor of it for simply involving werewolves on some level. However, I urge Ellen Cooper to continue writing, as she certainly has a flair for witty dialog. I may not have particularly cared for this game, but at least it kept me entertained for a while.