Unless you enjoy me talking as much as I do, skip the next paragraph.
I've made it a mission of mine to track down as many geopolitical/grand strategy games that I can find, new and old. I bought Hearts of Iron, was dissappointed with its diplomatic model, tried Victoria and Europa Universalis (and loved 'em both, even though Victoria was a bit confusing), cursed my way through both SuperPowers, and had a bit of fun with Supreme Ruler 2010. All of those are fun (except the two SuperPowers, which are universally renowned among sane beings as being steaming piles of shit), but I was a-thirstin' for something more. So I reached back into the past, when there was an actual market for these kinds of games and they were produced all the time. There was a time during the 80's when geopolitical simulations sold like hotcakes, and the games that were produced during that time period were by far the most engrossing and accurate- if not nessecarily pretty (or good-sounding; pc speaker anyone?). Anyway, here is the cream of the crop from back in the day.
The Games
I tried to avoid linking to the Underdogs, because you have to have some special preferences set in some obscure config file to even get to the site. Downloads are courtesy of my own bandwidth, and they're at the bottom. Enjoy.
Chris Crawford's Balance of Power is an extremely abstracted, but extremely challenging simulation of the last ten or so years of the Cold War. You can be either the General Secretary of the USSR, or the president of the USA. It's a classic in Mark Twain's definition of the word.
Shadow President is my personal favorite out of all these, because you can do so many things and can pretty much run the entire US - foreign and domestic policy- from the comfort of your armchair/stool/Adirondack chair. Advisors make things easier, and the game is more forgiving than Balance of Power. There was a sequel, but I've yet to play it.
Hidden Agenda is a pretty slick simulation of the tumultuous political situation in a post-dictatorship South American country. You form policy by talking to people and answering their questions, and you hire ministers that agree with you and make decisions in times of crisis to guide your country along the straight & narrow. This ine is extremely addictive and very fun, albeit depressing sometimes if you really step back and consider that the game is hardly fiction.
Crisis in the Kremlin is another one worth looking into, because it simulates the final days of the Soviet Union. Your job is to stay in power for as long as possible and keep the Soviet state alive. Watch out for Chernobyl
.
The Middle East Political Simulator is excellent. You choose a nation in the middle east circa 1990 and do your best to instigate wars, keep the peace, or just put your coat on backwards and sit on your colleagues' hats.
Downloads
Shadow President (opens in WinRar)
Middle East Political Simulator
Crisis in the Kremlin
Balance of Power
I've made it a mission of mine to track down as many geopolitical/grand strategy games that I can find, new and old. I bought Hearts of Iron, was dissappointed with its diplomatic model, tried Victoria and Europa Universalis (and loved 'em both, even though Victoria was a bit confusing), cursed my way through both SuperPowers, and had a bit of fun with Supreme Ruler 2010. All of those are fun (except the two SuperPowers, which are universally renowned among sane beings as being steaming piles of shit), but I was a-thirstin' for something more. So I reached back into the past, when there was an actual market for these kinds of games and they were produced all the time. There was a time during the 80's when geopolitical simulations sold like hotcakes, and the games that were produced during that time period were by far the most engrossing and accurate- if not nessecarily pretty (or good-sounding; pc speaker anyone?). Anyway, here is the cream of the crop from back in the day.
The Games
I tried to avoid linking to the Underdogs, because you have to have some special preferences set in some obscure config file to even get to the site. Downloads are courtesy of my own bandwidth, and they're at the bottom. Enjoy.
Chris Crawford's Balance of Power is an extremely abstracted, but extremely challenging simulation of the last ten or so years of the Cold War. You can be either the General Secretary of the USSR, or the president of the USA. It's a classic in Mark Twain's definition of the word.
Shadow President is my personal favorite out of all these, because you can do so many things and can pretty much run the entire US - foreign and domestic policy- from the comfort of your armchair/stool/Adirondack chair. Advisors make things easier, and the game is more forgiving than Balance of Power. There was a sequel, but I've yet to play it.
Hidden Agenda is a pretty slick simulation of the tumultuous political situation in a post-dictatorship South American country. You form policy by talking to people and answering their questions, and you hire ministers that agree with you and make decisions in times of crisis to guide your country along the straight & narrow. This ine is extremely addictive and very fun, albeit depressing sometimes if you really step back and consider that the game is hardly fiction.
Crisis in the Kremlin is another one worth looking into, because it simulates the final days of the Soviet Union. Your job is to stay in power for as long as possible and keep the Soviet state alive. Watch out for Chernobyl
.The Middle East Political Simulator is excellent. You choose a nation in the middle east circa 1990 and do your best to instigate wars, keep the peace, or just put your coat on backwards and sit on your colleagues' hats.
Downloads
Shadow President (opens in WinRar)
Middle East Political Simulator
Crisis in the Kremlin
Balance of Power
