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Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 2.0 hrs on record (2.0 hrs at review time)
Posted: 13 Oct, 2022 @ 5:15am
Updated: 13 Oct, 2022 @ 11:55am
Product received for free

Early Access Review
Balanced Politics Simulator is a good political simulation game with its potential. (Why is it no longer available on Steam??)
The way to play is simple: to make policy decisions by becoming president of the Great State on political and policy agendas and bills individually, considering five things: left-wing party support(vote rate), right-wing party support, national budget, national security, and human development index (HDI). However, as you can see from the name of the game, "BALANCED" policy decisions should be made in order to gain support from both parties In addition, the budget, security, and HDI indices change depending on Types of the policy. The background country is "The Great State" , which can be assumed to be the USA or UK. (Ingame Clues: one of the Western counties, the developed country, the celebration of independence Day, leader title is President, the name of registrant branch name, and the name of characters.)

The reason why I recommend this game is the concept of this game. It's not just a president who represents the opinions of a particular(ruling) party, but as a president, a player should reflect and balance the opinions of both parties in politics and simulate the realization of "New Governance" (part of a New Administration) which can lead to participatory democracy. In addition, it is important to fulfill the electoral pledges as president, but it also makes the player realize that it is also the role of the leader to gain public support and bring about cooperation between the two parties.
Also, the simplicity of the game is also an advantage of this game. Other political simulation games have a very complex system. So it's very hard to get into the game. But Balanced Politics Simulator is a political simulation game that's simple and easy to get into, so it's a very educational game for students or first-time players.

But there are also some disadvantages(CONS):
1. The causal relationship between variables is too unrealistic. For example, lowering corporate taxes, or introducing universal health care, etc. have huge impacts on politics and the economy. However, impacts of these policy decisions on the national budget is very minimal and limited.
2. Eventually, only the same amount of policies change in order for each time I play the game, so the amount of the game is somewhat small.(lack of content)
3. So I think $9.99 is too expensive for this.
4. Policy decisions are not simply determined by Pass or Veto, considering only the five factors mentioned above. Policy decisions can influence, and also can be influenced by VARIOUS factors. Also, politics is a product of compromise , and it is unfortunate that this has not been implemented in this game.

Since this game is in Early-access phase, I suggest the following:
1. Adding centrist party or various interest groups(labor union, education, security, environment, public officials, etc.) something like that as well as just left & right parties(just simple not too specific as this game concept is simple political simulation.) would be nice.
2. Diversification of dependent variables(Y) (rating of people(will of people), etc.)
3. Complexity and realization of causal relationships between variables(X→Y)
4. A more detailed description of The Great State (Why a player should make balanced policy decisions? Whether its multi-ethnic state or not, GDP, political system, historical background, political situation, etc.)

If these parts are improved, it can be reborn as a great game. Again, this game is a good game with its potential.
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