Political Animals

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.

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.

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.

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"!

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

This is a cute little casual game that works really hard at making the political scene less divisive by utilizing animal representation. The mechanics are simple. A game lasts an hour or two from beginning to end. It is fun to pass a little bit of time, but there are much better games for $13.99. I'd compare this game to political machine with slightly more value.

I'm a huge fan of the Positech-published strategy games that have come out in the last couple of years. During the Steam Summer Sale, I purchased Democracy 3, which was a little too accurate and frustrating when it came to political simulators. Every path I took seemed to end in death. I am happy to report that this is a much more cheerful political simulator. Croccy may be a cutie, but don't be fooled by his appearance. He will bribe, scandalize, and steal away your voters to make sure that you don't win. Of course, my chosen candidate, Panda, could have done the same, but I guess I'm just one of the few honest politicians left. :P If I had to complain about one thing, it's that I haven't figured out how to make the reporter point out any of my opponent's scandals, but that's probably user error. Otherwise, there are multiple ways to win over votes for multiple playstyles. I just wish it were multiplayer so that I could play it with friends!

I really like the concept behind the game. PROS: -Teaches you about politics and the values of voting - Cute Graphics -Customizable -Board game style/ Turn based CONS: -It kinda gets repetitive/predictable after a while. -Helps if you have a friend to play it WISH: -That NPCs had more character depth -That there were other kinds of "voting" game modes availalbe to model real world scenarios since the game follows Americas voting system. -A story mode?

The art and music is beautiful! I'd second some of the posters and say that the game is deceptively rich in gameplay. I don't think I've scratched the surface as far as strategy goes. Has some stability issues, hopefully they get fixed soon. Definitely a good game to take breaks between work with.

Political Animals is cute, but it misses the mark for me. It feels a bit like a board game mixed with an old free browser-game. There's a lot of variables and resources to monitor, and it's entirely too possible to mismanage them... With all the different choices the player can make, it offers the illusion that there are multiple ways to do well at the game, but sadly, once you've played a few rounds, you start to understand how to defeat the AI opponents using more or less the same simple strategy every time. I love Positech, but this title wasn't my favorite of theirs.

Game is just boring, the concept was cute and funny but before you know it ZzZzZzZz. I'm put right to sleep waiting for campaigns and the same boring menus to pop up in my face.

A funny and easy going game. Dont expect it to be super complicated because its not. I think that the price of $15,00 is way too high for what you can get, but as I paid $1,49 in a special offer day, it damn worths to me! Maybe the best way to play it is just setting every aspect on random so as to make it more complicated. If you take some minutes to set a particular team for campaign it may get too easy and boring.

This should win the award for "Best Use Of A Farm Animal". Can you name another game where you can pit a Corrupt Crocodile against a Pragmatic Pig or spread the scandal about a Goat? C'mon I know you want to. ;) 11/10 would approve sick (of work) leave of my rabbit staff again

I had fun, but lots of stuff doesn't work. The logistics bonus trait for one, which you can see right on the main screen. If they didn't fix that when it's easy to see, did they leave other bugs? Yes. Many oher modifiers don't work either. Similarly some staff aren't as useful as others. Not even when you're trying to synergize for a specific strategy, It's not effective. I want to like this but it's not a finished product. Political Machine 2016 had bugs too so that one's not an alternative either. If you can get it for free you can have fun for a few hours, but I can't recommend paying for it.

I wouldn't say this is for everyone it's kind of like a more fast paced and cartoonish democracy. If you like political games you might enjoy this one.

Interesting game with many possible scenarios. Cute cartoon like aesthetic, funny campaign sounds, many parametres to be set for an election victory. I would recommend it, it's very entertaining! ▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱

This is a fun game closely modeled on American politics. It is highly competitive and has aspects of a Resource Management style. It has a lot of complexity to it, so set aside roughly double their recommended time for the learning game. I'll update this review as I learn new things about the game.

I had FUN but The game was good and bad but in the end not worth the ten dollars mainly becuse it wasnt ready for a full release . reasons stated below if fixed i may change it to thumbs up but i will leave ten dollar comment becuse i bought this on release and these kinda balances and such would of been easy to work out before hand but i will instead put commas and qouts like ("oringally") good- 1. replayable mutiple maps with differnt assets and charecters allow challanges etc 2. the charecter skills made the game intersting 3. the behavoir system was cool 4. I had fun enjoyed the feel for the game 5. it had a great sound bord and game track ( do wish there was a tad more though) bad- 1.the game was not balanced prouperly upon a full release (skills are to high to make them worth useing or at times they just arent worth it the rng factor can completly kill mutiple turns money isnt balanced well on maps etc) 2. game stopped funcation ( I played though a few campgains and mess with the game useing a trainer to see how the ai worked in such and such. The result was it doesnt the ai just stop broke i had multiple games just up and stop not letting me finish becuse it didnt open the election chart on the last day heck even a save when they were teching me had the game broke by breaking the end game button.} it needed more testing and polish 3. The game lacks multiplayer ( the game was rushed for election season and lets face that it kinda shows with bigs here and there but i am ok with that but what really grinds my gears is i only can play with the computer not a person online or at my house shareing a computer dispite haveing a turn.) 4. the staff selection and charecter creation ( A big part of this game i was happy with was the charecter creation but then i relized it was very very narrow you can only build a platform on two things why? why are not all the staff showing up for some animals? why only have one action per turn if i still have logstics why is not paying animals for there work ok) to the develpors and such for there next game and this one but please dont judge it solely on this next point 5. Why no user support for mods ( you had a really good base game. so why did you downgrade what chould of been a really cool customization system. You hard wrote the assest into unity instead of haveing them load into the game by a script if you had and then had it read the folder and understand a little bit differntly you chould had a little system to drag and drop the land masses togeather like a puzzle and then you chould draw the the lines for new maps or a method for custom two demension charecter models and use a set defult walk animation sure for most it would be a funky animation but it would of atleast allow for artist and such to get a new feel even after playing the game for hours to get those grindy acheviments. you chould retexture all the maps tiles and then save them under the same names etc allowing complete user generated custom content you whould have to make a screen to preview the content in game and the game would have to load in the assest and prehaps saveing a defult folder and maybe a few other deals here and there but complete user generated custom content especilly since you released on steam i feel would of really extend this game for a long time also becuse i see that the develpors looks on here a bit i will leave suggestions for this game down below this review 1. you should define the staff more the mouse reporter for example well he has his skill his passive traits but useing that skill is hard if he chould move two spots instead of one it would add more diversty. prehaps a passive on coccidle to when he step onto the same tileas a enemy it takes a turn away. so on so fourth a second trait that doesnt really have a cost that chould lead to more mechinas and it would allow for tough ai becuse you chould push hard on stacking up mutiple things onto cheateing computer were they are rigged to have the most advantages reather then smarter ai programming 2. get rid of actions per charecter a turn and go for straight all logstics and then one free move and then make it cost x amount allowing so pulling all the money out so on so fourth it will make so much easier for programing the ai to do things properly and it will allow differnt play ways of playing 3. make a reward for haveing a full claim to a land a good method to do this is have more events and make the events pop up in claimed land and if you do this give a big reward for the home state kinda areas 4. allow us to use all those extra charecters you have please they are just extras in the story but they are kinda cool 5. the smaller areas that dont have much money need more motivation as to get there funds like prehaps 1/2 cost or something 6. prehapes a day and night cycle day being for all the up front and night giveing you more shady activtys becuse bribeing and playing dirty and giveing someone 20000 to like you just doesnt feel right when you are out in the open i have more if you need just ask down below for add me and leave a messge or leave a email down or something get creative

Political Animals is an awesome boardgame-esque election campaign simulator with a twist: adorable anthropomorphic animals. In it, you wage war for the hearts and minds of the inhabitants with sorties across equally cute islands (shaped after real countries) in a race to raise the most votes during a campaign period of 15 to 30 days. Brought to you by the artist behind Spacechem and Prison Architect as well as the coder behind Warrior Defense and the publisher behind the Democracy series, Political Animals has a laid-back charm that draws you in with its character - it's like Richard Scarry's animal Busytown with a Pixar-esque adult twist: You can choose to play it clean with your campaign or pull out all the stops with bribery, intimidation, scandals, backstabbing, blackmail and the works. Random events are funny too. While you can win the game with one playstyle, the ability to mix up play styles and customize your character and "roleplay" a game is a large part of the fun. Unfortunately, the game is currently single player only (with mind-boggling-to-me AI as a game developer given the depth of the game). The ability to play with friends (or strangers), role-play, trash talk and trade insults would have upped the ante tons. Hopefully it's something in the cards for a future patch if the game makes enough for a round 2 of development. All in all, I give Political Animals an 8.5/10. VOTE PIGGY 2016!

I recommend the game when it's discounted, like £1. It could worth more if the developer cared of it. But they don't care. They haven't fixed a serious achievement bug for years. But if you don't mind the achievements, just the fun, this game is funny and playable for a few days. It gives you a view into the world of politics in a comedic way. I'm happy that I've bought it, but that also that I have it for cheap as it doesn't worth more in this way, that the developer has abandoned it.

Cool board-game-like game. Not particularly deep in its political commentary (at least after one session), but fun. Also my first solo (tutorial) session was close to 2 hours, so it's a game that requires time. Definitely worth getting on sale.

I personally love this game! Its cute, simple, and does not take to long. An average game will take about 40-60 minutes, unless you love politics, then it seems shorter. I personally will get another 10 hours out of it, I’ve gotten about one and a half hours so far. I will warn you things are a bit obscure and will make sense after an hour or two. Hawk 2016!!!

The is almost a carbon copy of The Political Simulator, except a bit more cutsey. Probably just as compelling, but definitely enough scope to make this a decent game with replayability. Paced fast enough, with enough grand strategy here for a good 5-10 hours. EDIT: I paid £4.39.

I'm sorry, I was super excited for this game but it just isn't fun. While it is kind of like Democracy and other games like that, the gameplay gets super repetitive and there aren't much random chances. There are customizable characters, but they are limited. Each animal that are on your staff has a special power and they help you. Also, the game is simpler than democracy in terms of understanding what your staff is doing and what you are doing each turn. But again, I just was not having much fun. The characters are super cute though! I'm sorry for the lack of information. I could only play 40 minutes because it just wasn't fun. Maybe other people like playing games they find do not fun for longer in hopes that it gets better, and for the sake of this game, I truly hope it does. But if you're the type that puts down a game after 48 minutes of just repetitive boring, then I wouldn't suggest it to you. Many of the other positive critics received the game for free. I paid for it. :/

A fun little game! I usually play it to relax but it does get repetitive after a while.

[h1] DISCLAIMER: This is a first impressions review, and NOT a full review [/h1] Political Animals is a game developed by Squeaky Wheel and published by Positech Games The game offers some really nice graphics and a nice yet simplistic aesthetic which is pleasant all the same and has some amazing attention to detail even though it is a little rough around the edges The game does suffer with some repetitiveness at certain areas of the game but a fun game nonetheless and ends just at the right time Political Animals overall, however, is an okay game to play, yet sometimes repetitive and it does get boring if being played for a long time, but is an okay strategy game to play in short bursts! [h1] RECOMMENDED :) [/h1] [b] REVIEW SOURCES: [/b] [list] [*] None

I like it! I got it on sale for 90% off, and had 12 hours of fun with it. The games are 30-60 minutes long. I don't feel like playing any more because I've tried all the strategies, and figured out what works and what doesn't. It's a fun game, I just wish there were more viable strategies and stuff to unlock.

Political Animals is a turn-based, cool election strategy game, although it may not look like it at first glance. Despite the art style (which I'm not in love with) and the animal motif & puns, which makes it seem cartoon-y and mobile-y, there's a lot of fun and strategy here. Look for it on sale for $8-10.

I usaully don't write a reveiw but i liked this game so much that i had to. It is a really funny game and doesnt make you get confused at what the hell your supposed to do you can easily wrap your head around the game and have hours of fun.No glitches and is even fast on my laptop that i am temporarily using! The only thing i think that they cloud inprove on is there pricing.

This game is great, well for 75% off it is, seriously under 5 bucks pick it up. It holds little play valua when played allone but when with a friends than yes! Well it is kinda ackward to huddle in fron of one pc with 2 mice it would be awesome if it had an online multiplayer with up to 4 players. Than it would also be much more like politics in most countries and not like in america where a vast array of parties hold big croweds of voters. The style is perfectly cute, and it is one of those games that you could bring out in 20 years and technology wouldn't make it better. Could have come out 20 years ago. A timeless game. So yeah I recommend this fully as a multiplayer game, it really should be expanded in that area because that could make this game really popular and great.

Really Great! Good for both those interested and uninterested in politics, a game with real depth and detail. There are a few minor bugs but nothing worth not buying this game for- Really fun, strategical game and can only get better!

I bought that game while looking the introduction of the game, I was kinda disappointed by the content. The game is beautiful, and funny, I ain't critize that, however it's funny for less than 60 minutes, it won't explain it price. I think, if you expect to play a game like "This is the police !" where you choices have an impact on the storyline you will be disappointed to finally find a very simple game with no real challenge nor real randomization of the events, nor real content on your campaign. I wouldn't have posted this review if the price of the game was 4/5 euros, I think it's it real price.

Good for the price, however it really needs multiplayer. New spin on political machine type game, but not as many features as political machine 2016.

Not worth the $15 full price. This game gets boring after about an hour or two.

At face value it looks pretty entertaining but it seems lack-luster, there feels like an inherent lack of substance and it seems like the game sets it up to be something more than it is. In the end it just kinda feels like it's not worth the price, I got it for a dollar and I'm glad I did because it's just not the kind of game you sit down and enjoy. If you liked Crusader Kings and games like those, it's a bit like that but without the warfare, betrothals, etc.

Started my campaign as well-mannered mouse, ended my campaign as a backstabbing rat. 10/10 would make up scandals about my opponent again.

Simple game for those who like Political simulation. Cute graphics, easy point and click controls. Replay value can be very limited.

A really fun and interesting political simulator with animals! If you enjoy games like Democracy 3, I certainetly think you should try this one out!

I got this game for 96% off, and it definitely worth more than a dollar. It's a strategy game and I enjoy it a lot. You can remote play with friends too!

I only got this game because I wanted this company's other game, Academia: School Simulator, and it was actually cheaper to buy it in a bundle than it was to purchase that game by itself because the bundle had a much higher discount percent. The 15 dollar price tag is a joke. Who would buy this shit for 15 dollars? This is flash game tier game. I would only consider buying something of this calibur for less than 5, and only if I actually enjoyed the game and didn't refund it, and in this case I didn't enjoy the game. Even for the cheap price I got it for there are a lot of other games on the marketplace which you can get for a fraction of the price and offer much better experiences.

Just terribly boring from the get go, the mechanics are quite simple. The most annoying thing I found was that there was no difficulty curve - it was just simply not possible to 'get better' at this game,

Bad tutorial, buttons end up being on other side of screen to click next, slow transitions, sometimes buttons say you have to click them but aren't clickable.

Wasn't too bad, maybe a game i'd play just for fun. Definitely isnt worth $15 and doesnt have a lot game play that you can dump hundreds of hours in. 6 7/10 wasnt too bad

Maybe this was my mistake, but I didn't realize this was turn-based. Not my type of thing. I gave it a try, but the pace was too slow and there was too much too learn at once to make it interesting in my opinion. Everything is number on spreadsheets which also makes it harder to conceptualize and be more engaging. I would never recommend this game unless you are a fanatic for turn-based, even then maybe give a look at the gameplay to see if you find it interesting.

Meh this is close to worth playing, but there just is not enough there there. I think this could be good for casual gamers or for children, but it just is not quite complicated enough to bother with for me. Otherwise well made and seems resonably priced.