GamingHeretic

Redshirt promises a nostalgic feel by way of memes, inside jokes, and a familiar feel that Sci-fi fans will enjoy. The player begins their journey as a low level technician set on working their up through the bureaucracy. They do this through ‘spacebook’. A play on the well known ‘facebook’, Players make friends, do posts, schedule events, work, purchase things, and even have relationships. What the game does well is offer a theme that is very enticing. You get to be a ‘redshirt’ like you see on Startrek: The Original series. There are a lot of inside jokes, and the animations are unique and interesting. It also has a good ‘facebook’ feel that fans of Facebook will certainly enjoy. Unfortunately, the game relies to heavily on its theme and nostalgia. The jokes eventually begin to fall short and the game is forced to rely on its own merits. Spacebook is entirely to much like facebook and begins to stale quickly. Aspirations, Activities, S.H.O.P, Away missions, and work days are all additions but ultimately have the same feel. Point and Click games require you to be fully engaged through out and relying on the memes alone is not enough. The friendships, relationships, and enemies you make can be engaging but becomes stale after a while. There also appears to be an element of randomness to the likes of the others that makes the game frustrating. This game is for those who are deep into the Star Trek Mythos and enjoy Facebook. The game is good for a lark, but at 19.99 I would suggest going with Democracy 3 or one of the other games if you wanted to purchase something from Positech. Pros: - Startrek Jokes and Memes Are funny, inside jokes - Initially engaging and pulls the player in. - Easy to understand, initially play. Cons: - Once Nostalgia wears off, the game can become tedious. - Far to ‘facebook’ like, advancement is unfulfilling. - Restarts feel the same, low replayability.

Democracy 3 showcases the best that can be achieved when a game makes learning fun. Positech’s game sits you as head of a country with the ability to change policy. Whether you are the United States, United Kingdom, or any of the other countries you’ll get the chance to move a country in any political position you want. The game is simplistic in scope, but offers a wealth of information. Political capital will be the currency and determines everything that can be done in a turn. The amount of political capital will be based on the previous turn. The population will respond based on what you’ve done and the current political spectrum of the Nation. As an example, Playing as the United States I completely disenfranchised most of the population in the nation by removing all welfare benefits. The game is a point and click with turns. Every turn advances the game so many months until an election occurs. The election is straight forward, showing your base and the base of your opposition to see how energized they are. A graph dictates who is head and the winner. You can even have a display and break it down by type of voter, and reason they voted. There is a litany of information that can be garnered throughout the turn. You can see where voters are based on their type (liberal, Patriot, etc.), by issue, and other statistics. You will be forced to choose between a rising deficit, deficit reduction, popular opinion, and your own conscious in the decisions made. There are realistic consequences and the countries react relatively as well as you expect them to. The only real ‘gripes’ you can have about the game is perhaps that it is a point and click game meaning that this is more a relaxed feel. I would suggest listening or watching something while you play. Additionally, the game does sometimes can show bias. I found that capitalist and conservatives were far more willing to assonate then any other counterpart. This was even when I ran highly conservative and capitalist regime. It seemed stacked and gave an inaccurate message. The only other piece is the price tag. 24.99 is a bit steep for a point and click. Especially when you consider the price of alternative games are ten dollars lower. That being said, the game is well worth the money if you can afford. Pros: - Fun game play, interesting concept - Challenging, high replayability - A lot of strategy - Beautifully put together. Cons: - Price tag, a bit overpriced for what is offered. - Game can seem biased