Power & Revolution 2021 Edition

Of course, there has to be a game tailored to the current world events to vent political and social frustrations. There just has to be, right? Power & Revolution 2021 Edition is another entry in a series of charged games that have polarized their player base. The argument says that we play games to escape from reality - not to deal with current issues.

Power & Revolution 2021 Edition seems to have attracted enough people to give their say on how they will handle world affairs. Not only that, how they will drive a revolution of a particular region to align with their own political ambitions. Let's not forget, the 2021 version includes up-to-date issues like the global pandemic. It all feels like a bomb with a short fuse.

You Be the Power, I'll Be the Revolution.

Power & Revolution 2021 Edition leads where the game's previous incarnations left off. The gameplay is relatively the same as before. You are a head-of-state vying for power and influence managing real-world political and social scenarios. The level of detail actually is quite impressive, presenting players with budgets, finances, socio-economic issues, and global and local threats to manage.

However, it's almost a given that a game so big and ambitious is littered with bugs and crashes. It's so information-intensive that you'll find that actions simply won't work in the more complex parts of managing the game, or there's just an abrupt end by a technical fault. But if it did work, are the mechanics immersive and intriguing?

Unfortunately, that ambition serves as Power & Revolution 2021 Edition's downfall. There's simply too much going on against a somewhat unintuitive interface. Driving your political purposes to prove difficult when you have to micromanage everything, down to a tee when you're trying to sign something as trivial as a trade deal.

On the contrary, some might enjoy the realism behind running a country. But those who will get a kick out of that information-heavy gameplay are few and far between. Not to mention, if you do enjoy it, you'll likely face a series of bugs and crashes that will unravel all your hard micromanaging work. And let's not even talk about playing against the introduced COVID-19 pandemic.

Introducing Another Pandemic

Power & Revolution 2021 Edition faces the surmounting pandemic of a bug infestation. Not in the crops nor the forestry - technical nuisances that essentially kill the game. We admire how far the game has gone to deliver a complete political simulation experience. But the level of information you need to carry to succeed is a weight just too much.

Round-Up - Pros & Cons

Pros:

• One of the most ambitious political simulators out there
• A realistic head-of-state experience
• Level of detail impressive

Cons:

• Littered with bugs and technical errors
• Micromanaging mechanics pull away from the immersion factor
• Gameplay is far too complicated for casual players