Republic: the Revolution

Lemmy · September 3, 2003, 10:40

www.republictherevolution.com
I saw it in the store yesterday, wondering if i should buy it or not...

Does anyone have it yet?
Thoughts? Reviews? Worth playing? Buggy as hell?
Is the game worth playing even with the little annoyances (if there are any)?

The concepts really interests me, and that might be enough to buy it, just to see it in action...but i would still like to hear some 'poly reviews.

Pave · September 3, 2003, 11:14

Same to me, if it's the half of the hype, I'll buy it straight!
Well, rewiews!

General Ludd · September 3, 2003, 11:26

It's a fun game. I read a preview that likened it to a political risk - that is a good comparison. It plays in a similiar way - ie, the city is divied up into neighbour hoods that provide X amount of resources each day and you are competing with other political parties over control of the neighbourhoods while pursuing the main plot. It can get a little abstract at times, and can start to feel more like risk then a revolution... but it's good none the less.

The AI is also excellent. It acts realisticly and intelligently. (On Hard difficulty, atleast - that's all i've played on)

General Ludd · September 3, 2003, 11:32

It's hard, too. Those rival politcal parties can be ruthless and if you don't keep on your toes they'll ruin you easily. I'm on my fourth game now and still haven't finished the first city. (there are three - and if the first is any indication, they last quite a while)

lord of the mark · September 3, 2003, 11:46

heres an interesting article on it from the BBC

Republic

DrSpike · September 3, 2003, 13:03

It's funny there was a large interest in this game 6 months ago, but then it came out with a bit of a whimper I thought.

SnowFire · September 3, 2003, 16:45

pc.ign.com has a review up. Interesting, although I'm not sure I would trust what he has to say about the strategic depth, since it seems that most of his play was on Easy mode.

DrSpike · September 3, 2003, 16:46

Gamespot has a decidedly average review on their site.

vovan · September 5, 2003, 02:22

Heh, I was just about to post a thread asking if anybody's bought it and if it worth it.

I just saw the video review from Gamespot, and despite the critique of the learning curve and a "clunky interface", I thought the game deserved attention.

So, a question for Osweld (and anybody else that has the game already):

According to the article on BBC, and some of the information on Gamespot, the game has a very complex political and sociological system. To quote BBC, "the sociological model in the game is as realistic as has been achieved so far." Is that really so? Does the game indeed posess a level of complexity and fine detail that deserves recognition? It would be cool to see that.

Although I still don't know if I would want to buy this game: what do you think is the replayability value? One of the user reviews on Gamespot said that the guy restarted a few times, and the AI had a different approach each time. Is the AI really that amazing, too? If that is the case, coupled with an involved sociological model, I would buy the game, even if it has funky interface.

Lemmy · September 5, 2003, 04:36

Well, i'm definitely going to buy...just have to wait a few days till when i actually can afoord time to play it.

I still haven't read any "official" reviews though...just Osweld's...so if i don't like it i'll just blame him.

pg · September 5, 2003, 06:55

it looks interesting.. but it's reviews are pretty bad considering most games that don't get solid 80+'s are usually quite bad.

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/378093.asp - average review score is atm 71%

i'm also somewhat worried by the recommended system requirements -
System: P4 2GHz or equivalent
· RAM: 512 MB RAM(this much is required not just recommended!)
· CD-ROM: 8X CD-ROM
· Video Memory: 128 MB VRAM(wtf?!)
· Hard Drive Space: 1000 MB

pretty steep!

General Ludd · September 5, 2003, 07:31

Quote:

Originally posted by vovansim
According to the article on BBC, and some of the information on Gamespot, the game has a very complex political and sociological system. To quote BBC, "the sociological model in the game is as realistic as has been achieved so far." Is that really so? Does the game indeed posess a level of complexity and fine detail that deserves recognition? It would be cool to see that.

Although I still don't know if I would want to buy this game: what do you think is the replayability value? One of the user reviews on Gamespot said that the guy restarted a few times, and the AI had a different approach each time. Is the AI really that amazing, too? If that is the case, coupled with an involved sociological model, I would buy the game, even if it has funky interface.

I don't know about that... Bascially, all the actions, people, and neighbourhoods are divided into three categories - Force, Wealth, and Influence. Using a forcefull action (graffiti for example) to gain support in a wealthy neighbour hood isn't going to have as much effect as if you put it in the slums (forceful neighbourhood). While on the other hand using a forceful action (like vandalism) to ruin an opponents support in a slums area wouldn't have as much effect as if you did it in an influencial area. For gaining support you must use an action with the same ideology as the target, but to intimidate you have to use Force agains Influence, Influence against Wealth, or Wealth against Force.

Also, to every action there is a secrecy rating and a sleaze rating (well, not every action has sleaze). The secrecy of the action and the location that it is conducted in determines how easy it is for your opponents to discover, and can also have an impact on the success of your mission - missions like rallies or leafleting work better in public areas. While actions with sleaze can be used by other factions against the instigator. They could use it in a poster campaign, for example, and while they're gaining support they also spread the word of the sleazy actions done by another faction and hurt their over all reputation, or they could use the information to discredit the agent who commited the action and lower his resolve (which makes him prone to leaving the organization, and his actions weaker)

I'm playing through the first city for the fifth time now, and indeed the AI plays different every time - there even seems to be some minor plot events that sometimes happen and sometimes don't. But unfortunately all the agents start off in the same areas, so your initial intelligence gathering isn't as important when you play a second time since you imediately know all the agents in the city and the places they start in.

And yes, it's a very system demanding game - some very impressive graphics if your system can handle it.

Grumbold · September 5, 2003, 10:42

Quote:

Originally posted by Osweld
unfortunately all the agents start off in the same areas, so your initial intelligence gathering isn't as important when you play a second time since you imediately know all the agents in the city and the places they start in.

That's a great shame. Its nice to see that the planning element is partly random so you cannot predict their activities, but set starting locations do limit replayability.

General Ludd · September 5, 2003, 12:12

Actually, there may be some variation in where they start. In my most recent game it seemed that a number of the agents had started in a different district then they normally do, but it's been my experience that most agents are in the same areas - perhaps some of them are random, and some of them are set.

But either way, the game trully is different every time you play - the factions act differently everytime. In my current game all the factions are stealing each others agents, and I even saw the church recruit a street thug for a while to do vandalism for them.

vovan · September 5, 2003, 12:22

Quote:

Originally posted by Osweld
But either way, the game trully is different every time you play - the factions act differently everytime. In my current game all the factions are stealing each others agents, and I even saw the church recruit a street thug for a while to do vandalism for them.

Thanks for all the info Osweld!

So, essentially, you are saying that the replayability value is good? If that is the case, it is also a good incentive to buy the game.

On a side note, I think a demo would help those of us in doubt quite a bit, but there isn't one that I know of is there?

General Ludd · September 5, 2003, 13:04

Quote:

Originally posted by vovansim

So, essentially, you are saying that the replayability value is good? If that is the case, it is also a good incentive to buy the game.

It's decent replayabilty. Not as good as something like Civ or EU, but a heck of alot better then more linear games.

vovan · September 5, 2003, 13:44

Quote:

Originally posted by Osweld
Not as good as something like Civ or EU...

Of course.

Quote:

Originally posted by Osweld
...but a heck of alot better then more linear games.

Sweet.

Thanks.