The term ‘Geo-Political Simulator 2’ isn’t one I’d ever truly expected to contend within my gaming life. Maybe as some sort of study aid, or perhaps some high brow software given away with The Guardian, but not something I’d have a swift play with between bouts of Call of Duty and Super Mario Galaxy. But nevertheless, that’s the strap line for Rulers of Nations. So let’s see if we can do a better job than (insert generic political leader here).
 

Trust me, if you play this game properly, you'll rarely see this particular screen

Examples of politics based gaming titles are few and far between. Mainly because the general populous at large see it as an incredibly complicated and dull branch of life best left to others to deal with. And it’s not exactly jam packed with fun filled action. Although considering a large portion of gamers gain enjoyment from grinding to high heaven in a multitude of MMO’s, you’d think there might be a healthy number eager to essentially shape the future of humanity. At least that’s what developers EverSim will be hoping.

Rulers of Nations is incredibly complex. The sheer number of options to tweak, decisions to make, and things to consider is absolutely immense. Every single change you can make potentially make or break your political career. For example let’s toss ‘real life’ into the equation. You’ve become leader of a country that’s financially screwed. There’s an incredibly huge deficit to try and control, and you’re the one that’s got to make the key decisions to turn it all around. You can’t really enforce an incredible level of income tax as that’s bound to destroy your political career, nor can you conceivably cut public spending and enforce job cuts. There’s a war going on halfway around the world with each side demanding your input into proceedings. A trade union is ready to strike. And then there’s one of your ministers ready to resign, with the papers having a field day with regards to your poor showing in office so far. It might look dull as dishwater in the screenshots, but there’s more going on here than a screen full of Black Ops bullets.

The first port of call is the in game tutorial. Where most games these days need to use this little section to introduce the basic gameplay mechanics and controls in a swift five minute bout of gameplay, Rulers of Nations refuses to conform. It’s lengthy, complex, and features a talking head happy to cram your brain full of all kinds of information. It certainly does its level best to give you a decent starting point from which to push off from, but it does little to really open your eyes to the sheer amount going on.

Two full scale game modes are on offer to get to grips with, each requiring different approaches for ultimate success. The World Simulation mode contains a wide variety of scenarios that require you to achieve some sort of goal before the given time is up. One gives you a period of time in order to bring your troops home from Afghanistan. Another involves controlling a country in the aftermath of a severe disaster. There’s a healthy number of different activities to take control within, with more unlocked as you complete the initial batch. It’s a well worked method in order to give some sort of sense of achievement and basic ‘gaming’ scope for such a title. Plus there’s the ‘Free’ scenario which gives you the opportunity to take control of one of 170 different countries, with the ultimate goal of keeping your popularity levels over 50%. So if you’ve ever fancied being the chap in charge of Togo, then now’s your chance.
 

The town planners need to take a long, hard look at themselves if this is what they come up with...

It’s an excellent inclusion, particularly as a try at the ‘Free’ scenario can easily end up involving you within a game that can last weeks on end. Though each scenario will require a good few evenings (on average) to finish up, it’s a cracking way to break things up. As is the ‘World Competition’ mode, which prompts you to take charge of one of the 16 most powerful countries in the world, and attempting to claim the biggest score at the games conclusion. Toss in the chance to have the other 15 nations controlled by other gamers and you’ve one mode that’s going to be the real mainstay.

Unfortunately, despite all these brilliant ideas and incredible amount going on, the interface really lets Rulers of Nations down. You’ll almost constantly have different advisors and members of your cabinet throwing their opinions towards you, and usually demanding more money. Which is all well and good in terms of realism, but the sheer wealth of information starts to get on top of you right from the very start. One advisor might demand some such measure or law to be introduced, and a lot of the time you’ll happily go along with it, assuming the game is trying its best to help you along. Usually this ends up with a few cabinet resignations, strikes, and your popularity rapidly sinking down to the square root of zero.

The real problem is that you’re never really informed of how your choices are going to effect things in the long term. Your advisors will constantly request more money for their particular avenue of government, but you’re never really given the plus and minus points to each action. A studious political brain may know the ins and outs of every little option you can change, but for the majority of us, we’ll be left confused and feeling completely in the dark. And when you do realise that a certain choice really does require you to study a few facts and figures beforehand, finding them in the sheer mass of menus and convoluted data is almost a game all unto itself.

There are some blatantly obvious errors that frequently appear too, mainly due to the games French based development team. While a little leeway can be offered to a small development team obviously not having the kind of knowledge of the English language you’d get with an expensive localisation set up, witnessing quotes attributed to ‘Leon Tolstoy’ are certainly off putting. As is the in game newspaper talking about the ‘chef of government’.
 

Information Overload

Rulers of Nations obviously isn’t for everyone. It’s an incredibly niche title, which unfortunately suffers from one too many flaws. While you certainly can’t complain about the sheer depth available and the huge number of options you have to tinker with, you can argue with the implementation. With a convoluted user interface which frequently stumbles under the sheer weight of information the game attempts to offer you, Rulers of Nations is made immensely more difficult than it needs to be. If the idea of a Geo-Political Simulator excites you, then you owe it to yourself to give this a go at the very least. But for anyone else, it’s just far too complex. A bit like we all see real life politics.

Top Game Moment: Managing to avoid instigating World War III.