The Free Free World: The Political Machine Express

Political satire and turn-based strategy: a surprisingly winning combination. Stardock have just chucked out a free version of their lovely The Political Machine 2008, which is essentially a demo in all but name. It is, however, the part of the game that everyone wants to play the most: Obama vs Mcain. With staunch support from Joe Biden and the pitbull with lipstick, of course. Many of the full game's features, such as design it yourself candidates and randomised issues, are missing, but multiplayer's in there. Grab it from here.

Oh, here's me semi-Verdicting the full game a little while ago. If you do already own TPM08, it's worth grabbing the recent 1.5 update - not least because it adds Palin and Biden, but also because it ups the variety of what was a slightly shallow game. You have to get it through Stardock's Impulse thinger, which is something I've yet to form a definite feeling about. Interesting, but it hasn't wormed its way into my life/PC like Steam has. It's very early days for it, of course.