President Forever

[BC Bob]

Has anyone ever played President Forever or any of the other election games offered by 80soft.com? President Forever is about to introduce the primaries into the game which I have not seen done before in this genre. I'm considering purchasing, but wonder what others have experienced with this company's games.

[JPhillips]

I had a lot of fun with President Forever, but I probably haven't touched it in a couple of years. I especially liked the historical elections that you could find on the site.

[Barkeep49]

It was a fun enough game. I kept awaiting the introduction of primaries as that's why I frankly bought the game back in 2004. The challenge wasn't too intense, but it was fun to try and do crazy elections/re-enact historical elections.

[molson]

I'm taking a wait and see approach to the latest release, if only becase it was pushed back so many times (it was first scheduled for release over a year ago).

[14ers]

I'm taking a wait and see approach to the latest release, if only becase it was pushed back so many times (it was first scheduled for release over a year ago).
Are you sure about that? Why would they schedule to release the game in 2005, a non election year?

[Barkeep49]

Are you sure about that? Why would they schedule to release the game in 2005, a non election year?
molson is wrong. It was first scheduled for October 2004 so two years ago. It's been repeatedly postponed including theoretically being released, at one point, last year.

[amdaily]

I went ahead and ordered tonight. Can't go wrong for $9.95 considering how much time I spent on the last version.

Early reviews in their forums say it's a bit buggy, but they are responsive and fast to get out patches (the first has already been released). Can't wait to try it out.

[dervack]

Never bought the game before, but after looking at the screenshots, I may have to pick it up and play it. Seems like a cool game though.

[Joe Canadian]

So is the updated version out yet?

[bhlloy]

I played this a couple of times through, but it gets old pretty quickly. Didn't help that I played the British and the US version and won in a landslide first time with both. The primaries will add a lot to the game so I'll probably purchase again, any word on whether the game is harder this time through?

[Izulde]

Did you try playing with an independent?

[bhlloy]

Not in the US version, no. I did however win an election as the Liberal Democrats in the UK version, at which point I was pretty much done with that version. I also won landslides with Kerry and Clark in the 2004 election US version. Obviously playing with an independent is going to be almost impossible, I was hoping for a bit more of a realistic challenge with a major party candidate though.

[AgustusM]

can you create your own candidate in the full version???

[Barkeep49]

can you create your own candidate in the full version???
Yes you can.

So I finally got around to playing the game with primaries. After squeaking out a victory in my first game as Obama with Hillary turned off, in my second game, playing as Gore against all of the likely Dems, I figured out the key to the Democratic primaries which then allowed me enough time during the primaries phase to begin working on the general election, which I also won handily. Even starting as Clark in 2004 this strategy worked, this time resulting in a landslide as I was able to use it more effectively and against a weaker field. I haven't finished this game yet but expect to beat Bush, who had no primary competition. I don't think the strategy will be quite as sound as a Republican, but we'll see. I definitely got my money out of the primaries and like that there's a game that finally allows you to go the whole distance with a candidate, what attracted me to this game in the first place.

[wbatl1]

I downloaded the demo and can't figure out how to move my candidate...

Any help?

[Barkeep49]

I downloaded the demo and can't figure out how to move my candidate...

Any help?
This confused me for a while and the help file was NOT helpful.

Click on the flag. Click on the state you want him to move to and click on the "barnstorming". You only want to visit a state up to 5 times before a primary and then 5 times before the general election as after that your visits lose efficiency.

[kcchief19]

Yes you can.

So I finally got around to playing the game with primaries. After squeaking out a victory in my first game as Obama with Hillary turned off, in my second game, playing as Gore against all of the likely Dems, I figured out the key to the Democratic primaries which then allowed me enough time during the primaries phase to begin working on the general election, which I also won handily. Even starting as Clark in 2004 this strategy worked, this time resulting in a landslide as I was able to use it more effectively and against a weaker field. I haven't finished this game yet but expect to beat Bush, who had no primary competition. I don't think the strategy will be quite as sound as a Republican, but we'll see. I definitely got my money out of the primaries and like that there's a game that finally allows you to go the whole distance with a candidate, what attracted me to this game in the first place.
Come on ... what's your secret? :)

My most effective strategy has been to plan on a brokered convention, which seems to work with everyone but Hillary -- her poor relations with other candidates built in to the game make this impossible. If you can get close to the magic number, it's somewhat easy to get the other players to back your candidcacy, so long as you aren't Hillary. The drawback is that it leaves you at a deficit for the general election.

I don't believe I've won a convention outright yet before the convention in a crowded field. I came close once with Hillary, coming up less than 100 votes shy of the nomination. All the other candidates ended up backing Edwards, who was a distant second, and he go the nomination.

[Young Drachma]

I remember this game. Now they have primaries, I might have to take a look.