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[Tormy]

Well the devs are french..maybe that is why we dont have a demo. 
Btw the developer -Eversim- is related to Silmarils, and old french game dev. company. Theyve made some very cool RPGs like Ishar I. - III.

[PTTG??]

I just go the 2009 update. Time to take control of Sweden or something. You can get ridiculous point scores if you control some tiny island nation and just make a happy little island. I'm going to try having Cuba develop nuclear weapopns. That'll be fun. Oh, or Vatican City!

[Servant Corps]

Geopolitical Simulator 2009:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/949/949086p1.html

This is also possibly the only game in the world where lowering taxes actually causes the masses to strike in the street. You would think slashing income and property taxes to zero and instituting a modest national sales tax would be a popular move for a country that's sick of IRS paperwork; instead, it sent my popularity plummeting.

EDIT: From the original Geopolitical Simulator
IGN

GPS lets you take over any current nation on Earth, which is a neat idea, until you realize that managing something like Sweden is just a bit less of a challenge compared to running a big power such as the United States. Sure, I had fun playing as the prime minister of Sweden, with its strong economy, budget surplus, and healthy population. All I had to do to rocket my popularity skyward was put in a brief cut on interest rates and use the ensuing tax revenue growth to fund popular projects, like hospitals, schools, and a youth soccer program that led to a Euro Cup-winning team. However, GPS sort of went out of its way to throw some wrenches into the works by saddling Sweden, of all places, with not one but two festering terrorist organizations. Despite dumping resources into internal security and policing I could never eliminate either of them. Meanwhile, things got even worse, and even more bizarre, when out of nowhere Iran, of all countries, launched a surprise military attack on Swedish soil. Such an act defies all sorts of logic.

Gamezine:

As president of Burundi, I was shot at dawn during a military coup after only four days in power. It was unclear exactly what I’d done to upset the generals, but I’d proposed a number of changes, so I started the game again and this time tried making only one.

This must have appeased them slightly, as they waited six days before shooting me.

Giving up on Burundi, I managed to last an entire week as president of China before an attempt to give slightly more freedom to the press backfired and led the ‘Secretary General’ (sic) of the Communist Party to fire me.

This was particularly bewildering given that I’d just received a message from this same individual, congratulating me for giving more freedom to the press.

[PTTG??]

That does indeed happen. It also seems that every single country has a massive problem with starving elderly people.

What I'd like is a sandbox mode where I don't need to worry about popularity.

That said, I play it like Dwarf Fortress. Loosing is fun. It's funner when it involves magma nuclear warheads

[Sowelu]

Wow, this looks like what Democracy might be like if it was a polished, complete game!

[Sordid]

$$72.95!!!!??!?

ARE THEY INSANE?!

What're you talking about, the buy screen tells me the 2009 edition is $45 for the downloadable version, ten bucks extra for a backup CD.

Anyway, seems like a sweet game, but they really should have a demo. How hard would it be to restrict the player to only one or two countries and a limited time in office until the game is activated with a proper key? I'm am so not shelling out fifty bucks for something I can't even try.

Edit: Oopsie, old post. Forgot to check the date.

[mainiac]

This is also possibly the only game in the world where lowering taxes actually causes the masses to strike in the street. You would think slashing income and property taxes to zero and instituting a modest national sales tax would be a popular move for a country that's sick of IRS paperwork; instead, it sent my popularity plummeting.

That sounds pretty realistic portrayal of how the U.S. would react to a national sales tax to me.  Income and property taxes are progressive (the rich pay more) while sales taxes are regressive (the poor pay more).  So this would be a VASTLY regressive change in tax law. The rich would basically stop paying taxes (very little of what they buy is taxed by sales tax) at the cost of the middle class, who's burden would skyrocket.  The poor would get it even worse then the middle class since nearly all of what little income they have is hit by sales tax.  If this was revenue neutral then after a tax hike like that and existing sin taxes and fee's, people living in poverty would be paying a third to half of their income in taxes.  You would literally see people reduced to homelessness and starvation by this tax hike.  Meanwhile, billionaires would be paying a percentage point or two of their income in taxes.

I for one would be in the streets setting fire to government buildings in order to give the government a little hint at just how unhappy I am.

There's a lot of Joe the Plumbers out there who wouldn't get it, but most people would be up in arms at this when they saw the implications.  At least with the "FairTax" they propose a tax rebate and changes to sales tax structure.  Just imposing a traditional sales tax would be criminal.  So the game got that right.

...that is all I have to say.

[PTTG??]

Do not underestimate the quantity of Joe the Plumbers. I, for one, do dislike the fact that "bread and Circuses"- type programs are so hard to implement. Even if you do something like make a weekly presidential broadcast, somebody will start complaining about how you have "verbal diarrhea" because you talk too much...

But far, far worse is the colossal ineptitude of every secret service agency in the world. What do I mean? I have played as all of the world powers at one time or annother, and whenever it looks like it's getting bad, I go out with a bang by trying to assassinate the oldest person in the nation. Every single time- every SINGLE time- not only have they failed to kill the old bat, but where at best discovered. Sometimes I get a report that the victim caught the agent themselves! The U.S, France, England, Saudi Arabia, Norway, CHINA and NORTH KOREA.

Sweet baby superman, I am in awe at the astounding level of failure apparently present in the international espionage agency. I'm going to see what happens if you close the entire special forces of the U.S.

Oh, and also, it seems to be impossible to leave Iraq. You can give the order, but nothing ever seems to happen.

Still, it's fun to see the world either grow angry at you or not as you invade Canada. I just wish I could make a custom area- say, the Great Republic of California, for instance.

[Servant Corps]

That sounds pretty realistic portrayal of how the U.S. would react to a national sales tax to me. 

I thought the people were going to streets and screaming, "DEATH TO AMERICA!" because they were worried a tax cut would deny America reveune, possibly leading to higher deficits and cuts in government programs.

[mainiac]

That sounds pretty realistic portrayal of how the U.S. would react to a national sales tax to me. 

I thought the people were going to streets and screaming, "DEATH TO AMERICA!" because they were worried a tax cut would deny America reveune, possibly leading to higher deficits and cuts in government programs.

Not revenue neutral?

...weeeell (to run with this idea for a sec) big cuts would mostly have to come at the cost of medicare and social security, adding yet another layer of regressiveness. 
Why?  Because the medicare and social security trust funds were paid for by payroll taxes.  Payroll taxes are very regressive (no payments on income past a certain amount) but that's tolerated because payroll taxes pay out to everyone (assuming they live long enough).  For decades, these payments have been making up for low income taxes.  Payroll taxes are paid with the expectation of social security and medicare payments, which would now be severely reduced.  So basically it would boil down to, the government took your money for your entire working life.  And then they're stealing the trust fund so they can let billionaires get away with no taxes.  I think that would be even worse.

Yeah, that plus severe devaluation of the dollar and treasury bonds, leading to skyrocketing inflation.  Might even see runs on the banks too.  Heck, it could even start a few major wars too, as countries with treasuries full of Treasury bonds are suddenly insolvent.  That could explain all the weird wars the reviewer saw.  Norway's like "The banks!  They have no money!  Quick, let's go steal all banks from England!"

[Servant Corps]

Actually, re-reading the article makes me realize the real, true reason why the people protested.

January 28, 2009 - I was less than a week into the administration of my 44th president of the United States, the honorable Edward MacKenny, when suddenly the big guy was booted out of office after his popularity rating dropped faster than a meteorite crashing to Earth. And yet the only reason I can deduce for it was that that despite proposing cuts in income and property taxes, a proposed increase in vehicle registration taxes sent the electorate in a rabid frenzy. Of course, as any American who drives knows, it's the states that set their own vehicle registration taxes, not the Federal Government. That sort of sums up the relevant points about Commander in Chief: Geo-Political Simulator 2009, the follow up to last year's ambitious mess of a game, Geo-Political Simulator.

Vehicle registration taxes. If you drive a car, you're going to have to pay higher registeration fees. Yeah, that's going to lead to problems.

I think the main point I was trying to make is not about how a what-you-may-call-it tax is the worst thing on planet Earth, but how this game is not really...a good simulation at all. In general, not in this specific instance. For example, there is no such checks-and-balances in this game, in a game that is supposed to be focused on the US.

This was the only strange event I found (at least for this new updated version), as this game gets around, I'm sure reviewers will post new 'strangeness' {at least in how they preceive strange}...

[Sordid]

There is no such checks-and-balances in this game, in a game that is supposed to be focused on the US.

Um, it is? That's news to me.

[Servant Corps]

Well, it provides that impression with the title of "COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF", which is associated with the American President... :\

[Sordid]

No it isn't, commander in chief is a generic title given to the person at the top of the chain of command of a country's military: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander-in-chief

[Servant Corps]

Then blame it on the American school system that educated these American reviewers.