''Commander in Chief'', also known as ''Geo-Political Simulator'', is a

government simulation game A government simulation or political simulation is a game that attempts to simulate the government and politics of all or part of a nation. These games may include Geopolitics, geopolitical situations (involving the formation and execution of for ...

that allows a player to simulate being a nation's

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...

. Players have a large amount of control over their nation, although this varies based on the form of government the player's nation has. The English version was released on July 25, 2008, and has also been released in French, German, Spanish and Russian. The French version has been named Mission-Président.https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Pr%C3%A9sident-Geopolitical-Simulator-French-Pc/dp/B0031MC40I

Gameplay

When starting a new game, players may choose between various scenarios, some of which have set objectives while others are more akin to a "sandbox" mode. Similarly to other government simulation games like

Democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

, the player assumes the role of the chief executive of their chosen nation such as the President of the United States of America or the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Unlike in the Democracy series the player may amend the constitution of their chosen state and run it as a dictatorship.

Inaccuracies

The game refers to the position of chief executive as "Head of State" which is not true for all states—for example, the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

is the

Head of State A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state (polity), state#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international p ...

, but the

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...

German Chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

are not—and in the game, the player plays as the chief executive. In many states there is a distinction between the

Head of Government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...

and the

, with the Head of State often being a ceremonial president or monarch. There is also no distinction in the game between any

upper Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found fo ...

and

lower Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

houses of the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

. There are also inaccuracies relating to nations in the game, as many nations are misrepresented. For example, the Finnish are inaccurately portrayed as being culturally Scandinavian, all Finnish have Swedish names when Swedish speakers only constitute 5.5% of the population. Other inaccuracies relate to the religion. Certain minority religions, such as the Baha'i faith in Iran, are not represented in the game, nor are pagans of any kind. There are also mistakes relating to ethnicity. For example, all the people of

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

, as opposed to a sizable minority, are represented as being

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

rather than east Asian and also all have Russian names. Similarly, most

Filipinos Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or oth ...

have Indian names.

Reception

The game received mixed to negative reviews. Jason Ocampo of ''IGN'' remarked that the game was "difficult to take as a serious simulation of global politics." A reviewer for GameZone stated that the game was "a pretty hollow attempt to cash in on the recent Presidential elections."

Sequels

* Rulers of Nations *

Masters of the World ''Masters of the World'', also known as ''Geo-Political Simulator 3'', is the third installment of the '' Geo-political simulator'' series. This government simulation game, like its predecessors, puts the player in the role of any nation's head ...

* Geo-Political Simulator 4: Power and Revolution

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.commander-in-chief.net/
English forum

French forum
Windows games Windows-only games Real-time strategy video games Government simulation video games 2008 video games 2009 video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in France