Eurogamer Review: Democracy 2

Beware - this glitz-free government sim from lone coder Cliff Harris may alter the way you think about politics.

If you played this game's predecessor you'll be familiar with the system, and understand just how ingenious it is. By representing policies, crises and key national stats as small disc-shaped icons, and using mouse-over to show how these discs inter-relate, Harris manages to cram a ridiculous amount of useful information onto one screen. In the midst of the shoal of icons is a bank of thermometers displaying the moods of 21 different electoral groups. At a glance, you can see what the socialists, or the smokers, or the motorists, or the socialist-motorist-smokers (voters can be part of more than one group) think of your government, and, more importantly, why they think that way. 6/10