Megalomaniacs rejoice, for Global Power is a political simulation which will tax your sense of cunning, your ability to out-think the world's major governments and your patience, if you're not careful. The premise behind Global Power is a simple one: take any nation of the world and make it great. Armed with massive amounts of information from the CIA's (in)famous World Fact Book, budding premiers are ready to take their country to the height of economic success or plunge the world into a state of global warfare.
From the off it's important to get a sense of what this game is all about. Action fans should look elsewhere as this is an in-depth and very detailed game that eschews any kind of action in favour of tabulated data that can be modified and amended during the game's turn-based play. Be warned: it can be very slow going. But slow is not necessarily a bad thing here--without plenty of careful thought and planning, just keeping things ticking over can be a major task in its own right.
Graphically there's nothing to write home about. The screen displays are functional with no real frills and there's little in the way of animation. Sound too is very disappointing, though a built-in music player allows you to fire up your own tunes while plotting to take over the world.
The sheer depth and detail of Global Power is going to put many people off. The initial learning curve is quite steep and finding the information you need to make the right decision can be more than a little frustrating. Those who stick with it will get out what they put in and it's fascinating to watch the AI for the world nations set about its task with a vengeance--though it does have to be said it occasionally makes some very odd decisions.
The bottom line is that you'll either love it or hate it--there's no middle ground here and those looking for something with more immediate feedback would do better plumping for Command and Conquer Generals. --Chris Russel
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