This is my review of the game after being first scared off and close to not trying it. I enjoy it alot.

This is a Marvellous game for those people who are interested in Geopolitics, aren't looking for a quick Command and Conquer-styled game and enjoy running a simulated nation from top-down. It is important to emphasise that this is more of a simulator than a game. People who enjoyed Superpower 2 or are interested in a geo-political simulator will enjoy this game, but the game has a steep learning curve, and having an education helps.

Overview

Masters of the World - Geopolitical Simulator 3 is a simulator first and foremost. Whilst the simulator can be a game of tactics, it is much more than that. In this game, knowledge of the world and how government's run will help you understand how this simulator works. In the simulator you can play as any country in the world and run its affairs. The game has the nations as of 2013 and 2014, and the governments that run them with comical mimicks of the real-life leaders. Once you enter the simulator, you will have to face that country's problems head-on.

The game has 5 major areas: Politics, Economy, Military, Diplomacy and Trade. Each part is interesting and has different challenges and positives. You really need to balance each of them as each strain is interlinked with the other.

Positives

There are heaps of positives in this game that make me enjoy it, but here are my favourite 3:

- Depth of the simulator. The developers really made this so you have to think about the simular from an educated perspective. The simulator has 5 major areas has alot of you to go through, lots of details and statistics. For example, in the Economy you have to manage taxation, debts, budgets, and trade in order to make a better economy. Each of these are in even more depth, from tax on alcohol to organising trade contracts with different countries for profit, and to the economy split into Industry, Services, Agriculture, etc so as to represent your country's production. This is replicated in the areas of Politics, Military and Trade, but not really in the diplomacy field. You change these statisics by the actions you take.

- Simulated world events. The news really gives you an overview of what is happening in the world. The simulator simulates the status of the world's economy, politics and wars and this is always interesting in my opinion. I find even protests within country's I control represent to me issues that the nation faces (welfare dependency, police numbers, etc). This is a very interesting dynamic to the game.

- Cause and effect. Everything has cause and effect. For example, raising taxes makes more money but affects your popularity, the purchase power of your people, unemployment and other factors. Going to war can allow you to colonise, annex or integrate a country, but costs heaps of money (transporting soldiers, or sailing navies in reality isn't cheap!) and relies on positive public opinion.

There is much more, but those are my favourite three.

Negatives

There is quite a few downsides to the game that need improvement. There has been alot of criticism for Double DRM in this game, but I never had any problems with it (as I can play it offline and no issues c/f Ubisoft games). Double DRM exists in heaps of games, where Steam protects the game from copying but the game producers also try to have it. This issue is a wide-ranging issue but I haven't had any issues with it. The other widely-criticised issue is only being allowed to install the game so many times. This isn't too much of an issue if you don't delete your games, and has been around for ages. If you have any problems, its been said that you just have to contact the company for remedy.

To be honest, much of the criticism of the game Re DRM and other hasn't been an issue at all for me. In terms of gameplay, here are the worst bits:

- Learning Curve.One of the hardest things for people in this game is the learning curve. My first 7 games were tragedies, I was either assassinated, kicked out of government or fled overseas because my people hated me. This, if you read the other reviews, is why others have then rated this game badly. Just because you might play a few games and fail doesn't mean its unplayable, it means you need to understand things better.

But this difficulty, while a reflection of the reality of making difficult policy decisions, is also something that may scare some people off who just want a quick game.

- Conflicts. Unlike other games, there are conflicts that erupt all the time across the globe. 90% of these conflicts are just skirmishes (North Korea bombing a South Korean island, city, etc) that doesn't erupt into a bigger war and stops at the skirmish. The other 10% is a major war, which results in either the colonisation/annexation/integration of another region, or a ceasefire. For example: I was in a big war besides USA, France, Mexico and Brazil v Venezuela. Venezuela blew up a US Nuclear Reactor on US islands in the Mediterranean. After much military manouvering and many failed US landings, 5 months later a ceasefire was signed.

This part of the game is 50/50. While it produces alot of fun to watch/be part of a war and brings a combat dynamic into the game most of the time, it can be quite tricky and doesn't really correctly simulate how often conflicts erupt.

- Broadcasts. The game could do without it, but it adds a comical feature to the game. Events allow your leader or others to give you briefings, tell you about events, United Nations speeches, etc. This is fun to listen to your advisors/other world leaders, but can be a bit repetative. You can turn this off though.

- UI. The Game's UI isn't very good. It is manageable, but because the game has alot of depth it can be difficult to easily switch from normal view to military view, to zoom in and to get the information you want on your screen quickly. It just takes a little more time and hence patience in my experience.

Conclusion

For a game made by indie developers, this is a great game. It is not made by a major developer, these guys have a small team but bring quite a big simulator that is overall enjoyable. Sure it isn't Europa Universalis 4, but it is a geo-politica simulator that does what in my opinion, is a good simulation. The geo-political simulator that is alot of fun,and very interesting It is especially enjoyable if you know your stuff (such as the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008, what made the Global Financial Crisis happen, what a tax actually is, etc etc). Definitely, coming from a university background, this game makes alot of sense and allows me to enjoy a global simulation where I can be any country. This game is more for the grand strategy gamer with some intellect, rather than the "where is my artillery and explosion" gamer.

I came to this game very skeptical, and was close not to buying it. I read the negative Steam reviews and thought, well, why should I try it if its -so- bad? I contacted the developers and told them that I'm uncertain about the game. I decided to buy it and haven't regretted it as someone who is interested in geo-political issues and likes grand strategy games. As one of the original purchasers of Superpower 2, this game reflects the fun I had in that game.

Furthermore, success in this game is in the eye of the beholder. One of my most successful games was playing as Australia, where I was able to make a budget surplus, and start to pay off my debt. With surplus I built stadiums, theatres, airports, and a larger army that I used to take over different Pacific islands and colonise them.

Overall, I would give this game 8/10. Contact me if you have any questions :)

It isn't the best game out there, but in a limited market for these types of games its good.

I highly recommend this game for anyone who is a political geek.

The game is extremely in-depth. It goes from well-known laws like freedom of speech/demonstration/religion to tiny aspects you'd never see in a geopolitical simulator; blood toxicity level, driving age, maximum age for school, and speed limits on trunk roads, city roads, and highways. It also has a very realistic atmosphere to it. Setting aside the fact the map and characters look like 90s era games, it gives the game a feel no other geopolitical simulator has given me; realism. It goes from setting meetings with political figures and world leaders, to having small talk and influencing well-known figures in your country to vote for you or support your bill publicly. When a law doesn't pass through, a reform can be made. Adding laws into this reform that is bipartisan will increase the chances of it being passed. More features include asking nations for authorization to build a pipeline through their territory, building pipelines for oil or gas, detailed trade agreements that allow you to set the price, quantity, and duration of the agreement (Example: Russia's Natural Gas Agreement with China that will last for 20 years), the game also allows the construction of various buildings or transportations like oil and gas pipelines, high-speed trains, nuclear power plants, oil rigs, gas and oil fields, and even increasing the number of hospitals, homes, schools, or solar fields. The game also has a very complicated economic system. I have been having trouble with it, but I did have some success as Jordan earlier. Continuing on, the game is very recent. It isn't like SuperPower 2 where it was created just before the NATO expansion or the break-up of Serbia and Montenegro, but it was released in 2013, meaning it has the world's youngest country, South Sudan. The game features terrorist groups in every country, ranging from the Mafia to Total Jihad groups (Al-Quaeda). You have the options to infiltrate the groups if they live in your territory, to funding them with weapons, money, and 2 semi-trucks with rockets and explosives if they are in other countries to help them take down that country's government. But if you do this, you have the chance to be caught red-handed. And this will transfer into the news, and Parliment will impeach you. I suffered that while playing as Russia and funding New Zealand terrorists. The game offers so much detail to their options, like adding more medical staff and adding more police staff. You can also investigate politicians and well-known citizens to reveal a scandal to use against them, to spying on heads-of-state or countries to find evidence that will gain the approval of the United Nations Security Council and allow military action against the country. Which brings me to the Organizations of the game.

The game has made Organizations possible, which bring various or all world organizations into the game including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, European Union, and North American Free Trade Agreement. It then gives you the option to create your own Organization, allowing an Economic Market (NAFTA), Producing Countries (OPEC), Monetary Union (EU), and Political-Military Organization (NATO). This then allows you to choose members states, the budget, the voting system, the secretary general's holding of the seat, and who the secretary general is. You can then meet to set the prices of the product, make changes, etc. Like with OPEC, you can propose to change the average oil price. You can also launch reelection campaigns, even visiting the Olympics, military barracks, and universities. Instead of a SuperPower 2 style diplomatic relations, there are two types of relations. First is economic. Just because the country does not favor you does not affect trade relations. Second is military, allowing certian permissions like allowing air, ground, and naval bases in your/their country while considering the amount, allowing you to edit this at any time via meetings with head-of-state. Diplomatic relations come with various things, like managing embassies, allowing nationals to enter or leave, and forcing ethnic Israeli's living in Lebanon to return. Lastly, the game makes it perfectly with this.

As all military and geopolitical games have, the feature nuclear weapons. Naturally, this game has them. But for the first time, you need to go through politics when proceeding with a nuclear attack. First, you must authorize the use of nuclear weapons. Second, you must make a meeting with the Chief of the Army. Third, you must ask him to authorize the use of nuclear weapons. Forth, you must ask him for the code for the nuclear weapons. And the game never remembers it, You actually need to write it down. Lastly, enter your code when firing nuclear missiles. But in this game, it features something never seen in any game I have played - Chemical and bacteriological weapons. You can actually use the weapons hated internationally. Though it is almost difficult to use them, you need to have a high standing with the chief of the army. Authorize the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons, ask him to authorize their use, and if he allows it, you can freely launch chemical attacks against anyone. Beware - Using nuclear, chemical, and bacteriological weapons are EXTREMELY frowned upon domestically and internationally. If used, you will be thrown out of office, and if not that, the UNSC will send a resolution to authorize military intervention.

Overall, the game is very fun. So far, I have not run into any major bugs like crashes or gameplay interventions. Only bug I have notices was on the Newspaper where it was supposed to say the President of Russia's name, but showed random lettering or coding. I rate it 8/10. If you love geo-political games and have major interests in politics, this game is perfect. Besides the 90s looking interface, no game has ever gone so in-depth. Many offical reviews say the same.

I've put in around 10 hours now, so hopefully this enables me to give a helpful overview of the game.

First of all, if you don't have time to read everything, I can honestly say that the game is not worth the current asking price of 50 EUR or your regional equivalent but I can recommended it at a lower price. Hope that helps.

For the rest of you, we can go into a bt more depth. Starting with the positives, I was very impressed with the amount of detail the game goes into - from currency unions to closing the borders the game has plenty of option to sink you teeth into. Where you'll find yourself somewhat frustrated however, is that many of the options are actually 'non-options' depending on the political slant of your party.

When you pick a nation, you are bound to the ruling party and it's politics and thus taking any nation with a clear bias toward the right or left of the political spectrum to the other side - or even the centre - appears to be very difficult. Aside from the effort it can take to push through policies in the face of rebellion within your own party, long term they can actually choose to oust you, regardless of your adherence to democratic principles or your level of popularity.

In my North Korea playthrough I discovered this the hard way. Despite the huge economic and social benefits of opening up the society and my unbelieveable 100% popularity rate, my party took me out and shot me at dawn with zero interference from my alleged millions of supporters.

Any significant change, even seemingly for the better can trigger widespread and disruptive protests which don't seem to subside all that quickly, even if you begin to introduce reforms that are being requested.

The interface is clunky at best, the game is not remotely impressive graphically, the voice acting is very off - my North Korean health minister had the most amazing, broad Irish accent - and, in the English version at least, emails and newspaper articles can sometimes make no sense whatsoever.

BUT, it is far from all bad. As stated above, you have a lot of options and can descend into dangerously geeky levels of play. aside from the rarer occasions when your actions trigger unbelieveable responses, the game is largely authentic feeling and your actions do have a satisfying weight to them. The ability to fight in real time, or even leave the nitty gritty to the competent military AI, is also very well executed and you have a great choice of options open to you upon victory, from annexation or colonisation of the defeated foe, to a regime change. Borders can be renegotiated and the espionage system is one of the best I've encountered.

Where this game is likely to excel though is in Multiplayer, the range of overt and covert actions you can take to destabilise, attack or prop-up your neighbours is truly wonderful and I suspect even more rewarding when the ally or opponent is a human being.

The raw data used for the core modelling seems pretty solid however, you can break the game and your own immersion from time to time so certainly do not expect the political modelling to be bulletproof.

Comprehensive modding support is built into the game and I would expect this to be where the biggest strides in improving the game will be made.

In summary, if you have friends to play against or a sincere passion for political simulators then this is worthwhile pick-up, but I urge everyone to wait for it to be on sale or you will feel more than a little taken advantage of. If you are a casual player or are considering this as an impule buy, I'd suggest giving it a wide bearth or picking up the excellent and polisihed, if far less detailed - Civilization IV or V.

Despite of a few bugs Geopolitical Simulator 3 is an exceptionally clever and entertaining game! Of course strategic gaming must be your thing in order to fully appreciate MOW. It has more body than for example Civilization (which in itself is also a good game). It is very interesting to see what influence your various decisions have in the field of domestic or foreign policy, financial health, economic growth or social aspects. Also the causal relations between investing/cutting in a particular sector, creating contracts, growth, unemployment, production, trade balance, budget deficit, privitization etc..etc.. is very realistic, interesting and entertaining. Fun to read the newspaper on which impact your various decisions have, how it is presented and how well it is received by public opinion. One of the things I have learned is that you certainly can't satisfy all of the people and organizations in a country. And most of the time it is a real challenge just to keep your head above the water. But all the more satisfying it is when you do manage to create a contract, see that the invested tax payer dollars create economic growth an jobs etc..etc..
Untill now I played only USA and I noticed that you realy have to balance between containing the budget deficit, stimulating economic growth, your popularity rating and your dependence on congress which you will need in order to push foreward your policy. You come to understand and realize the dilemma's most leaders also must have in real life! Also, don't trust the republicans hahaha. If you for example ask the head of the republican party to support you on a bill in congress, he says he will do so, but instead they stabb you in the back once it is voted on (that is if they don't agree with the bill of course). All in all I am very enthousiastic about this game.
If I had to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, I would say 11.

ok so first i was in doubt because all of the bad review but i´m so glad that i bought this game. i was looking for the real thing and i can say i found it.

if you are looking for amazing graphics then this is NOT your game.
if you are looking for massive battles to just conquer the world easily... this is NOT your game go buy something like AoE.
but if you want a game where every action has a consecuence, where taking power is not easy, where staying in power is not easy, where you need to think far beyond the easy gathering of resources, then you have found the game.

this game is so serious is almost crazy. even in the tutorial you can mess it up really bad.

let me say this clearly enought... if you are dumb in political knowledge and ecomics you may want to rethink it before buying a GEOPOLITICAL simulator, good news is that there are links inside the game to teach you, so youll learn a lot.

another thing to mention is that most of the bad comments on the games are not even related to the game and for $50 bucks i think the game is worth it, and if people buy it there should be no reason for the company to close. as for the bugs they reported i have not encounter any of them so far.

do i recommend it? yes, i do. go ahead try to stay in power.

There are two things to know when deciding whether or not to buy this game-
1. The menus are clunky, the GUI is clunky, it often lags for no reason, and things don't always make sense.
2. Despite all of this, the reviews for this game are overly negative. You can have fun here if you try.
As I said, it's clunky and unoptimized and the developers don't seem to care. However, there is something here. As far as gameplay, it IS the most realistic representation of modern day country management, though that might not be saying much. Personally, I spent most of my time playing around in the mod DLC, where you can create alternate nations and scenarios.
The game is also super overpriced. Do not pay the full price for this game if you aren't rich.
You might be wondering right now why I gave this game a positive recommendation. The game isn't the best, the developers don't deserve it. Well, quite simply, I spent 48 hours in this game and had fun. I don't know why, but I did. Make of that what you will.

I have really enjoyed playing game! I stayed away from it for a long time due to the many negative reviews. When it went on sale a few weeks back I decided to pick it up. I regret not purchasing it earlier. The simulator is fairly deep and I have found it to be both fun and challenging.

First impressions: http://www.cublikefoot.com/masters-of-the-world-geopolitical-simulator-3-first-impressions/

Masters of the World - Geopolitical Simulator 3 (quite the title we got there) is, well, a geopolitical simulator. It is a lot of fun to play, but don't expect to take over other countries without repercussions.

The game is complex. Really, really complex. There's probably still a lot of things I don't know about the game. It goes real deep into just about every aspect there is to managing a modern-day country. The learning curve is insane. You'll need to spend a lot of time in the game just figuring out the various changes that can be made to your country in order to keep citizens happy, which is quite the difficult task.

Your relations with other countries in the game can easily be severed if you choose to attack another country. This is not the type of game where you're able to just "conquer" countries. Doing so will result in the entire UN being against you. In fact, when I took over Georgia (I was playing as Russia at the time), South Korea called for military intervention from UN members.

When voting came around for this, I voted against it, which prevented military intervention. How? Well, Russia is one of the five permanent member of the UN, so if they don't agree, then it gets vetoed automatically, even though EVERY OTHER COUNTRY voted for military intervention. I used this to my advantage and continued to take over two other countries before being executed by my own army in Moscow (oops!). Yeah, Russia's citizens were not happy with my actions, even with a 49% approval rating.

Masters of the World is a really fun game. It's a fantastic experience and I highly recommend it, if you're willing to take it seriously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x37HQuKSomo

Very fun if you are into the politics, and economics of a country, or if you want to try your luck as a dictator the choices are endless, but your rulership sure is,

Yes, the game can be very buggy, and yes it can be very impossible at time, but this is the most detailed and delicate political game I ever played. Well, maybe actually less of a game more a simulation(hence the category). If your looking for game go else where, if your looking for a simulator that can almost to near damned perfect simulate how a contry's people, government and military work, you came to the right place.