SuperPower 3

[George Floyd]

Do not buy this game.

There is zero entertainment value to be had. For those who would buy a bad game to garner some cheap laughs, SuperPower 3 isn't even worth that.

There are zero improvements over the decade-and-a-half old prequel, SuperPower 2 – also a remarkably bad game, but one with minor value in the multiplayer roleplaying community. That niche, however limited, worked because the multiplayer worked, and there was a semblance of a feedback loop that would allow you to call SuperPower 2 a video game.

SuperPower 3 is the alpha build of an alpha build. There are zero considerations by the developers in crafting a functional, fun video game. There is no optimization: click-dragging over your units, or zooming out too quickly, or pressing a button can crash your game. If you zoom in too close, you're greeted with what is perhaps the ugliest terrain map devised in a 21st century strategy game. Zoom out too far, and you can see artifacts from other nations from previous save games clipping through the globe. Are the developers of this game really so incompetent as to not introduce a checksum to prevent inter-save game bleeds on the game state?

It is clear there were no fruitful discussions between the developers on user experience or interaction, as the constant assault of stock-image asset-flip pop-ups on your screen prevent you from playing the not-game.

The fundamental aspects of running a government, making policies, is represented by a set of sliders that were copy/pasted from the prequel. These sliders do nothing. Even your choice of government is of no consequence – at a whim, as the United States, you can end freedom of speech, assembly, gay marriage, abortion and close your borders to emigrants North Korea-style, just to lose a couple approval points for your next election. Instead of making policies matter, GolemLabs decided to introduce a strangely designed racial meta-game where the ethnic group and skull shape of your chosen character dictates their popularity with your chosen country. It is not clear if this mechanic even works. Yes, one of the very few additions made to the game after SuperPower 2 delves into racial political science, and doesn't even execute it properly.

There is not a single redeeming quality to this game.

I find it disrespectful that this game was released and that it is being sold on this platform for $30 USD. You can be sure that GolemLabs will make no adjustments to this game; no substantial patches or DLC will ever arrive to fix this game. It was rushed to beat Victoria III to market, and Victoria III will kill its player base forever.

To allow this game to be sold cheapens the value of the Steam online marketplace, and makes me doubt the quality of other games being sold through Steam. No amount of negative reviews will be enough.

Do not buy this game.

[yohan]

I will make sure to purchase Victoria 3 instead to sate my skull-shaping fix

[Buck Henderson: Union Buster]

An unmitigated disaster. The aftershocks of this release with reverberate throughout the grand strategy gaming community for generations to come.

[Evil Coward]

I've spent the last fifteen-twenty minutes looking out the window of the flat, wondering what damage a jump from the third floor will do to a human body. I hear some people end up in a vegetative state where their mind is functionally intact, but they can't act to destroy it.

[octabian]

Complete failure from GolemLabs and an embarrassment to the Grand Strategy community. Bug fixes and patches will need to practically rebuild much of the game from scratch.

[Laoche]

This game is a bigger failure to launch than my life.

[MUR]

Algeria had a 500 billion dollar yearly surplus in my singleplayer game. +3x their GDP alone.