Republic: The Revolution

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 It has been suggested that Novistrana be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)
Republic: The Revolution

Developer(s) Elixir Studios
Publisher(s) Eidos Interactive (Windows)
Feral Interactive (Mac OS X)
Engine Totality Engine
Platform(s) Windows, Mac OS X
Release date 27 August 2003
Genre(s) Strategy
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (13+)
PEGI: 12+
Media PC: CD (2) Mac: DVD (1)

Republic: The Revolution is a computer game produced by Elixir Studios, founded by Demis Hassabis, a former programmer of Lionhead Studios. It is a depiction of grassroots political action, where one attempts to put their preferred government in power. It is set in Novistrana, a small, fictional, post-Soviet country in Eastern Europe. A sequel (or similar game) was planned, but Elixir went out of business shortly thereafter.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

As a strategy game, the seemingly living, breathing world of the 3D game engine is mostly a facade on top of simpler rules and mechanics reminiscent of a boardgame. The 3D engine provides a high level of detail and helps 'flesh out' the world of Novistrana, enabling players to take a virtual tour of their current location. However, the overall influence of the 3D engine on the actual mechanics of gameplay is minimal - the ability to view actions taking place does not affect the outcome of those actions. Some actions carried out in the game offer extra customisation options in the 3D view (for instance, choosing the approach for canvassing or allocating 'cards' in negotiations) but these are separate to the 3D world.

The game is divided into Days, each of which is a cycle of a Morning, Afternoon, and Night. Each of these periods is a turn of sorts, in which orders may be given to faction members to be carried out in the next available turn, and every morning resources (Force, Influence and Wealth) are collected.

[edit] Pre-Release

Expectations ran high for the game prior to its release, due to its unique concept and the possibilities it was to offer in terms of gameplay. As development continued, however, Elixir had simplified many of the game's political features. Commenting on these and other changes, PC Gamer observed of Republic in its 2003 "Mega Preview" that what started as a "massively ambitious game of political machinations in Eastern Europe...has been cut back to something a little more achievable in the human lifespan" (PC Gamer, April 2003).

[edit] Reception

Critical reception was lukewarm across the board. GameSpot gave the game a 6.9/10, saying that the "Overly linear missions and noninteractive 3D action" hindered the "deep political strategizing of Republic's later levels." Other reviewers shared similar sentiments; IGN gave the game a 7.2/10, PC Gamer rated it at 50/100, and PC Zone provided the highest rating at 88/100. Based on 21 reviews, Metacritic gave it a rating of 62 ("Mixed or average reviews").[1]

[edit] Trivia

  • The BAFTA-nominated soundtrack for the game was composed by James Hannigan.
  • Novistrana has its own national anthem, which is sung in a fictional language.
  • Similarly, the alphabet used in Novistrana is fictional although draws heavily on the Cyrillic alphabet.

[edit] Aftermath

One of the programmers from Elixir went on to found Positech Games who also made a political strategy game called Democracy.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Overview over Republic: The Revolution reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.

[edit] External links

SCi  This Eidos Interactive-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
A gamepad  This life simulation game-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.