I’ve never heard of Commander in Chief, but it sounds sort of familiar.

In Commander In Chief, every country in the world is represented with its own unique data of over 400 key values (geographic, climatic, demographic, budgetary, environmental, etc.). Players are able to select the country of their choice and take on the role of the government’s leader. As the country’s leader, the players have a number of actions at their disposal. First, the player has to select a cabinet to oversee individual government services. In addition to specific decisions (changing tax rates, firing a minister, etc.), the player can also negotiate with labor groups, sign business or military contracts with partner countries, and participate in decision-making at international organizations. The game offers single player mode and a multiplayer “Wargame” mode.

So it’s somewhere between Supreme Ruler 2010 and Superpower, I guess.

IGS is based in Parkville, Maryland – about ninety minutes from me – but I’ve never heard of them. Which is a little surprising since they claim to be responsible for “Restaurant Empire, Baseball Mogul, Capitalism, Battlecry 3, and many other titles to date.”

Turns out that IGS is just a new name for Enlight Software, which I have heard of.

I’m always glad to see a new game in this genre since there are too few of them. A new Supreme Ruler will be out later this year but beyond that, modern geopolitics isn’t exactly a hot topic. Positech’s Democracy games are more about domestic policy experimentation, and are pretty good at that.