“Hidden Agenda” is a clever game available for the political science buff who’d like to get a feel for what it would be like to be sitting in the catbird’s seat in a post-revolutionary South American country. Chock full of graphics and sounds, HA is an intrigueing Dungeons and Dragons type of game that lets you be the newly elected presidente following the downfall of a facist regime in a fictional country called “Chimerica”. Because of its ingeneous “engine”, you don’t really know what is going to happen next. To play a game, you must first select a cabinet from a rather diverse cast of players. If you expect to last a while, carefully study their dossiers before making any decisions. They can be consulted later when a crisis situation crops up, and although you may choose to heed their advice, it may or may not help. The object of the game is to avoid being deposed or assassinated. You may read the newspapers to check out how you’re doing, consult with your advisors, have encounters over the phone with influential citizens and foreigners, read your logbook (handy if its been a while since you stopped by the national palace), or just sit there. You can be sure something will happen. If at any point during play you wish to stop and take a break, you can save a game in progress only to return to it later. One unusual aspect of the game that impressed me the most was how you could look over extensive progress indicators. By clicking on buttons, you can examine graphs to help you find out if export crop production is increasing, if the national debt is decreasing, how the infant mortality rate compares to the U.S. or other latin-american countries, how much is being spent funding the military, and the list goes on. If HA is any indication, we should expect to see a lot more of this sort of role-playing game in the future. Assuming its publisher, Springboard, experiences a positive cash flow from HA, the game seems to be driven by a general purpose engine that would theoretically permit its developers to change the look and feel of the play without having to write a lot of new code. I can imagine how the same underlying structure could be used to experience the trials and tribulations of a small business owner, or a basketball team coach’s journey to the final four. All in all, I would recommend HA to anyone who has some patience and is willing to spend a little time reading the excellent documentation (including an attractive map of Chimerica) before getting started. Although the game is relatively easy to play, to do well one should first bone up on some background information. Because of its attention to detail, ease of use, adherence to the Mac interface guidelines, and highly addictive nature, I would give this quality piece of software two thumbs up - excellente, mis amigos. (For the programmer freaks in our readership, this game was developed using MacFORTH, “the language of innovation.” You’ll find no “portions of this program copyright lightspeed” disclaimers on this one!)
