Republic
By Elixir Studios/Eidos

Each year at E3 a few games have "really cool concept" written all over them.  Invariably one of those games at E3 2001 was Republic, the brainchild of  English designer Demis Hassabis and his team at Elixir Studios.  Hassabis, a protégé of Peter Molyneux, has developed a game design where the player's goal is become the leader of a small Eastern European nation (Novistrana).  You start out the game as a ruler of a small town, and gradually  try to win influence over the inhabitants of the entire nation...that is, if you can ward off the competing factions.

The concept for the game is brilliant, because what happens is that you need to build a strong social network to stay connected with what's happening throughout the entire nation.  For instance, if a riot breaks out in a certain part of the nation, you need to build a network so informants alert you to what is happening throughout the world.  The social network could prove to be the game's greatest asset, because it will hopefully help avoid the serious micro-management problems that could arise as you try to manage a nation filled with thousands of unique citizens.

Luckily the battle against competing factions should keep the game interesting as you try to bribe, coerce and convince the citizens of Novistrana that you are actually the best person to run the country.  The other computer-driven AI factions will attempt to say the same thing and this means that the game eventually boils down to a contest to see how the citizens in the world rate you as their leader versus other potential rulers – bring back memories of another Molyneux game, Black & White?  We thought so.

Republic is a forward looking game because it attempts to model a vastly interesting and intriguing field: politics and human behavior.  It's too early to tell whether it will end up being as good as game as it is a concept, but so far it looks like Elixir Studios is on the right track to deliver a game that is both thought-provoking and fun to play.