14 DAY TRIAL // 
The best way to a nation’s heart seems to be the delivery of large sums of money or, failing that, a decent amount of military hardware. None of that directly works on Iran. So, my version of the United States of America has legalized drugs and raised taxes while reducing spending on the military, especially research associated with it. The surplus is currently used by diplomats working to create alliances with as much of the world as possible, with a focus on the Middle East. All of this as secret service teams are inside Iran, dealing as much sabotage as possible to its military, trying to prevent a nuclear breakout.
SuperPower 3 is developed by GolemLabs, with publishing by THQ Nordic. I played it on the PC using Steam. This is a grand strategy title that allows players to pick any nation in the modern world and decide its long-term destiny.
To make sure players have more guided experiences to choose from the developers have also delivered a range of scenarios, spanning the globe and the biggest international crisis of the past few years. Players can choose to try and make Haiti a more livable country, dealing with its various crises. They can also pick Russia before trying to regain control over states like Armenia and Lithuania, basically recreating the borders of the USSR.
It’s a wide-ranging selection to choose from but some of the objectives don’t make sense unless one already is familiar with the history of a situation and the choices countries have made. The big scenario features 194 countries, all built using real-world data.
But first, players will have to choose an avatar. There are no real leaders in the game, which feels a little weird for such a data-driven experience, but players can design their own Biden or Macron or Putin if they want to (randomizing produces more amusing results).
Once that’s done, it’s time to meet the country, explore its capabilities, and decide what changes you want to make. Gamers can decide military spending and deployment, the way the government treats Internet access and individual rights, the level of taxation and what’s illegal to sell in a nation, and many more. With a few clicks, you can try to turn North Korea into an open, free-election country.
When playing a scenario, the win conditions will guide many of the choices. Try to make sure that stability and population support stay high when making tweaks. Make the small changes first, see how they go over, then decide whether to push for more.
As the game suggests, secret operations can become effective enough that they feel overpowered. SuperPower 3, like the modern world it is based on, tends to avoid hot wars, although one can be started with a few clicks. Creating deals that benefit both nations is equally easy, as long as there’s a history of trust or enough currency is thrown in.
The game offers an incredible level of granularity, giving players the option to order individual batches of weaponry and see how policies affect a range of human development indicators. But the scope of SuperPower 3 feels almost too big to be useful and there’s a weird lack of simulation for internal politics, which is disappointing, especially for the bigger nations.
Players need to invest quite a bit of energy to explore the mechanics and discover the best ways to achieve their aims. There’s fun to be had by choosing wild aims to work towards. It’s also interesting to choose a smaller country and simply watch how the world simulation evolves over time.
SuperPower 3 is a good-looking game, considering the amount of information it is crunching and needs to show players. There are plenty of layers to choose from, including things like military strength or meat production, but you can also choose to zoom in fully and click on a country’s military units. It does take a little time to get used to menu navigation and remember where to find options. The sound design is well-suited to the experience, with a soundtrack that never rushes in and gives players the space to create plans and execute them.
The Good
- Data-based simulation
- 194 playable countries
- Good scenario choices
The Bad
- Time investment
- Some interface issues
- Limited soundtrack
Conclusion
The experience does need to do more to explain its concepts to new players and to make info clearer. The developers at GolemLabs have emphasized the potential for modding and plan for post-launch support. SuperPower 3 is a good choice if you want to see how much better than a real-world leader you can steer the destiny of a modern nation.
Review code provided by the publisher.
