Hidden Agenda is a political simulator that is unique in many ways, as well as being both realistic and extremely replayable. The game casts you as the new president of Chimerica, a South American country that has just overthrown a tyrant named Farsante. The economy is in ruins, the country leaderless, massive factions fighting one another for control... and your unenviable task is to create a cabinet and begin the almost impossible task of rebuilding the country.
To help you form your cabinet, the game provides a choice of staff from the three main political parties, with each ministry having a crucial role to play in the rebuilding of your country. But beware: your choices may place you at odds with the Army, whose commanders who have their own agendas and, in some cases, will seek to undermine the reforms you have in place. You can fire them, but that is never the end of it. This forces you to think wisely on your choice of ministers.
Gameplay takes place during seasons, in which you can make decisions, encounter various people, monitor imports and exports, read reports, and arrange loans through the IMF. Every decision has repercussions in the game, each choice affecting your future: either as a President elect at the next election... or deposed by your enemies in the next coup d'etat.
One of the most intriguing and unique aspects of Hidden Agenda is the encounters. You will have encounters with various kinds of people, including the public, teachers, doctors, soldiers, etc., all of whom will present you with dilemmas. You can consult with your cabinet to set new reforms in motion or to ask advice on matters of state, but they will not always tell you what you want to hear.
The game does allow you to consider some options, but at times you will be faced with a crisis that requires an immediate decision—and that decision may not be what you wanted, or will negate the plans you have made. The number of possible scenarios in the game is seemingly endless. For example, in one game I was able to halt the rampage of death squads, while in another, other nations I thought were my allies carried out their own motives and goals surreptitiously.
Overall, Hidden Agenda is a rare gem that offers an open-ended gameplay and some frightening insights into the myriad paths and subtle traps of the world of politics.
Review By HOTUD
English 
Comments and reviews
I corresponded with the developer a bit. When I played, I survived and got reelected, but only as a puppet of the fascists. Jim Gasperini's advice was you have to align hard with either the army or the revolutionary army and do your best from there. I didn't do that and probably did better than one could expect without doing that. I was ready to sacrifice myself trying to make a break for the border, but I didn't see an opportunity to make a difference that way and I was able to maintain better education for the poor than the fascists would have by themselves, hoping the next generation would have better success than I did.
the lesson is your peoples interests don't matter, only the ones of the big powers.
One of the best classy timekillers but you can't actually win. Can you?
luckynako: try downloading "DOSBox" it's open source.
I played this in the late 80's after getting a copy on floppy disk from my uncle. I played it quite a bit but always ended up dead in a Coup. I always remembered it and downloaded it a few years back to replay. Still had the same ability to draw you in. Reading up about it, apparently it was designed to aid politics students and it was basically built so that you couldn't win, as soon as you promise something to one person, you upset another ie teaching an important lesson about politics.
How to play this game on Windows 8?
a classic. if you like it, also google 'liberal crime squad' which is a game from teh 80s that STILL has a support community.
Its cool!
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.