Charlie

Upon opening the webpage for this video game, the immediate impression is that this isn't a video game at all. The screens lining the top of the page are images of real events and the relatively conservative site design is pretty different from usual game website aesthetics.

Approaching "A Force More Powerful" from a somewhat typical gamer viewpoint, I'm very skeptical. The concept seems like cheap, educational software...and few games have managed to overcome that and provide actual fun gameplay (namely Oregon Trail and Number Cruncher). The website does little to change that opinion.

However, one look at the gargantuan instruction booklet quickly gets my hopes up. The screenshots of the game graphics are rather nice and up-to-date, looking very similiar to the likes of the latest SimCity games. Much of the lingo used seems akin to Civilization as well, so there is some built-in familiarity that makes it easier to digest. That may be a pitfall though, as I will start to compare the two even though they may be totally different games.
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The gaming community seems to respond to this release like I do - skeptical and apathetic. A link on the game website to outside reviews only refer to major news publications like Newsweek and the New York Times. Therein, most of the articles talk about the political message behind the game rather than the gameplay itself. They are not so much formal reviews as they are about the concept of an intelligent, political game.

A quick search on Gamespot, one of the hugest and comprehensive gaming sites on the web, barely has a placeholder webpage for the game, with no actual article. Google does little more...while there is a wealth of information regarding the film that inspired it, there isn't much on the actual game. As expected, any video game with some kind of educational or social bent garners little attention from the typical gaming community.

I think the main reasoning is that gamers, who play for entertainment value, don't want to feel like they are being lectured or deal with by subversive messaging. No one wants to be tricked (or learn anything, apparently). While the message of this game is definitely commendable, it seems as though we are a generation stuck in the idea of what a video game is; it's detachment from reality. I think in order for a game with educational or political value to succeed, it must be much, much more subtle...at least at this point in the gaming industry.

Perhaps the closest to an actual review is here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051201/demaria_02.shtml
It's written more like a typical video game review, going over some of the intricacies of the gameplay and the graphics. I suppose why there isn't more stuff like this is the audience of the game. In an interview with one of the developers at this site, he proclaims that the one of the aims of the game were to provide people a chance to see how a nonviolent approach to conflict can flesh itself out before they try it in the real world...and also to inform people about the history of such events. I think most people who are planning some kind of serious, nonviolent event probably wouldn't play video games, and typical gamers don't go to video games to learn about this stuff when they can just ...watch the documentary. While the game is interesting, I think it is just a bit ahead of it's time. At this moment, there just isn't a market for such material.