good sign when a game spends four years in development and ships two years after its original release date, and Republic doesn't buck the odds." Many reviews of Republic praised the game's originality in spite of its acknowledged shortcomings. PC Zone praised the game as a game that "(dares) to be unique", with "levels of depth and subtle complexity that have not been seen in computer games before". Sam Parker of GameSpot found "the core game...can be at times fascinating in its free-form simulation of grassroots politics. In a negative review, Anthony Fordham of PC PowerPlay conceded "you will eventually discover a deep and detailed game buried somewhere under Republic's layers of obscurity", suggesting that it may find appeal as a "cult hit". Reviews of Republic were mixed in their assessment of whether the game reflected a convincing political simulation. PC Zone stated the game is "simulating real-world social, class and moral dynamics closer than anything seen before". Stephen Poole of PC Gamer stated the "ideological relationships" underpinning the politics of Republic "have all the depth of rock, paper scissors...it's not very gratifying for anyone expecting a realistic representation of realpolitik in action." Reviewers were also mixed on the representation and detail of the setting, Novistrana, due to its poor relationship to the gameplay. Sam Parker of GameSpot noted ironically that despite the "lofty technical ambitions and sustained development delays...the huge world that took so long to construct ends up as the least involving part of the game." Similarly, Bruce Geryk of Computer Gaming World observed "the attempt to create an immersive game world utterly fails...the vast environment turns out to be singularly uninspiring and completely useless", due to all actions in the game being planned in the two-dimensional menu of the game. Many critics expressed frustration with the poor ability of the interface to reflect the mechanics of the game. Rob Fahey of Eurogamer stated the game "lacked the "interface...suited to handling masses of statistics and information in a competent way." Anthony Fordham of PC PowerPlay found "the methodology of managing that information tedious. The interface is woeful. The game fails to communicate with the player effectively." Similarly, Allen Rausch of GameSpy stated the interface was "one of the most diabolically obscure I've ever seen in a video game...the (map) does a remarkably poor job of transmitting what's going on." Negative reviews of Republic also focused on the slow