Computer game designer Chris Crawford’s Balance of Power, which took the gaming world by storm in 1985, has been reimagined for today’s geopolitical landscape in Balance of Power: 21st Century. Crawford’s new release is built on the fundamentals of “storyplay,” a unique brand of interactive storytelling that presents players with nearly unlimited opportunities to influence the narrative. Crawford’s company Storytron also provides a system for creating and publishing your own storyworlds.

Balance of Power: 21st Century puts you in the place of a certain President of the United States, and opens the day after the 9/11 attacks. You have the option of going after bin Laden, stopping terrorism, or if that’s not your thing, freeing Tibet, putting pressure on North Korea to stop producing nuclear weapons, or resolving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Gameplay is relatively simple, and maybe because of that, has the potential to become mind-numbingly addictive. After finishing, you can access the “Storybook” for a complete record of your game in case you want to print it out and put it on your wall or something.

Some screenshots of my accomplishments below:

USA is not playing around. Look at that face!

Being the Prez isn't so hard.

You can play the game yourself here.