A WEEK IS A LONG TIME IN POLITICS. POLITICAL CRISES, DRUNKEN MPS AND AGGRESSIVE US AMBASSADORS ARE JUST SOME OF THE OBSTACLES PM JIM HACKER FACES WITHIN FIVE DAYS. SO, SIT DOWN, PAY ATTENTION, AND BE PREPARED TO TREAD A FINE LINE AS RETRO GAMER PEEKS BACK AT THE POLITICALLY CHARGED WORLD OF YES, PRIME MINISTER. HIC!
Created by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, the original Yes, Minister series ran for three series in the early Eighties. Its popularity led to a sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, in which the original series’ lead character, Jim Hacker, is promoted to the head of his (unnamed) party. Replete with satirical barbs on political life, the series is revered today and, sadly, as relevant as ever, “I mean you… lied,” chides cabinet secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby to Hacker in one particular episode. “Yes, I know this is a difficult concept to get across to a politician. You… ah yes, you did not tell the truth.”
Yes, Prime Minister the game thrusts the player into the weighty shoes of Jim Hacker, guiding the PM across a turbulent week in charge of the UK. Hacker’s office at the Houses Of Parliament is the gameplay’s central point.
From here, he can monitor incoming news, consult his diary, read political memos, study the polls, speak to colleagues, and gaze lovingly at Mrs Hacker’s picture. As with the TV show, Sir Humphrey Appleby and Bernard Woolley are on hand to offer political nous/sarcasm to their boss. Throughout the five days, Hacker takes calls, attends meetings and makes decisions that could radically affect his standing in the polls at the end of the week.
Beginning in the early Eighties, Mosaic Publishing drew on founder Vicky Carne’s contacts within the book-publishing industry for most of its text-heavy games. Having dabbled with licences of science-fiction works The Unorthodox Engineers and The Width Of The World, Mosaic hit big in 1985 with Level 9’s computerised adaptation of Sue Townsend’s best-seller on teenage life, The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾. By utilising canny financial sense (Mosaic would pay small advances for its licences, followed by a royalty deal), Adrian Mole was highly successful, leading Vicky to investigate further deals outside of the literary world. “I was very much a fan of Yes, Prime Minister,” she explains, “and after watching one particularly good episode, I had this mad idea.” Having previously published games based on books (with the occasional aside such as The Archers, based on the radio show), Yes, Prime Minister would be Mosaic’s first – and only – TV licence. But it needed a developer.
