In the end, I would say that it is a game worth playing, and that it's worth checking out at least once.
The two most notable being Superpower 1 and 2, which 2 acts like a successor to the original Shadow President. There have been few geopolitical games since then. It can be found in places like Abandonia and Home of The Underdogs. Some extra fun would of been had putting the UN directly under your influence, or preventing it from being in the interest of another superpower. Also, the lack of a United Nations is noticeable.
I do notice things like the Soviet Union still being called the Soviet Union for the rest of the game, although sometimes it may switch to capitalism. The game is still good, with you able to achieve your own goal, such as world peace. Military adviser gives you military info, etc. Before you do an action, you can consult them, and clicking on them gives you unique info related to them. They can also resign if they think you're acting like a madman, thus not allowing you to use most of their services which usually aren't very important anyway. They can be killed if, say, a country nukes you or tries to assassinate you. US Senate and Congress have no influence over you except to impeach you. The game never really ends, unless you lose re-election or you are impeached. However, unless you actually go to war with a country, or stir things up in a region yourself, most games can last to 2000 and still be uneventful. And of course, you will hear of various other things, like Japan increasing it's diplomatic relations with Germany. (which is represented in the game as it's own area, controlled by Israel) You may hear of a civil war in Bolivia, or an assassination attempt in Kenya. You may hear of riots in Israel or in the Gaza Strip. Of course, there are incidents across the globe, but rarely are they about wars and usually don't result in much. Sometimes China and the Soviet Union will get very angry at each other, and launch nukes, which will pretty much result in the world going haywire with radiation spreading across the globe. After you find your own perfect way to stop the Iraq invasion of Kuwait (or simply ignore it), there isn't much more going on. However, this is pretty much all the action you will get in the game. The second is Iraq readying to invade Kuwait, which, if you let it do so, will result in Iraq taking over Kuwait, then eventually Saudi Arabia, and then usually going upwards into Jordan or Syria. The first is that Somalia fails to defeat Ethiopia in a war which you pretty much can't change no matter what without getting impeached. You can even make Puerto Rico independent! You will pretty much notice two things every time you start Shadow President. Want to overthrow the government of Canada? Try it, but it probably won't go well unless the country is in a state of turmoil, which it usually isn't. Want to send huge amounts of military and humanitarian aid to Albania? Feel free. Want to verbally condemn Andorra for no reason? Enjoy. Of course, this all makes the game pretty much open-ended. These range from simple economic options, like making a country have a favored status in trade, or restricting trade with a country, to pressing the red button and launching a nuclear attack against a country. Just about every country that existed in 1990 is in the game and does their own things (Including now extinct countries like Yugoslavia and Zaire.) You are given a whole bunch of options. When you start the game, you find it is pretty deep. This is pretty much the introduction to Shadow President, a game released in 1993 that puts you in charge of the United States as its President. Meanwhile, the Middle East situation is heating up as Iraq is starting to consider military actions against its tiny neighbor Kuwait. It is 1990, and the USSR is in its final stages of collapsing.