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I'm probably one of the few gamers out
there that never liked Simcity. Sure it was kinda cool to see your tiny little citizens
start to show up on your tiny little roads, but the game was way too much like work.
Who wants to be reading economic reports and building roads when they could be fragging
people all over the world?! That's why I'm very surprised that I find Tropico so
entertaining. At its most basic level, it's really Simcity on a Caribbean Island (didn't
somebody already make Simisland?), but after a few hours of playing you realize that it's
much, much more than that.
Even the box that Tropico comes in is appealing. The picture of a lush tropical island
surrounded by turquoise blue Caribbean water, which graces the cover, makes you want to
be there. Plus, the simple tag line - "You Rule." - |
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sums up the entire game in two words.
Tropico lets you take on the role of Supreme Dictator, head honcho, El Presidenté! Unlike
in real life (or at least in my real life), everything you say goes! But, as Spiderman
always says, "With great power comes great responsibility." This is very true in Tropico.
Will you inspire a feeling of democracy in your people by holding regular free elections,
or will you oppress them with your iron rule, by proclaiming martial law? It's all up
to you, but you can't control human feelings and happiness. Your decisions of what to build
and what industries to pursue, from cigar factories to luxury hotels, will determine whether
you are written up in the history books as one of the world's great leaders or exiled from
your home island in disgrace.
Being a huge fan of Real Time Strategy games, where you directly control the units, it was
a little hard for me to get used to the indirect control that tropico offers. You don't
control the citizens of Tropico, but you do control the economy, politics and overall quality
of life by what you build, where you build and the political mandates that you activate.
Even though this sounds boring, it's surprisingly very addictive. You find yourself deciding
what to build based on the needs of your citizens and the desires of any tourists that visit
the island. These "needs" are made very clear in a number of different views that give you
an overall picture of how happy your citizens are with every aspect of their lives. If
you're not building adequate housing, they'll let you know it. If they're starving then their
work will suffer and so will your economy. It's kind of like keeping one of those virtual
pets happy, but on a grand scale. The people that populate the world are so detailed and
so "human" that you actually care if they're happy or not and this is really what makes
the game play so addictive. Who wants a run down, poverty stricken island with a bunch
of suicidal manic-depressives walking around? Not this El' Presidenté, that's for sure!
The graphics in the game are very well done. You can play the game with or without a 3D card,
but the 3D accelerated graphics are significantly better. Also, the maps scroll much smoother
when 3D acceleration is turned on, improving the overall game play. The graphics engine lets
you zoom down to a street level view that really makes you feel like a part of the island.
At this extreme zoom, you can watch the citizens of the island as they go about their daily
lives. The character animations are very well done, so it can be pretty humorous when you're
zoomed in to the max. Although you can zoom out to almost a satellite high view of the entire
island, you'll spend most of your time at a moderate zoom level, which allows you to
effectively place buildings and get an overall feel for your islands well being.
Tropico's sound contributes significantly to the "being there" feeling. Everything from the
background Caribbean soundtrack to the voices of the individuals and the waves slapping the
beach make you feel like you're on an island vacation. The only difference being that this
isn't just a vacation this is your island! I was even tempted to take the game CD with me
to see if I could play the tropical tunes on my way to work.
The game is so open ended and there are so many things that you can do and build to affect
the lives of your people and the overall economy of your island, that the game never becomes
boring. Even if you do go through a lull where you're waiting to earn enough of a profit
to build that shiny new hotel, there's a time scale control that lets you toggle from pausing
time to very fast. In very fast mode, months go by in minutes, effectively fast-forwarding
to the good parts.
If you're a fan of city / empire building games then this is a must have, but if you're like
me and have never really been turned on by this type of game, it's still a worthy addition to
your collection. It's been quite a while since I've wanted to stay up until 3:00 am playing the
same game, but this game has the addictive qualities that make you want to hang in there for
one more year, one more hotel, or one more election before shutting down and heading for bed.
To me that's what really signifies a game that's worth your hard earned gaming dollar.
Tropico made me care enough about a virtual island and hundreds of little virtual people to
keep me from fragging even one person over the course of 4 days, and for that...
Gamer42's Rating:
4 out of 5 Planets
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Buy it @
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