The former regime has been deposed. Through failed economic policies, poor industrial sector growth, terrible living conditions, and little to no health care, the former leader of Tropico has been “relieved of his duties”. You are now El Presidente of the small island nation of Tropico. The people herald your charismatic rise to power, and prays for your benevolent hand to bestow prosperity and health upon the people. Do this, and you will be praised. Fail, and the people will clamor, and eventually rise up to overthrow you……Wait, why does this sound so familiar? *snicker*

As a former strategy-game addict, I played Age of Empires, Sim City 2000, and I even hearken back to old lesser-known classics like Ultimate Domain. Tropico is much like your standard build/defend/industrialize/keep the people happy type strategy game. You start out with a small nation of just a handful of uneducated citizens, a few buildings, and a fistful of dollars to get your fledgling nation on the world map. You have to create industry, food sources for the citizens, create tourist attractions, collect natural resources, and all while keeping the people happy, well fed, housed appropriately, and politically and religiously fulfilled. If you neglect any specific sect of your society, for instance, the religious group, they will clamor for a church or a cathedral, their work production will suffer, and they will become sick more often. If you neglect the nationalists though, they will demand schools and colleges, protest your taxes, and eventually become rebels. Once the rebel threat reaches a tipping point, they will attack your government and overthrow you. Game over. The other aspect of the game that really makes Tropico 3 unique, is the goal of ending your presidency with a happy and healthy populace, but to also have a full Swiss bank account. You can issue “building permit” edicts that will raise your construction costs by 20%, but 10% of that additional cost will go towards your Swiss account.

There are 15 different missions in Tropico 3, some with a different beginning positions, and ending goals. Some missions you will start with a very wealthy empire based on rich oil production and export. Your goal being to just keep the people happy, and export several million dollars worth of oil. While other missions, you will start as a poor nation with a budding tourist industry, and you must bring in XX number of dollars in tourist funds. Each mission has a completely different Island Map, which is very unique. You will have completely random natural resources, your areas for construction will be different, and in some cases limited. As El Presidente, you must choose which direction your nation will take. Tourist paradise, or Petroleum powerhouse? Fishing industry and cannery, or Tobacco farming, and cigar factories? Of course there is always the old standby, militarized dictatorship with totalitarian control over every facet of your nation. One other thing that really sets Tropico 3 apart, is the level of control. If the production in a certain factory is suffering, you can fire individual workers that are unhappy, or angry. Once you have established a military or secret police, you can have rogue citizens eliminated by assassination, or “accidents” arranged by your secret police.

Tropico 3 has easy to master controls, and excellent graphics with very detailed maps and building models. There is a complete lack of glitches or clipping issues, which was a nice surprise considering the user-manipulated in-game camera angles. The soundtrack is ridiculous, with a blazing list of Latin-inspired music that is really refreshing after hearing hours of full battle rattle if you are also an FPS player. Seriously, playing this game will make you crave chips and salsa, mangos, a Cuban cigar, and a Che Guevara t-shirt. Speaking of Che, as El Presidente you get to fully customize your avatar, right down to personality traits and hair color. Tropico 3 has multiple pre-made avatars already set up for you less choosy types, such as Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara, and many others that I can’t remember right now. Choosing certain personality traits will affect the way your game plays. If you are a womanizing alcoholic, you will start the game with less respect from the religious factions, and less respect from your female citizens.

What it all boils down to is, every decision you make will affect and change your gameplay experience. Tropico 3 is the perfect mix of real-time strategy and micromanagement. Issue edicts, raise/cut taxes, play buddy-buddy with the USSR, or even have a Mardi-Gras, or Pan-Carribean Olympic Games on your island. While the possibilities are endless, my space here is limited. So in closing, Tropico 3 is an EXCELLENT game for those who may not have much experience with RTS’s, and it’s a must-buy for RTS enthusiasts.

[A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.]