Tropico
January 21, 2002
Tropico quite simply is a city building strategy game. The hook is that you take over as the new Presidente of a small Caribbean island. Sounds pretty boring when you say it out loud. So maybe I should say it again.
Don’t get me wrong, Tropico has its share of strong points. You can customize your character traits and flaws to take advantage of how you’d like to rule your country. You can read the details of each citizen’s individual lives including their thoughts. You can rob your little nation blind and sack the proceeds away in a Swiss bank. You can even imprison or eliminate those who disagree with your policies. Unfortunately for me that just isn’t enough to recommend this game to the average video-crack head.
I see you’re still reading. Good idea. After all, my humble opinion means little considering everyone I showed the game to seemed to really enjoy himself. So, in fairness to all, I’ll break the game down for you with as little bias as possible.
The game begins with you choosing whether to play a pre-made scenario or creating a random map. The scenarios have varying levels of difficulty and different objectives. For instance, you might take over an island of former prisoners just after an earthquake has demolished everything but your palace and a couple of other basic structures. Your goal of course is to rebuild and make the island attractive to new immigrants and tourists. Scenarios are a nice way to test your skills and attack problems you may not find in the random map games.
Random map games allow you to customize just about everything about your little island. The overall size of the island as well as the elevation affect how long it takes to build and how much room you have to build on. The vegetation and rainfall levels affect the island’s ability to sustain crops and support a logging industry. Political stability and economy affect how easy it is to make a buck and keep your citizens content. Finally you can decide how far from the United States you want your island located, the closer the better for tourism.
Once your island is ready, you get to customize your ruler’s character. You decide how you came to power. Maybe you led a revolt or were appointed to your position by the CIA. You also choose what your character’s favorable attributes are. Perhaps you are an environmentalist or a charismatic entertainer. Of course the fun choice you have to make is your flaws. They range from alcoholic and womanizer to gambler and, my favorite, flatulence. Whatever your choice each one affects how you will be perceived by your citizens and outsiders. Some will even affect how much money you receive from outside interests each year.
So you have an island and a ruler, it is now time to build your nation. You begin with a small number of citizens, a few farms, a construction office, a teamster office, a port, and your Presidential Palace. Your citizens will work at these basic buildings. Each building can employ a certain number of citizens and you will have to decide how much to pay those who work in each industry.
Your citizens will need a place to live. You must build them either houses or apartments of different cost and living quality. You must also decide how much you will charge your citizens to live in these homes. You’ll need to maintain the housing and that costs money as well. One of the first challenges you encounter is balancing your worker’s pay with their housing cost. If you charge too much they won’t be able to afford a house. This is not good because?Ķwell, how happy would you be if you couldn’t afford a place to stay.
Unhappy citizens are your worst enemy. If citizens are happy or even content they will put up with quite a lot from their leader. So if you plan to succeed you better learn how to take care of your people’s needs.
Once you’ve solved the housing problem, you’ll find your citizens want some of the other basics. A church for their spiritual needs; a bar for entertainment; and a clinic for healthcare. Unfortunately some of these buildings will require educated workers. That means you’ll either have to build a high school to educate your residents or else hire an immigrant to come to your nation.
Once you’ve got the basic infrastructure in place you will have to industrialize. This means you’ll need more educated workers and teamsters to move the manufactured goods. Each industry requires raw materials. Jewelry requires gold from the mines. Rum requires sugar from the fields. And cigar factories require tobacco. It’s hard to get these industries off the ground but once you do you’ll reap huge profits that allow you to further expand your nation.
Eventually you’ll want to build hotels to attract tourists to your island. The tourism industry can be quite lucrative if you develop it properly. However you will find that tourists are a finicky beast. They require sights to see and things to do. You’ll need to develop beaches, pools, spas, and even archaeological sites to help keep tourists busy during their visit. The goal of tourism is, after all, to separate the visitors from their hard-earned money.
After you’ve got the money river flowing you’ll want to start padding your Swiss bank account. You’ll do this on a small scale by issuing an edict that basically affords you a kickback on buildings that go up on the island. But the road to riches lies in a corrupt bank that you can establish to funnel extra money from the treasury into your Presidential Slush Fund.
Now keeping citizens happy, as I mentioned earlier, is the key to a long profitable reign. As you develop certain industries and buildings you will increase your powers as ruler. For instance, building a tavern will allow you to throw a Mardi Gras for the citizens, which can sway their opinions of you in your favor. Other edicts include the ability to label citizens who oppose you “heretics” as well as allowing you to imprison their family. Actions like this can send a strong message toward those who respect men of power as well as deter those who may have thoughts of speaking out against you.
I must warn you that this game is loaded with information. Information about individual citizens, groups of citizens, industries, economy, politics, environment, education, tourists?Ķit just goes on and on. The true nature of succeeding as a ruler in Tropico is understanding what all the information means and how to apply what you learn from that information.
I believe the term micromanagement definitely applies to Tropico. You control everything about everything on the island. Wages and housing cost; how fancy a restaurant is and what it costs to eat there; hotel room rates; whether or not to serve alcohol at sporting events; how environmentally friendly you’re industries will try to be; and what information the radio and television stations broadcast are just some of the things you’ll have to monitor throughout the game. It’s a delicate balancing act that may sound fun but can get very tedious once your nation begins to grow.
All in all Tropico is a first class game. The graphics are adequate for what you’re doing. The control is simplistic and fits the game. The music is really good and helps promote the Hispanic theme of the game. With the many scenarios you’ll find plenty of new challenges each time you play.
So why did I give this game a B? Because B is for Boring. There is no action in this game. Its like the old ant farms you get when you’re a kid. Its fun to watch them work and build the tunnels for a while. But once you’ve seen them do it, what next?
I would say that if you like city building games or management games that require planning and strategy, but no fighting or action, this baby is for you. In fact you may find yourself downright engrossed in the political and social aspects for weeks on end. Now if you’re like me and want just a taste of action or danger, I recommend you pass this one by, or at least wait until it finds its way into the bargain bins. Most folks will be tired of Tropico in a week or two, if they make it that long.
CVG Report CardTropico
Developer: Pop Top
Publisher: G.O.D. Games
1+ Player Game
Genre: Strategy
Rating: B
Platform: PC
E-Mail This Article 
Print This Article