Tropico differs from most "sim" games in the level of long-term planning it demands. Money is relatively easy to come by, but can be spent in a staggering number of ways. The fact that structures are not placed on the map immediately after buying them makes planning even more important. Construction workers only put up one or two buildings at a time, and they have to flatten the ground beneath the structure before they can even get started. Once something is built it must be staffed--usually with educated workers--and the process takes time. After all that, it takes even more time for the building to become productive. Farmers must plant, raise, and harvest their crops. Industrial buildings like the cigar factory must get raw materials from the farms, then spend time processing them. Finished products must be hauled to a dock, where dockworkers slowly load the goods into freighters, and you finally get paid. Years can pass between the time something is built and the time it becomes profitable.

Fun and challenging as Tropico is, there is a little trouble in paradise. The game's manual has practically no hard information, and it's left mostly up to the player to figure how everything in the game interrelates. The interface is another problem, as it takes up a lot of space on the screen and what little information it provides is scattered all over the place. Experience with the game will let players overcome most of its shortcomings, and Tropico is definitely a game worth playing. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Lush graphics designed to look great at multiple resolutions
• An absolutely perfect soundtrack
• Open-ended gameplay

• It's difficult to tell how to appease all the political factions
• Interface could be better