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An inspired sim made with the Railroad Tycoon 2 engine.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 33 / 37
Date: August 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Imagine that you're the leader of a small South American country. Now you have to attract tourist, keep your citizens happy, set up industry, and help save the rain forest. That is the basis of Tropico. I liked Tropico because of its deepness and graphics. The game is much like an onion. It keeps adding layers to the basic core. For an example, each citizen has more than 50 characteristics, not to mention, a job and political convictions. Every person is different. The graphics are also top notch. The outstanding Railroad Tycoon 2 engine has been totaly redone. You see such details as clouds in the sky and people moving around. I recomend this game to any sim fan. I don't know if it will appeal to sports fans or not. Well, any way this game is a must get.

Preview

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 52 / 54
Date: April 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Tropico. Some have heralded it as the best strategy game of the year, and some have even said ever. Better than Civilization some say. If you like The Sims or SimCity you will like Tropico. Why? You're an island dictator of a small Latin American island. You custom make your dictator, you pick traits (leftist author, biblical scholar, miner, there's over 30 of them), flaws (kleptomania, alcoholic, womanizer, over 30 of these too), rise to power (booze baron, communist rebellion, socialist election, coup, etc)and then start. You start off with a nice tropical island, about 30 populants, your palace, a couple of civic buildings, and a dock. Each citizen has their own political opinions, wants, needs, names, jobs, and desires. There can be up to 700 of them. There are six island political parties:

Communists- made up of the poor and the laborers, they want equal wage, collective housing, and to be well fed.

Capitalists- made up of bankers, buisinessmen, etc. They want security, upscale housing, low taxes, trade revenues, and tourism.

Intellectuals- made up of Professors, journalists, etc. They want libraries, schools, etc.

Envrionmentalists- they want to keep the environment sound

Religious- they want churches and church edicts

Military- want high pay and strong military

Along with that there are over 90 buildings, such as: rum distillieries, apartments, churches, spas, cabarets, resorts, restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, barracks, mess halls, etc. Each political party has a charismatic leader, and bad things can happen if they don't like you. On the bad side of the military? Watch out for a coup. On the bad side of the communists? Watch out for a revolt. On the bad side of the capitalists? Watch out for a slacking economy, etc. If you don't like a certain individual, you can always brand them a heretic, arrest them, deport them, bribe them, or assassinate them. It's all up to you.The graphics are nice and there's a strong economic system. Looks to be a great game, best of the year.

Looks cool..

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 10
Date: April 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I first saw this game in PC Gaming last August (?). The first thing out of my mouth was "Hey.. I gotta get that." This game looks as though it really is what most claim- SimCity meets Fidel Castro. The only thing I want to know is- when do I get MY copy?? (It's previous release date was 4/18/01. I have had a copy on pre-order since March. The new release date of 4/26/01 just SLIGHTLY annoyed me..)

Tropica

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: April 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Just got the game. I played several hours, pretty addictive. Sort of a combination of Black & White (without the silly monster) and Settlers (without the moving army). If you like non fighting simulation games, this is for you.

tropico will save pc gaming..the best strat game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: April 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Tropico wil save pc gaming..hands down the best game on the market for pc's. teh possibilities are endless. useful tricks are build construction offices early...in order to have a booming tourist indusrty, first have about seven or eight farms of different produce..this way your ppl wont go hugnry...definitely build a rum disterllery and a cigar factory and upgrade them..the export profit will come rollign in heavily..rum and cigars ar the ticket..about four of teh farms shouLD be regular produce to eat..with all the money comiNG in, start a tourist area AWAY FROM YOUR MAIN TOWN..OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND FOR The TOURISTS. Build roads for faster travelling..and definitley use the tourism ad edict..the ppl will come by the droves..word of caution..never let tourists see a coup..bad idea...in main town 2 tenements an oen apt buildign will get almost all peasants homes..with teh bank shoose off-shore acct option..u make money...but MAKE SURE it is close to hotels..also make sure your toursit area as variety and make sure it is away from polluted parts of the islands..last note..with ranches dont build to close to main town to start..i did and as the ferd grew they were grazing in themiddle of town.eat everything..remember,,your peasants want soem scenic beauty..but cant if tis all eaten up by goats and cows

Good Idea Bad Interface

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 11
Date: April 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

How a great concept went this bad is unbelievable. The interface is awkward. The statistics are presented in such a way that you are never quite sure what exactly is going on. There is no easy way to change anything, you must hunt around the screen to find anything, for all the micro managers out there it might be worth trying. Soundtrack is good for the first game or so then it must be turned off or a headache will occur. The manual is the type that requires the purchase of an "Official Strategy Guide." There are no real explainations in the manual at all. The final problem is the appearance, the graphics were great in Railroad Tycoon II (Tropico uses the same "Engine")because there you really didn't have to hunt around the screen to play the game, there was always a menu choice. In Tropico the muddy graphics muddle the mix and just make it frustrating to have to click on the smallest building to change its settings. Wait two weeks it will be in the bargain bin.

Worth Every Penny!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I am a HUGE fan of The Sims, The Simcity Series, and of Caesar III, so it came as no suprise to me or my husband when I quickly became addicted to Tropico!

Tropico combines the city building of both Simcity 3000 and Caesar III, with unique and individual charachters on The Sims. Take in mind that you cannot actually control your "tropicans" as they have free will, but unlike both Simcity 3000 and Caesar III, your people have names, families, and likes and dislikes. They cannot and willnot be forced into anything, and must be pursuaded by either money, bribery, propaganda, or even assasination attempts!

As the El Presidente of Tropico, you can actually choose how you came to power of Tropico (Elected, Religious Radical, Dictator,etc), and can even choose your strengths and weaknesses. (Compulsive gambler, liar, flatulence, ugly, Kleptomanica etc..)

The gameplay is like most other city building games, but with better graphics and an enchanting soundtrack. (As with Railroad Tycoon 2, you'll walk away humming the songs...if not singing the spanish words!)

Tropico is a MUST have for any city building fan who has enjoyed other city building games, but longed for detailed graphics and more plot twists!!

Take a chance on Tropico....I promise that you won't be sorry!!! (I know I'm not!)

Mary's POV:

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I waited anxiously for Tropico to hit the stores and got the game before it was shelved. At first I was quite disappointed. I had expected the game to be "bigger." However, after playing it for a short time I was quite addicted (much the same way as I was with SimCity and the other building strategy games). The addiction seems to be more for the building aspect than anything in particular about this game. It does not group for management but merely for viewing. Management of various aspects is not very easy. The game needs more reporting. For instance, I can't tell how much total food my people need/produce. I would have wanted more things to become available as the time went on such as carts, vehicles, and/or transportation, things to work toward. The sound was cute for the first few minutes. I don't see a lot of long-term interest but am really enjoying playing it - for now.

Good idea, not a great product

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 11
Date: May 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This city building idea certainly has significant visual qualities, there's just too many over sights that make this game difficult to get into. First of all, it move very slowly. I run a P3 with 550 mhz with all the graphics rendering and it is very choppy. Another major dissapointment is that you don't have control as to the direction to place most of your buildings. I personally like city building games to create a certain aesthetic feel.

This engine might have worked just fine for Railroad Tycoon II, but that game didn't involve human characters. Lack of improvement to there existing engine causes the game to move too slowly for satisfying play.

Time moves fast, but the people move slow. Maybe they wanted to capture the feel of real Carribean life, unfortunately it's tough to get things done. That may not be a negative for some people.

The graphics are fantastic, the music is great and the characters are interesting. I still like to play the game, but probably not for long. I just can't get over how slow it is!

For anyone who ever wanted their own Carribbean island

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

A solid builder with a really fun premise. This game is really a power trip. You literally own your own island and hold the lives of it's citizens in your hand. The micro-managing can get a bit tedious once your island is moderately built up. The game gives you a LOT of control over individual buildings (how much rent to charge, what kind of classes your schools will teach, what sort of news your newspaper will feature.) If you are really into these details you could get bogged down, but things generally run just fine on the default modes so it's up to you. The music is really entertaining. Rather than playing the same few bars of a song over and over again incessantly, the game fades in and out several complete tunes which, by the way, are very catchy.

The documentation could be better. There are a lot of typos (it says the purpose of the cigar factory is to make coffee) and It would be nice if they included a production tree. Therefore, it takes several test runs to figure out what works and what REALLY doesn't. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing more public transportation options. You can build dirt roads, but no cars, busses, trains, boats, etc. other than to get on and off the island. These are minor flaws, however. I still spent about 4 hours playing it the day I got it.

Overall, a very fun game.

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