PC Game Review

Tropico Paradise or Socialist Revolution?

Tropico
Company: POPTOP Software
MSRP: $39.95
Minimum Requiements:
Windows 95/98/2000/ME/NT, Pentium 200 MHz CDROM 32MB RAM, 820MB hard drive space
Macintosh 8.6 or higher, G3 processor, CDROM 32MB RAM, 850MB hard drive space

October 25, 2001
By Kye Leung

Ever wanted to be Fidel Castro and rule a small Carribbean island? Now you can with Tropico, a PC game released earlier this year for both Windows and Macintosh. Normally this writer doesn't do game reviews, especially ones that do not pertain to Asian Americans or to the movement, but came away impressed enough to warrant a review.

The game is set in an island somewhere in the Carribbean (hint: Cuba) and you get to select different dictators, ahem, characters. You pick through different characters each with their qualities and flaws that work for or against you in the game. How about the leftist guerilla author Che Guevara or Argentina's Evita Peron or even Panama's Manuel Noriega? In the course of building your nation, you will have to decide which economic course to take: the socialist road, the capitalist road or something of a mix? Build more housing for your people and it will raise happiness in the communist camp, but unemployment and high income disparities between the rich and poor will cause people to join the rebels. Similarly, displease the capitalists and the U.S. might just send an invasion force. Then again, you can send dissenters in jail and if those jails fill up, build more jails and hire more policemen. Build radio and television stations and fill the masses with opiate propaganda. Also, don't forget about social services and entertainment. We all need a drink some time! These are decisions you'll have to make, and of course, there are limited funds and you can't make everyone happy. Or can you?

A female guerilla. Enough of them might topple your government.

The game has a set of scenarios to complete or you could play an open ended game to lead your little island to utopia. Scenarios have set goals such as building your island into a tourist economy, keep your people happy, or survive fifty years of rule. What makes the game unique are the game's characters. Aside from the character you play, the island's population has been given individual characteristics of their own and your policies directly affect how they feel about your government. Just zoom in and click on their sprite and you'll know what their thoughts are. Your people have families too. Throw one of them in jail and their family members lose respect for your government.

Tropico is not a Starcraft or Age of Empires type of game where you win by defeating your opponents through military means. It is more like SimCity but with a deeper sociological and political understanding . Demolish people's homes and they'll be pissed off at you. Clean up pollution and the environmentalists will love you. Keeping your government stable and your people happy are the objectives in this game.

On the downside, just as you don't expect utopia in the world, don't expect utopia from game. It is not to be taken seriously and isn't always politically correct. Their definition of "dictator" is used broadly here. Putting Guevara and Salazar in the same definition is like comparing oranges and apples and saying they are all fruit. And why was Mao Zedong in the instruction manual of dictators, I thought this game was Carribbean/South American based?

Unfortunately there are no multiplayer options. The developer decided not to implement it because it didn't make sense to them. However most games get more mileage with multiplayer options and eventually single player becomes stagnant. Graphically the animations are nice but later on in the game with more sprites and buildings it tends to slow the system considerably. A demo is free for download but the file sieze is 170MB for the English Macintosh version. A multinational demo for French, German, Italian and Spanish is 197MB. Even with a broadband connection, it took couple of hours to download such a huge file. The site dropped connection on me a couple of times and I had to start over. In the demo you can only play the tutorial. The full version offers more scenarios, characters, buildings and better graphics acceleration.

Tropico is fun. Making money or stealing money for your Swiss account is not the sole objective here. Build hospitals for the elderly, schools for children, factories for workers - you get a sense of satisfaction when you make your people happy. Raise the living standards and you'll see an increase in immigration. Oppress the people and they'll leave your island or worst yet, start a guerilla revolution. If you're into building your own little island, Tropico is the game you want. Viva la revolution!

Macintosh demo available at http://www.macgamefiles.com
PC demo available at http://www.download.com