Rating: 
Summary: Middle-Aged Woman Addicted!
Review: I've never been a big fan of "shoot-em-up" games or action games. I like something a little slower paced.So, what's the game industry to do for people like me? Here it is! Finally, a game that I love playing. You can tailor this game to exactly what you'd like to experience. If you want a fast-paced, competitive game, choose one of the difficult scenarios. If you want to just fool around, explore, and build the perfect island paradise, choose the sand-box mode (that's for me!). The basic premise of the game is that you are the new El Presidente, and can set up your island any way you like. Want to be a harsh militarist who makes his people toe the line? Want to be a benevolent dictator who lives only to make his people happy? A strict environmentalist who wants to preserve the natural beauty of the island? You choose! Scores are based on the happiness of your people (keep them employed and housed! And be careful with the pollution from too many factories and electrical plants!), island economy, and other factors (for one, including how much you have stashed in your private Swiss bank account!). Here are the areas that the game excels in: 1) Graphics - Beautiful, colorful graphics that show incredible detail in everything from the local market to the sports stadium, make this game a visual treat. 2) Humor - A friendly advisor gives you lots of help in a very funny way. "Good morning, Presidente. May I say you are looking particularly powerful today?" 3) Great Characters - All of the people who live on your island have their own thoughts that you can tap into at any time to give you clues on what they need("Wish there was something to do around here. Guess I'll go home and eat rocks."). 4) Infinite Play - Depending on how you initially set up the island, there are infinite ways to go (set up a tourist paradise? An industrial powerhouse? Agricultural money maker? Military rule?) You can issue special edicts ranging from skimming personal funds off building permits, to setting up a Papal visit, to knocking off a rival. 5) Great Music - Wonderful Latin-flavored music makes it a pleasure to spend those long, middle-of-the-night hours playing...
Rating:
Summary: I've Got To Be a Macho Man
Review: I've never been a big fan of Sim-style games. You build a few buildings and watch people you don't care about interact in them - big woop. That reluctance was what kept me from buying the original "Tropico" even with all the rave reviews and that the subject was intriguing since I've lived on a few Caribbean islands and studied their political economies. I was still skeptical of buying a Sim-style game when I bought "Tropico Mucho Macho" but now I'm a big fan. TMM has all the little details that draw you into a game with issues of economy, politics and personality. You know you've been hooked when you wake up in the morning wondering how you'll do in the next (cyber) election of a game you stayed up to late the night before playing. I've found the game even more fascinating as I've de-optimized the variables of personality and enviornment to make it harder. In easier games, you can run the first ten years exactly alike, with a few differences in crops or minerals you chose to gather, and then decide how much industry vs. tourism you go on to. But make your leader have a few less desirable traits and your island with less resources and the first ten years can be dicey and the next decades even more interesting. The game has a lot of replayability and a hundred variables. I recommend TMM for people like me who are more into CIV-type, or even turn based war games, for a fun time with those much derided Sims. Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Macho, macho man (macho man)
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! Ow....
Rating: 
Summary: What it is
Review: Includes Strategy Guide, expansion, 12 new scenarios, guildbook Good buy if you don't own Tropico
Rating: 
Summary: WOW
Review: It is better than the others because you save so much money and besides, the game is so cool! I mean, it is not every day you rule an island in the ocean.
Rating:
Summary: A great game
Review: Maybe it's the wonderful music and bright graphics as much as the gameplay per se, but I find it impossible not to enjoy myself while playing Tropico. I see many before me have already written rather extensive reviews, so I'll just say, "I agree."
This is somewhat of an odd game, in that some people find it excruciatingly difficult to balance all of the factors, while others find it easy to build a fat treasury and a happy island. I don't find it very difficult, except on very high difficulty levels like 200% and such.
Rating:
Summary: Great Game!!! Mucho-Macho FUn! Never get tired of it!
Review: The first day I got it, I was so excited. I read the manual before I played the game. If you were like me and tried to play before using the tutorial, you're in trouble. You'll feel frustrated. Read the manual and use the tutorial. Those are somethings that can help you. The basics of the game is to rule your own tropical island as a dictator and control everything. You have to make sure you get people to do the jobs, make everyone happy (especially the United States and Russia), and make sure your military is strong. About every 6 years, you will be able to choose if you want an election or not. If you do,your opponent will be announced and a chart will appear. It tells you how many people want you and how many people want your opponent. If you think you are losing, your government can alter the ballots, which is simply cheating. That may lead to rebellions, protests, uprisings, and especially Couped'at, where some of your military goes against you. If the side of your military still supporting you crushes the protest, you'll be safe. On my game right now, I've been dictator for over 40 years. I don't know how long you can be dictator, but it doesn't matter. This is a Great Game! Mucho-Macho Fun!! I never get tired of the game!
Rating:
Summary: Tropical Tropico
Review: This is a great tropical island simulation game which has many options and keeps you discovering all it does for a while. Govern an island while worrying about foreign relations and your people's happiness. Rebel groups will form and launch attacks on specified areas of your empire if you are not well liked, and you will see an end to your regime if nations such as the U.S. and Russia are not pleased. They will, however, give you foreign aid if you are able to maintain relations with them. This is one of the top strategy games out there and should be on the shelf of any simulation/role-playing/strategy gamer.
Rating:
Summary: Great Game of Political Strategy in the Caribbean!
Review: This is a quite intelligent and entertaining game. It is quite consistent with notions of political economy verified in tropical nations, with a focus on tourism and political intrigue!
As a politician with dictatorial inclinations ("El Presidente"), your goal is to remain in power for over 40 years, while developing the social, economic, political and environmental dimensions of an underdeveloped tropical nation-island. The personality traits/background of El Presidente will affect the development of the game. You get points by developing the island and also by stashing away money in your Swiss bank account, through illegal fees and schemes. Depending on the game scenario, winning can be quite difficult.
Social indicators congeal to define the level of "happiness" of your population. You choose the types of housing you will build (from shantytowns to delux mansions), as well as hospitals and colleges (which will affect the birth-rate and skillfullness of the population). You also have to develop entertainment and/or religion, building pubs or churches. But hedonist and religious sections will argue over decisions; moreover, your budget is limited. You also have to oversee food production as the population grows, choosing between cash crop exports or subsistence food.
You also have to manage the economy of the island, by building up infrastructure, factories and deciding wage levels throughout the various sectors of economy - agriculture, manufacture, services, state bureacracy. These decisions will affect happiness and migration levels (which can be also influenced by an INS migration agency!). It is very interesting to see how your country develops in comparison to other Caribbean countries.
The most challenging industry is tourism, which is difficult to develop in order to be profitable. You build and manage hotels, restaurants, bars, beach resorts as well as archaeological park, brothels (!), pubs, a nightclub, a stadium. The population will also want to attend them (see, the happiness...)and you need to set prices and entry policies, considering rich foreign tourists. Depending on natural beauties, infrastructure and criminality, tourism will stand somewhere between cheap and wealthy.
At the political level, you have to consider internal and foreign policies. By keeping your people happy, you remain popular and win elections. Otherwise, you will recur to dictatorship - or you will lose the game. Untrustworthy generals may try a coup against you! The population is divided in factions of capitalists, socialists, religious, intellectuals, and environmentalists - and each has specific values and interests.
Your decisions resonate at the international level, towards the US and Russia. You need to develop an efficient Foreign Affairs Department with well-paid bureacrats, in order to improve your relations and gain interesting treaties. You may eventually want to grant permission for Americans or Russians to build a military base (in exchange of an annual rent). International relations will reinterfere with the economy of Tropico, particularly tourism.
A few negative aspects in the game: 1) in logics, the overall population is way too small (a few hundred only) as well as your army, limited to a handful of soldiers and generals. Some immigrants come from rich countries and work as peasants which is highly unlikely. 2) in graphics, despite being colorful and cute, the map is out of scale: the island area is way too small for the size of buildings that you create. 3) in installation: it did not install in some of my old/new computers/laptop, and online support is never guaranteed...
Tropico has some other exciting elements. Your "gabinet advisor" is a funny guy with Hispanic accent. The musical soundtrack is very enjoyable (with Salsa, Merengue, Bolero, Son). And it fun to see the emotional reactions of your citizens, hailing you as a true leader, or waving their fists in rage.
In sum, Tropico is awesome and challenging. Buy it. Mucho Macho edition is a bit more diverse and interesting that the original version. Thanks for reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great Game of Political Strategy in the Caribbean!
Review: This is a quite intelligent and entertaining game. It is quite consistent with notions of political economy verified in tropical nations, with a focus on tourism and political intrigue! As a politician with dictatorial inclinations ("El Presidente"), your goal is to remain in power for over 40 years, while developing a poor tropical nation-island on its social, economic, political and environmental dimensions. The personality traits/background that you set for yourself at the beginning (social class, education, political affiliation, virtues & perversions...) will affect the play development. You also get points by stashing away some money in your bank account in Switzerland, through illegal fees and schemes... Depending on the scenario you chose to play, winning can be quite difficult - and there are various different scenario to challenge you! Various social indicators define the level of "happiness" of your population. So, you have to choose what type of housing you will foster (from shantytowns to delux mansions), as well as clinics/hospitals, schools/colleges (which in the long run will affect the birth-rate and skillfullness of your population). You also have to develop social life in form of entertainment or religion, by building pubs or churches, with contradicting results as hedonist versus conservative sections of the population will question your decisions (and your budget is quite limited!...). You also have to care that your nation is producing enough food for your growing population, while the surplus generate revenues as cash crop exports! Moreover, you also have to manage the wage levels throughout various sectors of the economy - agriculture, manufacture, services, state bureacracy -, which will impact on migration levels (which, in turn, can be affected by developing an INS migration agency!) and happiness of people. It is very interesting to see your country developing vis-a-vis other Caribbean countries. Therefore, it is fundamental to develop the economy of Tropico according to the natural resources (wood, ore, crops, animals). These will allow and even determinate the profitability of farms and factories, which can be upgraded with better technological and labor conditions. Banks will also promote the enrichment of Tropico's Treasury(or, secretly, your bank account...). The prices of your products are set by the international market. To develop your economy, you also have to build an infrastructure, with a market place, harbors, workshops, an airport, etc. The most challenging industry is tourism, which is quite hard but profitable too. You have to build and keep hotels, restaurants, bars, beach resorts as well as archaeological park, brothels (!), pubs, a nightclub, a stadium!... Some of these facilities will attended by your population (who also needs some fun), and you can even set door-policies (popular or jet-set only). As such, depending on the natural beauties of your island (randomically generated each game), on the way you develop your tourist facilies, and on your ability to curb pollution and poverty (exposure), you will see tourism standing somewhere between cheap mass type and a classy up-market resort. At the political level, you have to consider internal and foreign policies. By keeping your people happy, you remain popular and will win elections. If your popularity drops, you will see yourself forced to recur to a dictatorship (or lose the game), with the always untrustworthy support of your military (who may eventually turn against you!). The population has multiple preferences reflecting overlaping factions of capitalists, socialists, religious, intellectuals, and environmentalists (each one with specific values and interests). This reflects at the international level, where you will have to permanently negotiate with the US and Russia (Cold War times...). It will be necessary to develop an efficient Foreign Affairs Department with well-paid bureacrats in order to improve your relations, get interesting trade and social treaties, and eventually grant permission for either Americans or Russians to build a military base (in exchange of a annual rent). These diplomatic relations will also interfere in the economy of the island, particularly in the vitality of tourism but also in popular support to you. Negative aspects: 1) in the game: the overall population is way too small (a few hundred only), whereas tropical economies require at least a few thousand people. Your army is thus limited to a few people (including generals). In addition, among new residents, you will see migrants from highly-developed countries working as peasants, which is quite unrealistic. 2) in graphics, despite being colorful and cute, the map is very inconsistent, because the island area is way too small in relation to the buildings you create. 3) in installation: it did not install in some of my old/new computers/laptop, and there seems to be no online support for that. But do not be put off by these negatives. In addition to my description above, Tropico provides exciting surprises during the game; your "gabinet advisor" is a very funny guy with Hispanic accent; the musical sound-track is very enjoyable (with Salsa, Merengue, Bolero, Son, Zucca); and it is cool to see citizens hailing you as their leader, or waving their fists in the air in anger against your mismanagement. Overall, the game is very good and challenging. Considering that its price has dropped dramatically lately, I would definitely buy it (I am just ordering the Mucho Macho edition. Let's hope it works in my new PC). Thanks for reading.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent sim strategy game with a political twist
Review: very ingrossing an involving game with lots of dicissions to make. control a whole island of hard working under paid people build homes for them, make them pick crops, get tourists to visit.ect...
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