Introduction

Developer: PopTop Software
Publisher: Gathering of Developers
Official site: http://www.poptop.com/Tropico.htm
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SimCity with a Hidden Agenda

Have you ever wanted to rule starving, naked, illiterate peasants with an iron fist? Tropico makes all that possible; the moral fallout is entirely up to you.

As the dictatorial ruler of a small island, you build the infrastructure and pass the laws to establish the kind of banana republic you want to run. Will you exploit natives to serve tourists? Or run a complex export economy? Tropico takes the urban planning aspects of SimCity and weds them to the wild Cold War politics of the Caribbean and Central America simulated by games like Hidden Agenda.

Corn farm

View of your island

Tropico, a study in colonialism, was created by ten "middle of the road white guys," according to David Deen, an artist on the project working out of the PopTop software offices in St. Louis. The game sprung from the same fertile imaginations behind Railroad Tycoon 2, and it shares the same game engine.

The game's opening animation sequence shows a lively but seedy street scene from a 1960s Caribbean town. Peasant mother and child trip through the gutter. Fat bikinied tourists wander unawares. Military men take bribes. Guerillas steal military supplies. It's an interdependent world of questionable principles.

You can play through PopTop's scenarios, or play a freeform game. There's no multiplayer. You start a freeform game by configuring an island, choosing the size, vegetation level, available mineral resources and population. You choose the way you want to win from a list of victory conditions - build and sustain a large population, funnel millions into a Swiss bank account, make your people happy, or simply enjoy a long career.

Rebels snagging supplies opening sequence

Your office

Play an Ugly Neurotic Flatulent Communist

Next you create yourself a male or female dictator. You choose a background for him or her; did he go to Harvard? Did he rise to power in a military coup? Is he an alcoholic or a womanizer (or is she a "manizer" for that matter)? Does he fart a lot? Does he have terrible breath? Maybe he's a consummate charmer, or he's deeply religious. The game forces you to choose from useful characteristics and character liabilities, making for well-rounded and memorable characters. "I am an ugly paranoid scholar raised in the United States," sounds a lot more interesting than "I have a charisma of 16 and a wisdom of 18."

Some of these characteristics are whimsical, but they affect the way different groups in the game will treat you. If you're an avowed capitalist, expect closer relations with the US. If you're a noted ladies man, the church might not receive your calls. If you smell bad and you stutter, your people may not take your laws and edicts to heart, since much of your leadership will depend on your powers of persuasion. Well, that and your military might.

Slob Tourist Lady

Slob Tourist Lady wireframe