Apr 16, 2013  A truly great game! Since it's release, Kalyso, the house that built this, has released Tropico 4 then Tropico 5. T3 is the best and most complicated of them. Instead of T4 being an improvement of T3, the game changes. It lacks the realism of T3. Tropico 5 chjanges the game again, and now the target audience is kiddies.

Tropico 3 is a video game developed by Haemimont Games and published by Kalypso Media. Like the previous games in the series, Tropico 3 is a construction and management simulation as well as a political simulation game, with emphasis on city building. As a thematic sequel to Tropico (unlike the pirate-themed sequel, Tropico 2), the game attempts to return to the roots of the series, which puts the player into the shoes of 'El Presidente' – a ruler governing over an island banana republic.

The OS X version of the game was released on January 26, 2012, by Feral Interactive.^[1]

Feral Interactive released a redesigned version of Tropico 3 to iPad on December 18, 2018, under the name Tropico, with an iPhone version following on April 30th, 2019.^[4][5] An Android version of the game was released on September 5th, 2019.^[6]

Gameplay[edit]

Players begin having seized power of the Caribbean island country of Tropico, where they rule as 'El Presidente'. The game has a campaign with 15 different missions with varying objectives.

As 'El Presidente', the player's main duties include managing development on the island, by ordering construction of various resources, industry and service buildings, and determining how these buildings operate. The player can also issue several different 'edicts' to influence the island, such as new laws, policies, and diplomatic actions.

There are seven different political factions on the island (communists, capitalists, militarists, environmentalists, nationalists, religious faction and intellectuals) each with various demands, such as constructing a specific building and issuing a specific edict. Due to the game's Cold War setting, the player will have to manage relations with both the United States and the USSR, who will provide the player with yearly financial aid. Higher relations with a superpower will mean more aid and the possibility of an alliance, low relations will mean less aid and the danger of invasion by that superpower.

Other features include a time line editor that allows you to create your own fictitious historical events or enter real ones, custom avatar, political speeches, wide range of editing and modification functions, mission generator for random map creation, variety of online-functions such as high scores or visiting islands belonging to other players and a Latin soundtrack.^[7]

The game has a variety of humor elements including running satirical commentary by fictional radio station Tropico News Today, and subtle touches such as liaisons between priests and cabaret girls. The 'loading' and 'saving' screens have quotes from various leaders, politicians, and revolutionaries such as Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Augusto Pinochet, Nikita Khrushchev, Leon Trotsky, Mobutu Sese Seko, Todor Zhivkov, Vladimir Putin, Muammar Gaddafi, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Additions to Tropico[edit]

• Numerous random world events.
• A transport system allowing citizens to travel by cars.
• Avatar customization and control.
• Election speeches.
• Oil production is available as an industry for educated workers.
• Same-sex marriages and nuclear testing are available as edicts, with different results and requirements.
• New faction: Nationalists, who hate immigration and prefer a dominant Tropican workforce.
• A 'vintage mode' for non-rotational 3D visuals.
• Gravel roads (roads with a low speed for countryside of the island)
• Ability to construct a sculpture of El Presidente (the player's avatar) on the island.

Development[edit]

Tropico 3 was developed by Haemimont Games for both Xbox 360 and PC. Features include a new 3D game engine and a customizable avatar which you can travel across the island, interacting with the environment and population and the use of cars, trucks and limos. Like the original Tropico, the developers preserved the tongue-in-cheek humor of the game, as well as the basic game-play. In Tropico 3, the issues and problems of the island are explained by Juanito the DJ in humorous ways.

Expansions[edit]

In March 2010, the expansion pack Absolute Power was announced, slated for release in Europe in 2010.^[8]

The expansion received an 8/10 on Game Zone, closing with 'Absolute Power isn’t a revolution, instead taking the framework laid out by the original game and building on it with new features and a wacky new campaign. The core mechanics are still the same, and the new campaign might be a turn off to sim fans looking for something more grounded and traditional. However, if you were a fan of Tropico 3 and want another reason to step into the role of El Presidente once more, then this is your chance.'^[9]Absolute Power was released on PC as an expansion pack, and is included in the Macintosh version of the game.

The expansion pack gives the player a wider selection of edicts such as 'Print money', 'Free housing', 'Delete a Faction' and 'Shoot Juanito' (which involves blowing up Juanito's TNT Radio). These new edicts are called 'Megalomania edicts'; for each edict that the player releases they can gain a varying amount of megalomania score that counts at the end of the game. Also there is a new range of buildings, including 'Golden Statue' (in the likeness of 'El Presidente'), 'Garbage dump' and 'Balloon rides'. The Loyalist faction is also introduced; it is composed of the player's most loyal supporters. There is also a second radio DJ named Betty Boom who is head of the resistance movement against El Presidente.

Editions[edit]

Steam Special Edition[edit]

The 'Steam Special Edition' of Tropico 3 offers two additional maps for the sandbox mode and two additional costumes for the El Presidente avatar editor. The 'Steam Special Edition' is only available through Steam. It was released on October 21, 2009, in North America but was originally listed to be released on the later date of October 25, 2009. The international release was on November 14, 2009.^[10]

Collector Edition[edit]

The Collector Edition, for which the content has never been revealed, was available to pre-order only on Amazon sites worldwide; however, on September 30, 2009, Amazon announced this collector edition had been canceled. On September 29, 2010, Kalypso released 'Tropico 3: Gold Edition', which includes Tropico 3, the Absolute Power expansion, and an instruction book.

Reception[edit]

Tropico 3 received generally favorable reviews at Metacritic, with an average of 79/100 on the PC, and 75/100 on the Xbox 360.^[11][12]GameSpot commented that 'playing a banana republic dictator in Tropico 3 might not be easy, but it certainly is rewarding.'^[16] GameZone's Dakota Grabowski gave the game a 7 out of 10, stating, 'Containing a 15-mission campaign, short tutorial, sandbox mode and special challenges, Tropico 3 has enough replay value to keep players at bay for more than a month. If that doesn’t satisfy the hunger, players are eligible to jump online and download user-created challenges to overcome. With personalities such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Tropico 3 is an educational and entertainment piece that is well-deserving of a few playthroughs by all gamers.'^[17]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abc'Feral Interactive: Tropico 3: Gold Edition release announcement'. Feralinteractive.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
2. ^'Feral Interactive - Press Release: Tropico 3: Gold Edition Release Date Confirmed as Thursday, January 26, 2012(936820)'. Gamershell.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
3. ^'Buy online at Play.com and read reviews. Free delivery to UK and Europe!'. Play.com. 2012-01-09. Archived from the original on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
4. ^Hardwick, Tim. 'Tropico Coming to iPad December 18, iPhone Version Confirmed for Release Next Year'. www.macrumors.com. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
5. ^Hardwick, Tim. 'Tropico Arrives on iPhone, New Features for iPad Version'. www.macrumors.com. Retrieved 2019-05-01.
6. ^'Tropico is officially available on Android, so put on your dictator hat and get ready to rule with an iron fist'. Android Police. 2019-09-05. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
7. ^'Where Games Live'. Kalypsomedia.com. Archived from the original on 2009-07-18. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
8. ^'Tropico 3 Expansion announced'. New Game Network. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
9. ^Hopper, Steven. 'Tropico 3 Absolute Power review GameZone'. Pc.gamezone.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-23. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
10. ^'Tropico 3 - Steam Special Edition on Steam'. Store.steampowered.com. 2009-10-20. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
11. ^ ^ab'Tropico 3 for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
12. ^ ^ab'Tropico 3 for Xbox 360 Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
13. ^'Head Back To The Island In This Quality Dictator Sim - Tropico 3 - PC'. GameInformer.com. 2009-10-22. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
14. ^'PC Games, Computer Games'. GameSpot.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
15. ^'Tropico 3 - PC - IGN'. Pc.ign.com. 2009-11-16. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
16. ^[1]Archived June 12, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
17. ^GameZone. 'Tropico 3 - 360 - Review'. GameZone. Retrieved 2013-11-14.

External links[edit]

• Official website at Haemimont Games

I am shimmying as I write this. Why? Because listen to this! Hooray! The Tropico 3 soundtrack makes life better. You can eat to it, shower to it, go to Tescos to it, play games to it - and I'd estimate that doing so improves your daily lot by at least 25 per cent. Boggle with friends daily challenge. Find the airport level in Modern Warfare 2 disturbing? No longer a problem! Just ramp up the Tropico beat, and mow down those innocents with a smile on your face and a bounce in your step! Activision didn't need an in-game warning, they just needed a Latin beat toggle!

Beyond watching a cigar factory being built while tapping your feet and twitching your mouse hand to the music though, Tropico 3 is a superbly designed city-builder - placing you as the Castro-esque revolutionary leader hell-bent on either creating an idyllic society of socialist freedom with a lovely beach, or a corrupt and sinister autocracy - also with a lovely beach.

It's a revamp of the first Tropico game - where Sim City and Colonization collide, mixed in with a warm and humorous approach to the ways in which you can turn yourself into an utter cigar-chomping bastard - from nobbled elections all the way to Swiss bank accounts and your personal secret police.

Along with a collection of sandbox islands to build upon, the game's initial release contains 15 different islands that open up to you - each with their own resource issues, topographical extremes, local demands and campaign targets (like staying in power for a certain number of years on a cursed island, exporting a certain amount of oil, embezzling a certain amount of money - all that cool stuff). The plates you have to spin as benevolent dictator, meanwhile, are many and varied.

For a start, there's the familiar resource management stuff - keeping your cigar/canned pineapple/posh furniture industry in motion from farm, to factory, to export from the dockyards. Then there's matters like education, health and crime to consider - each with associated buildings that need constructing, and various option chains that open up ever more expensive and improved services.

Then there's the balance between your manufacturing industries and the filthy rich American tourists that need money bleeding out of them. What's more, you can't forget the variety of people that you'll have to attract as immigrants to keep your economic engine turning - and the fact they'll need nice/grotty accommodation, and that the greedy swine will want more and more money out of your coffers for filthy plebeian desires such as food, entertainment and accommodation. The scum.

It's a fascinating and well-paced balancing act. At first you rely on investment from the US or USSR (or an unlikely-to-last mix of the two), but as the years roll past from a 1950s start-off you'll hopefully get the right mix of production-line exports and wallet-bearing tourists and begin to move out of the red (or further into it, I guess) with the potential of swimming in your own personal Scrooge McDuck-styled piles of cash.

Even if you've got a nicely developing slush-fund though, chances are there'll be clouds on the horizon. There are many and varied factions within your island paradise - religious types, nationalists, capitalists, Guardian-reading liberals, good old traditional communist nutballs [surely the same thing - Ed], and they all want their personal needs met. If you fall out of favour with them then at best they will not vote for you when elections roll around, but at worst they'll turn rebel.

Of course, after a failed election you can encourage the miscounting of votes, and continue to up your military presence to chase the rebels back into the hills like the dogs they are, but it becomes an increasingly difficult tightrope to walk.

Then on top of this again there's the arch rivals of the USA and USSR to placate and/or get into bed with to keep that investmest cash coming in, and to avoid the threat of circling battleships and possible invasion. It turns out that being a revolutionary leader isn't all motorcycle diaries, blowjobs and exploding cigars.