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(More customer reviews)With the somewhat sparse selection of Mac games, I pre-ordered Tropico at the same time as I got the Diablo II expansion pack. When Tropico finally came, I installed it and haven't gone back to Diablo II yet.
You start the game by taking control of an island in the Caribbean Sea as "El Presidente" in 1950. Either starting from scratch or choosing a pre-built scenario like in Sim City, you build it up with apartments and tenements, farms and mines, and about 50 other buildings. At the same time, you have to try and appease the communist and capitalist factions on the island, as well as 4 others. If you don't, protesters and rebels might pop up, and U.S. gunboats could even threaten an invasion. Or, you could simply lose the next election, unless, of course, you "re-interpret the ballots".
Tropico has a fairly large learning curve, but there's a good tutorial, the first one in a game I've liked, and an advisor will give you tips as the game progresses. You can just go in and mess around, or look at incredibly detailed charts and check out each individual named character with specific traits and feelings as you become more comfortable with the game. Also, there is no instant gratification for getting money; if you build a farm, for example, you don't get paid until the planted crops grow, are harvested, and carried to the dock. This involves a lot of strategy, and you might spend a year or two in the hole until the tobacco gets sold, and you pop up to $30,000 immediately. The music is also perfect, a great island mix that really sets the mood.
Unfortunately, I can only give it 4 stars, because there are some fairly important things that need to be fixed in a patch. Buildings can't be rotated, bulldozing things isn't instantaneous, I haven't found a way to delete saved games in the program, and a couple other aspects detract from the game. However, they don't cause any major problems, and Tropico remains one of my favorite games that will probably keep me occupied all the way until Civ 3 comes out. Definitely pick this game up, it's well worth your time and money.
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