Tropico 3 Review

El Presidente raises a hand and waves to jubilant crowds from the balcony of his palace - or does he? Perhaps he is actually signing a stack of 'special orders' giving the all-clear for the secret service to arrange some 'accidents'. Or is he? Maybe he is embroiled in a gun fight with rebellious guerillas? In Tropico 3, sequel to the original bananna-republic city-builer Tropico, it's up to you.

And not just figuratively either - one of the new back-of-the-box features is the little El Presidente avatar that can wander the island on your behalf, supervising building projects or giving speeches. Admittedly, it's not a crucial feature, and in most scenarios can be ignored completely with little ill-effect, but it's a fun addition nonetheless.

The meat (and bananas) of Tropico 3 is city-building: a typical scenario sees the player, as the new Presidente, taking charge of an under-developed Carribbean island-nation in the Cold War, with a set of objectives and a free hand as to how to achieve them. There are 15 different scenarios in the campaign mode, each with a different objective - export a certain ammount of oil for instance, or achieve a happiness rating above a particular threshold number. The campaign mode is complemented by a sandbox mode that lets the player try their hand at running an island without troublesome objectives getting in the way of El Presidente's afternoon nap.

Despite the potential to do otherwise with the historical setting, Tropico 3 takes nothing too seriously. All the proceedings in the game have a light, breezy tone, from the bright, appealing graphics to the upbeat latin soundtrack and over-the-top customisation options for your in game Presidente (dress as a pirate!). Building placement and other management options are easy to execute, and an array of lists, charts, and graphical overlays make understanding your island an easy task - with the glaring exception of road placement. Road placement in Tropico 3 is a bafflingly awkward and difficult process; roads frequently will not build in spots with no obstructive elements, for no apparent reason. Not a problem in open, flat areas, but infuriating in narrow passes.

Tropico 3 deviates somewhat from the standard city-building model in that it brings politics, both international and internal, to the forefront of the experience. Beyond the shores of your Caribbean isle, you must be wary of the United States and the USSR, both of whom will keep a beady eye on you throughout your rule, and both of whom can become a great help or a great threat, depending on your style of rule. Get in their good books and they will grant you monetary aid; annoy them, and they will send an invasion force to relieve El Presidente of his duties. In the earliest years of each scenario, when you are still working with limited resources, it can be a tricky balancing act to stay on the right side of both superpowers - the Soviets want good housing and healthcare, while Uncle Sam wants to see profits flowing from agriculture, industry, or tourism.

Domestic politics are modelled via factions with which islanders can be affiliated, and can support with varying degrees of intensity. Factions include capitalist pigdogs, pinko communists, militarists, and the religious. There are more, and they all have their own desires for the future of Tropico, their own likes and dislikes. Of course, the wishes of the factions can interelate and conflict. For instance the enviromentalist faction might really hate that oil well in the middle of the island, but the capitalists can't get enough of the money it brings in. Luckily for you, there are many more capitalists on the island than enviromentalists, so the well should ultimately bring in more votes than it costs in the upcoming elections - unfortunately for you however, many enviromentalists are rebelling violently, and you neglected to build up your military in favour of plowing oil money into tourist attractions.

Such is Tropico 3 - a balancing act. At it's heart, Tropico 3 is all about balancing the demands of the superpowers and of your people, while shaping Tropico in your own vision and, of course, stashing away a little something for El Presidente's retirement as well. The trouble is, that after the first decade or so, it all comes a little too easily. Once you have established a booming industry of some kind, exporting cigars or oil for example, you will find it difficult to go wrong in Tropico 3. Threats will appear from rebels or elections or superpowers or events, but after the rough first ten years, you will in most cases have the resources at you disposal to deal with the issue. Religious faction getting uppity? Slap down a Cathedral, or perhaps issue a prohibition edict. Enviromentalists interupting El Presidente's evening meal with incessant protesting outside the palace? Well, if shooting or imprisoning them isn't for you, perhaps you could issue an anti-pollution edict? Or switch to gas-fuelled power plants instead of coal-fuelled ones. The point is, that once the money is rolling in, only very rarely will a genuinely threatening situation arise; in most cases, you will have the money available to deal with whatever issues present themselves.

The challenge in Tropico 3 then, doesn't come from attempting to win in a given scenario outright, but to win well - with a high score, or with a novel strategy; what if you focussed on tourisism as a source of income and never built any factories, oil wells or mines? Perhaps you can have some fun and play a ruler so paranoid that he would put Stalin to shame - arresting political adversaries or 'arranging accidents' for them, limiting the media and never calling elections? What about a religious fanatic, or hardcore communist? An uncomprimising nationalist eco-nut? All these approaches are there in Tropico 3 to be tried, and they all have the potential to be fun and interesting in their own right, each their own little tale of light-hearted Carribbean island development or dictatorship.

3.5/5

PLUS

-Pretty graphics, fun soundtrack

-Easygoing tone

-Political aspects a fun twist

MINUS

-Difficult road placement

-No map editor

Left 4 Dead 2 Demo

If you are at all familiar with the original Left 4 Dead, you'll quickly understand what I mean if I tell you that taking out a Boomer with a melee weapon is not the most efficient available tactic; it is however, pretty darned tempting to just run up to one of the fat bastards and whack him with that guitar you found earlier in the level. Yes, a guitar. You can't do that in Left 4 Dead 1, but you can in Left 4 Dead 2.

It's a minor but fun addition. By all indications, most or all of the differences between the first game and the second run along these lines: subtle, fun refinements that won't turn the original formula on its head, but improvements that you'll be glad to have nonetheless. This sort of sequelling isn't to everyone's taste (see the boycotting saga), and its clear from the demo that L4D2 is no quantum leap forward – but for those who feel that they got their money's worth from the original, its sequel's demo certainly points at a game that is worth a look.

The best addition is the melee combat, which is complemented nicely by the improved gore system that allows for severed limbs and heads. The weapons available (more in the full game, including a chainsaw) range from machetes to frying pans and nightsticks, as well as the aforementioned guitar. Most hits are one hit kills, and dancing between the scratching hands of the undead while bonking them with your melee weapon of choice* is a very satisfying activity, even if it does put you at risk of friendly fire due to your being up close and personal with the zombies. The melee weapons replace the pistols in the inventory, and you must decide which you wish to carry – it is a genuinely interesting choice, especially as pistols still, as in the first game, have unlimited ammo.

There is a wide selection of firearms to choose from – the demo features three different shotguns, two sorts of scoped rifle, an AK47, an M16, and two different sorts of submachine gun; the differences are subtle but the extra variation in weaponry is welcome. While the melee weapons hold more novelty (BONK!), the guns are prettily modelled and the gunplay, as in the first game, is solid. The loading screens reveal the existence of a grenade launcher in the full release, as well. So there's that.

There is a decent helping of other new items as well; joining the old pills and medkits is an adrenaline shot that speeds up your characters actions, as well as a vial of Boomer bile which can be smashed onto the floor to distract hordes of zombies. The best of the new items found in the demo however, is the defibrilator. This can be used on the bodies dead team-mates to revive them and bring them back into the action – will be much appreciated by those who did not enjoy spending time dead in the first game.

Also showcased in the demo are new types of infected – SWAT-team zombies in protective combat gear join the regular horde, and three new types of special infected join the cast of specials; the Charger, the Jockey, and the Slimer. Each brings their own unique twist to the gameplay, disrupting the survivors' play and each presenting a different danger. The best of the new bunch from a gameplay perspective must be the Slimer; a zombie that spews dangerous acid onto the ground, over a radius of about three feet. The party-piece of this special being to punish teams who clump up in tight closets and force them out into the open until the danger from the acid passes.

The two levels of the demo seem to give a good taste of what to expect from the final product: the original game, but with a gamut of tweaks and refinements.

*Frying pan or guitar? Frying pan or guitar?