Tropico 3

 My Mojito needs more mint NOW you pathetic little worms!

The above is the nearest I can get to explaining this game in one sentence. Here we have Tropico 3, the quickest way to become a dictator in the history of the xbox 360.

Gameplay.

This is simple, you are charged with becoming a despot of your very own little tropical island through various scripted campaign missions or sandbox mode. You build what your island needs to prosper and grow while at the same time dealing with the political turmoil that comes with it. I'm not going to suger coat this guys, the game is hard and it seems the worse you do the harder the difficulty setting gets. You have various means at your disposal to play from building to edicts. The game flows fine with time compression at your fingertips but I just can't help but shake the sheer difficulty here, this is by no means an age of empires clone. If played right with alot of forethought to your decisions you are rewarded with a thriving island.

Politics.

As you grow your small island nation you are bombarded by demands and needs outside of the tradtional shelter, wage health situation of your subjects. There are various politcal partys who are looking for power this comes in the form of nationalists, religious, capitolists, militarists ect. Trying to keep your respect with each group balanced is very challenging as anything you do for one group always bites you in the ass from another group. It can be fun but I found it more frustrating than anything.

Super powers.

The US and USSR are both interested in your island from the get go, obviously the US wants you to develop a tourist attraction while the USSR just wants you to embrace communism. Its very important to play these two fairly as they send you yearly finacial aid packets, the amount depending on how you have chosen to develop. Dire situations can even lead to full blown invasions...

Strategy.

The whole game comes down to this word, every paso you spend will have consequences early on. Without a well thought out plan of action you will be doomed to bad elections, rebellions and dear lord maybe even a military coup de tat. The stress and edge you feel while playing is immense but it also makes you get involved with your island that much more.

Tutorial.

The tutorial for this game does a good job explaining the simple aspects of the game but it leaves out everything else and everything else is very important. It gives this game a very harsh learning curve that I feel some people just wouldn't want to sit through.

Visuals.

The visuals on Tropico 3 are great, they are playful while at the same time capture the feel of the island, obviously they could have been better but then that could be said about every game.

Summary.

With a very indepth building sim and great visuals Tropico 3 will entertain most people who like god building games, but with a very steep learning curve and some timescale issues its probably only the most hardcore that will get the most out of this game.

Phase.