Building cities in games like SimCity is always an outrageously tense exercise in tightrope walking. Every second, your city could burst into flames, lose its power, plummet into debt, or succumb to crime. These were not even the game’s special events: they were just your average reasons for city failure. Tropic 3 is just such a game, but it sells the life-and-death nature of its gameplay much better.
In Tropico 3, you step into the shoes of a newly minted ruler of a small nation somewhere in the Caribbean. The game never makes it clear where your little nation hails from, but it is not important to actually playing or enjoying the game. You can create a dictator or president, working from a stable of looks and attributes. These attributes actually alter the strategies and decisions you will make, as you adapt to each different scenario.
This is because (unless you play in sandbox mode), Tropico 3 is not afraid to make most of its missions into very specific scenarios. Sometimes you play as a young country with a strong religious faction and no natural resources. Your only hope for wealth and growth are a booming tourist business. Of course, in the world of Tropico 3, the last thing your religious citizens want is a bunch of rich interlopers.
This focus on specific requirements and goals keep the game interesting every time out. While the above scenario requires you to carefully placate the religious faction with expensive cathedrals, it also requires that you build up a city (and eventually an island) that can both support and delight a fickle foreign audience.
You could just as easily find yourself in command of a small nation following a successful but violent coup. Your army is strong, but now they and the military faction will want you to make good on your promises during the run up to the coup. Just as tryingly, the people of your island will rise up and attempt to deport or murder you, if you do not give them a modicum of security and freedom.
This may all sound rather dramatic, but it is supported by various mechanics employed by the game. At different points in time, you will have the opportunity to fill your Swiss bank account with illicit cash. You can acquire these funds by skimming a little off every inflated building purchase, or pocketing foreign aid money your country is supposed to spend on health care.
You also have to contend with the various outspoken factions on your island. From religious groups and intellectuals to labor and military interests, your country is a vast see of demanding voices. It may not seem like much at first. After all, with some careful spending, you can create a military force large enough to quell uprisings and keep you unpopular regime in power. However, your military endeavors will suck cash from your banks, and may even anger local governments and foreign powers.
That may seem like a lot of balls to keep in the air at once, but its only part of the game’s makeup. You also have to give public addresses (and then make good on your promises, lest the public catch you in a lie or undelivered promise), carefully nurture a growing economy, manage foreign relations with the USSR and the USA, strike a balance between saving and spending, and keep your ruler’s fingers (personally) in as many pies as possible.
Refreshingly, all of this micro-managing and worrying always feels necessary and fun. You are never taken aback by political setbacks, coups, or falls from power. The game both warns you of these impending problems, and aids you in working to avert them. You will never have that experience so common to Maxis’ Sim games where your city suddenly, inexplicably, and unstoppably falls into disrepair and ruin. When you make a mistake in Tropico 3, you know what you did wrong, and when you pay for it (as you almost always will, you will remember your past failings.
Just as important (to the game’s atmosphere and efficacy as a tense city-builder) as the near-constant threat of bankruptcy, revolt, and failing diplomatic relations are the game’s jaunty attitude, simple interface, and cliché – yet entertaining – world.
The world retains a bright, sun-drenched look and attitude, even when the sun sets or rain falls. This is a game bent on reinforcing all of those old clichés about Latin American countries and Bannana Republics. The people are hard-working and colorful, the ruler is always an outsized, possibly unstable personality, and everything is bright and happy (even if that happiness hides a dark, totalitarian underbelly).
As you make decisions, ban elections, and placate vocal critics, the game’s ever-present radio host will narrate the most important events and failures of your nation and its president. He informs the people of financial loss, a change in foreign relations, and the various unimportant (and nonexistent, in gameplay) personal adventures of your president. It may all feel a bit antiquated and hackneyed, but it makes your island and its dependants feel volatile and active: just the kind of thing one cannot rely on in most building sims.
The game does a great job at balancing all of these elements, for the most part. Still, it does slip into truly offensive territory, most often when the voice actors spend too much time showing off their “accents,” and when the Radio announcer really starts describing what is happening on the island. Likewise, the game doesn’t always aid you in your balancing act. From time to time you will lose a sudden, brutal election, or find that you harbor far too many militant rebels. These moments are rare, and they really will not do much to tarnish your enjoyment of the game.
The Good:
Life and death: Your island and its inhabitants are a slippery lot: keeping them happy and alive is a complicated, engrossing task.
Fun in the sun: The game may be too accepting of a certain antiquated view of Latin American during the Cold War, but it uses its misguided approach to tone and atmosphere to great effect, in both gameplay and feel.
The Bad:
Sunburn: That same “old-fashioned” attitude leads to some unfortunate stereotypes and foolish tonal choices. The female President voice is especially annoying and grating.
The Ugly:
Rise and fall: The game can be tough to master, even after many hours of play. It is still possible to lose your island to a senseless, unforeseeable fate, it’s just much less likely to happen.
Playthrough: I played around 20 hours of the game, splitting my time between the main challenges and the sandbox mode. The game was provided in physical form by the developer.
Recommendation: Tropico 3 may seem like a fluffy, good (and easy) time on the beach, but it is really an exacting city-building sim sunk into a deep, mostly entertaining fiction. You should definitely check it out, but make sure you’re ready for a constantly challenging experience.
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