Reviewing Tropico 3 for the Xbox 360/PS3 is demanding. Should the game be compared to previous predecessors now that it's available for the first time on console? Or should it be stood against the competition for that platform and rated? Two very distinct ways of reviewing and more than likely two dissimilar outcomes.
Having played both previous Tropico games I can say that Tropico 3 is still very much Tropico. It has the same charm and personality of the previous games. Unfortunately, however Tropico 3 feels like the forgotten sibling of one and two with both pros and cons of both. The basic ability to click on any citizen on your island and see their needs, likes and preferences remains. You can see their name, their thoughts, house, job, satisfaction etc. Its quite awesome. (Of course, that is if you have spare time aside from being an uber dictator.) You also set wages, determine the crops farmed, fire, hire and micro-manage. In that respect, it is much the same and if you liked the previous games enough to even notice there is a new installment, it might be worth checking out. 
That said however, lets outline the pros and cons. Starting with the drawbacks, there are a number of issues with the game. Firstly, during my extensive hours of constructing my metropolis, I found that I could run almost every single campaign island in the same manner. The simple people of Tropico 3 always need the same buildings (i.e. church, clinic, school) in the same order to be content. There is also a generic way of generating income meaning that the begining of every level involves the same routine. Once this routine is complete, it is simply a matter of staying in power and ensuring you don't try to expand "too fast".
Speaking about expanding too fast, this brings me to my next point of the fact, the game is rather slow. and before you troll on me, I don't mean this slow as in it's boring, I mean slow as in you can play the entire game on full speed setting without any issue and are sometimes forced to put the controller down and go make a cup of Nesquick while your construction workers build your buildings. (Seriously, how fast can buildings get built. *Bleep*) The building designs also lack in variety and while the campaign mode does a relatively good job of syphoning you new buildings, you unlock the lot pretty fast and are soon just building more and more of the same things. Once your economy gets running, its usually a matter of building everything your people need - then doing it again because you can and you still have 20 years left to win. Annoyingly, if your city grows too large, the game sloggs behind loading so many buildings and practically reverts the game to normal speed. The bigger you get, the more it slows down. (Massive Lag Fail.)
The interface and controls are fairly fluid. While games like this are often critisized on consoles, Tropico 3 is just fine. Switching between build menus and choosing a building is very fast once you know what you are doing (bearing in mind the learning curve is quite long, so you must have patience). The same can be said for issuing edicts to improve your population's living conditions. Its simple and easy. Unfortunately placing constructions are not so well done. Buildings that must be connected to roads often prove cumbersome and road construction is one of the worst I've seen in a city-sim history. Trying to stretch a road from A to B will see it twist and bend in every which manner furthest from your desired route. Instead of getting a straight road | you will get this (.
All things considered however, Tropico 3 is fun. While it is lacking in the quality of its predecessors, it is certainly much easier. The islands, though often small, are vibrant and colourful. The ocean rolls on the shores and the sound bytes flip in and out according to what part of the island you're focused on. It can look very good and watching a sun set over your island is a joy. While the buildings lack variety and it doesn't take long to learn to 'routine' of doing well, this leaves room for the more imaginative players who want to build and island from the ground up and design it exactly to their choosing. Campaign is relatively long with a good diversity in objectives. Meeting those objectives always follows the routine, however they do vary dramatically, as does weather, politics, and frequency of natural disasters. Replayability for the more dedicated players lies in sandbox and god mode which provides plenty of room for fun. The more hardcore players would probably find the game too slow and boring, however those seeking something to play while chatting on the phone or hanging with friends might want to pick it up. If a build sim is your thing and you don't have a PC, get Tropico 3 for PS3 or Xbox 360. It isn't amazing and can't match the PC equivalents of today, but for an undemanding, lazy sunday sofa game you can't really go wrong. For something different and something simple, it matches. 
HOW DOES IT LOOK? Tropico 3 looks good up close and far away, and there really is a lot of to look at. Framerate issues do pop up, but it's nothing most building games don't run up against.
HOW DOES IT SOUND? Voice work is strong by everyone, but gets repetitive. The soundtrack is perfect for the setting, but doesn't go beyond that.
HOW DOES IT PLAY? It should go without saying the PC trumps the console here, but it controls better than almost any strategy/builder games I've seen on the 360 to date. It's easy to use, but does take some time to get used to just how to control all of it.
HOW LONG WILL IT LAST? Each individual campaign map can be anywhere from a couple hours to four or five, and there's 15 of those. On top of that, there's about as many 'Sandbox' game modes which allow you to play under your own conditions.
HOW IS IT PRESENTED? The tutorial is thorough, but if you're new to the game it's going to take some time. Furthermore, the text in the game is tiny to the point of frustration if you're over ten feet from the television. Some of this is tapered by the quality of the information, which is very valuable.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
LET'S HAVE A CIESTA!
This games graphics is pretty good considering it is a PC game.
The Stormtrooper just made my day. LOL
Awesome review, I might pick it up now that I read this.
Oh god, this game is repetitive as hell. I agree, that the variety of buildings are lackluster as well as the schema of how you begin things. Money is always a big problem, and the happiness of the people is surely annoying to raise. I hope the next one, of there is a next one would be much more improved although I don't even know if they will make another one. Good review though!