Comments on: Tropical Tropico 3 Trailer

By: The Hammer

The Hammer — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:56:57 +0000

Never had the pleasure of playing the first two, but this one looks like it could be a real fun time. I do like the setting and music there, and dictatorships under a nice sun are always good.

AND IN THE GAME, etc, etc.

By: Catastrophe

Catastrophe — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:31:35 +0000

Settlers 1-4 = best city builders ever. Shame Settlers 5 was nothing like the previous games.

I say this without ever playing Tropico mind you.

By: James O

James O — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:22:30 +0000

I can’t wait for this, and I’m also heartened by the continuity in the music (I hope they managed to contract the original guy, Daniel Indart, for this outing, since his music was so key to setting the tone of Tropico.) I’m kind of concerned about how Haemimont will handle this, though, since GA:R and Tropico are really very different games at their core – In GA:R, you’re managing perfectly predictable resources, and once you understand the game’s mechanics, its very easy to set up a rich megalopolis in short-order – the people milling about are completely incidental to the simulation except as a visual element. Tropico, by contrast, is really about managing unpredictable people and trying to make-do and work around the AI. In all my open-ended games of Tropico, I tend to hit a stumbling block after 50-60 years where the system entropy catches up with me and things often start to fall apart (particularly when my Dockworkers get lazy and let hundreds of thousands of dollars pile up on the dock for months, crashing my economy and pissing off the World Bank, in turn pissing off all my citizens, ultimately ending in a rather nasty revolt.)

I used to think this was a problem with Tropico and it’s lackluster AI, but I’ve come to embrace it as the reason I periodically revisit it, moreso than other city-builders – Tropico feels (appropriately) less stable and thus more of a challenge to actively manage, whereas in other city-builders (like GA:R) I feel I can quickly hit a stable equilibrium after which it becomes virtually impossible for me to lose, and at that point it’s just like playing with infinite money cheats. Adapting to and dealing with emerging failure states in the simulation is my favorite part of these type of games, and Tropico has a good range of those stemming from the political system and AI-citizen-driven economy. I hope Haemimont is able to maintain the chaos and challenge in this game, since while I have been enjoying GA:R, it’s become mindlessly easy after my first few games.

By: starclaws

starclaws — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:11:18 +0000

Tropico 2 was awesome

By: c-Row

c-Row — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:12:19 +0000

What was so bad about GA:R? I didn’t invest too much time in it since my PC gaming attention span is pretty short these days, but I enjoyed most of it.

By: TychoCelchuuu

TychoCelchuuu — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:31:27 +0000

I too am thrilled that the awesome soundtrack appears to be returning.

By: Fumarole

Fumarole — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:51:37 +0000

Thank god the music sounds exactly like it should. Tropico had one of the catchiest soundtracks ever.

By: Lukasz

Lukasz — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:52:53 +0000

I hope they will add a nuclear program. I want my banana republic to have nukes so I can scare off my neighbors.

By: Nurdbot

Nurdbot — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:42:14 +0000

I am eagerly looking forward to this again, I’ve missed sucking up to the Soviets.

By: Lucas

Lucas — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:14:12 +0000

I love Tropico. Phil Steinmeyer left some huge shoes to fill. Good luck Kalypso & Haemimont.

By: shon

shon — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:07:29 +0000

I thought Tropico 2 was pretty spiffy too. I still play it on occasion whenever I want to hoard my money in a Skull mountain.

By: Polterjunge

Polterjunge — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:28:26 +0000

Tropico 1 was ingenious. Humorous and very detailed. The economy always felt realistic to me although it’s really simplified. *sigh* Maybe I’m just too nostalgic…