There isn't much to say about this game either than if you like a strategy game you will be hooked. The music is great, and I can't fin one thing wrong in this game. If you buy this game I don't see anyone having buyer's regret.

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I thouroughly enjoy playing this game. It is just like another Tropico game for the PC, however it is ported over quite well to the 360. The Controls in my opinion are better than the PC's since everything is limited to the available buttons. Note that this game takes a long time to play, so if you have friends that want to play multiplayer or co-op, your going to have to choose to either paly Tropico 3 or with your friends. Otherwise it is a great game to play if you have lots of time. I highly recomend it to people who like RTS games that focous heavly on econimics instead of war.

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A fun strategy game that's fairly easy to play on the 360. There are so few deep / easily-playable strategy games on the 360.

If you haven't played one before, Tropico is essentially Sim Cuban Dictator. You can choose to be benevolent or ruthless, farm-based or industrial, capitalist or socialist.

If you HAVE played one before, there's not a lot of new stuff...

I like that the new issue price was less than the usual $60.

There was a free demo available on Live.

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I've always enjoyed city building games, though I'll readily admit I've never been fantastic at them. As a city mayor - as much as in real life - I always seem to be a few bucks above bankruptcy, scrounging up just enough money to make the next improvement to life.

Tropico started off no differently then the others, spare a somewhat-confusing control interface (push forward to zoom out??) After taking in the lush graphics and environments, I started plunking down buildings like a kid with way too much Monopoly money...

But things got rocky, quickly... Before long my umemployment was spiraling out of control, and my expenses quickly took me into debt beyond where I could build new buildings to create new jobs. This resulted in stalemate, and a "mission restart." The second time through, I built less of what the game suggested I build (tenements, or ultra-low income housing) and built apartments, which cost residents a little more to live in, but holds less people. Before long I was making a fortune. Then I built a mine and started digging ore from the Earth. Before long I was making more money than I knew what to do with. Then - as quickly as things picked up - they plummeted. Mine production stopped. Income from exports dropped to near-zero. Why? I honestly have no idea... Market values hadn't changed, there was still ore available (according to the layouts screen,) and the building was fully staffed. In the meantime, several buildings that I had placed were not being built. My construction offices were fully staffed, but their list of current projects was blank. Blank! I had 7 buildings cued up! By then my townsfolk were rioting and going nuts, and I couldn't do anything to solve the problem...

This is how things progress in Tropico. You'll have hours of profitable success, watching your little Tropical paradise swarm with activity. Then - seemingly a moment later - you'll be completely broke, staring at the screen in amazement asking yourself "how the heck did this happen?" Furthermore, gathering information in Tropico is nearly impossible. At the onset, you'll get tips from little windows that pop up, telling you of problems. You'll also get help - if you can call it that - from the extremely annoying radio station DJ (even though you may never build an actual Radio Station...) After the first hour-or-so however, the tips and clues come much less frequently. As it is, the only tips you'll receive might be along the lines of "your citizens want this" or "to make this building functional, you must hire a professional immigrant to come to your city." When things start to fall apart however, there is no concrete way to find out why. In addition, a lot of the information available is unclear to all but real-life economists. What is Economic Disparity? I have no idea... Is a high or low value desirable? I have no idea... Does the game explain any of this to you? Heavens no...

And so you struggle. You try to do things different, but all this does is change the intervals at which everything goes to hell. Sometimes you recover; if you've already laid down the buildings that you needed, they'll eventually be built, and things might pick back up. Or sometimes it'll take multiple months of watching ships take thousands of dollars of exports from your city until the money finally shows up in the bank. Why? Again - I don't know... Either the simulation is so advanced that tiny little changes can spiral life for your citizens into chaos, or - quite simply - it's just plain broken.

In the end, Tropico 3 is a beautiful game that just leaves you feeling like you really have no idea what's going on. Through several campaign missions, I sat staring at the screen, 50+ thousand dollars in debt, until I was suddenly notified that I had SUCCEEDED the mission because I achieved some number of something-or-other. All I could think was, "Well, good thing I don't have to do THAT again..."

I rented it, I sent it back, and I won't be comin' around for more.

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I loved the original Tropico way back in 2001 and with each revision the game play gets better. The random happenings, customization, and world just keep getting better.

You start off as El Presidente of Tropico, with several different campaigns to play though as well as many different business ventures to play with and build your empire upon. You can rule with an iron fist (OH YEAH!) or be more lenient and be a soft and fluffy ruler or a nice combination of both. I can tell you it takes a fine balance to get everyone and everything working to your advantage.

One HUGE step for the series is the customization of your character. This had been lacking for some time and I'm glad to finally see this implemented.

There is always something to do or get done in this game, it keeps you busy. Dealing with the different factions, peoples complaints, whatever, it keeps you busy! However it does have a tendency to feel like it's dragging, not to the point that you're board, but enough for me to notice.

Graphically it's pretty good. It's no Mass Effect 2, but it's good.

Tropico 3 has a great combination of city building, politics, and sand box open world goodness with lots of re-playability because of the random events and the leader traits system.

A sim game that hits just the right spot!

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Bomb. If you like this genre it's one of a kind. Yes, there are bugs such as on sandbox sometimes the camera goes weird. Just click the rsb i believe. With that action and El Pimpe in the limo, it should go back to normal. I dunno if some people who like the genre disliked the game. I dunno if low brow people are convinced that the moon landing was fixed, September 11th was our goverments ploy, and online poker's rigged. Yes they believe a company that makes copious amounts of money will risk their franchise to give your opponent your former duckets. In a 2 dollar game. But I digress. Tropico 3 is a great catch and I try to fornicate with it quite often. There are so many ways to run your country. Benevolently, Cruely, and everything in between. I love this genre so I might be biassed. And order from Amazon. The price is wrong bitch. Okay, it's right. For some of you new kiddies, Amazon has given me the best customer service ever and I wish it was a hot girl too but she would never f!#% me. I'm sure her service would be great though.

Big Hugh

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What a great game! Loads of fun, great controls despite a moderate learning curve. Doesn't get boring, great replay value!

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This is one of the most fun city-builder type games I've played in a long time. I've been a fan of this genre since the original Age of Empires and have played all of the Sim City series since 2000, as well as many of the "OG" titles in the genre. I played the original Tropico as well, of course.

The gameplay is absolutely fantastic. This game is nothing short of spectacular in every aspect that really matters to the genre. The micromanagement is intense, but not so in depth that you're flooded with data.

Graphically the game is gorgeous (though the PC version is MUCH more beautiful. Xbox lacks in the anti-aliasing). Many times I've found myself sitting back on low game speed to admire the view!

The soundtrack is, as you may expect from a Tropico title, perfect.

Unfortunately, the leaderboard system is horrifically bad, allowing only a single top score; with no record of previous scores on campaign islands or challenges. This leaves no room from improving your game, unless you track your score history yourself. :-(

Also, of all of the online features you hear about Tropico 3; none are done well on the 360 yet. As of late February, you're completely unable to make challenges to share with other players. There are a total of only four challenges uploaded by Kalypso. And the feature I'm most upset to see missing; you can't share your island or visit other players' islands at all!

If you have a PC that will play this game, I highly recommend buying the Windows version.

If you don't have a PC that will play this game, get the Xbox version and try not to get too excited about online play.

This is a game you don't want to miss!

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RTS and console seem to never work, but Tropico 3 has set a new standard. I will say it's not perfect but they are getting better. I for one am a huge RTS fan. I have a nice PC rig just for Age of empires and so on. This game is great fun and you can see the consoles are stepping up the RTS genre. For the Price it's a masterpiece. I wouldn't give $60.00 bucks for it, but anything under $40.00 is a great value. If you enjoy RTS... buy it. It's a great console edition.

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Good news for those of you who have harbored dreams of becoming a Latin American Dictator! If you haven't had a chance to play the earlier games in the series, (or even if you did), you should give Tropico 3 a try.

In a nutshell, the game is a combination of Sim City-esque city management, coupled with elements of political maneuvering. You begin by choosing your avatar. What kind of leader do you want to be? There are pre-created options, and you can choose some *cough* fondly remembered leaders like Fidel Castro, etc. Or you can opt to create your own dictator ... right down to their personality traits (strengths and weaknesses) that could have a big ripple effect on the duration and success of your "presidency." You can also customize the look, right down to the style of moustache you want to don.

When the game gets going, you will find it isn't easy to be a ruler of a fledgling island nation. There will be a lot of political, social, economic and military forces that will conflict - and immediately you're going to realize there is a very delicate balancing act required to get things on track. Right off the bat you're going to realize the importance of keeping a balanced workforce, the need to build infrastructure, keeping folks in decent housing, building crops that feed your nation but also helps maintain a steady flow of exports to fill your coffers. And that's just the beginning of the game.

Later on as your island grows - you will need to build even more services to keep your residents happy. You will need to also (if you choose) upgrade your tourist infrastructure to get folks coming in to spend their hard earned dollars in your island paradise. All that - while keeping folks happy, preventing a rebellion, avoiding a foreign invasion, rigging elections, etc. You will have a lot to keep you busy. And don't forget you can micromanage everything - from presidential edicts, to immigration policy, to what kind of crops you want to grow, to individual wages ... to even firing specific people from their jobs. If you like detail, this game is for you.

I've touched on the gameplay above. Now for some other aspects of the game ...

The graphics are very detailed. As your island gets bigger, you can see it buzzing with life. The environment is very detailed and you can even zoom in closely to see how your people are living their daily lives. You can even click on individuals to see what they are happy/unhappy about to get an idea of what you might want to improve on your island. I do have a slight issue with the camera though, as it sometimes can be cumbersome to navigate. Also at times when you are building structures, it might be very hard to see where the entrance of the buildings are ... and could impact how and where you place them.

The music is hilarious. You get pretty much your token latin music selection and often it really feels like you're in the middle of Cuba or some other exciting South American locale. The radio announcer who does faux reports also is amusing, and provides very good info on what's happening in your island paradise. The sound effects in the game definitely adds to the nice atmosphere of the game.

All in all Tropico 3 is a very solid sim game on the Xbox 360. It is very well executed and as long as you enjoy games like these, I'm sure you will consider it a great buy. The somewhat steep difficulty and learning curve might put off casual gamers, but I honestly believe that as long as you put some work into learning the nuances of being a dictator, it will definitely be a rewarding experience with lots of great replay value (after all, you can be different types of dictators ... which is great ha ha)

**IMPORTANT EDIT**

After spending a substantial amount of time playing this game, I came across a major glitch that apparently is affecting all console owners of this game. I have seen many complaints on the developers website about this issue and as of now it appears it has not been addressed.

Apparently if you own the console version and if you try to save the game at a certain point, the game will not load when you attempt to pull up that save at a later time. It will lock up your Xbox and you will have to reboot. This apparently impacts folks who build a city that either has a high population (some folks say they had the issue when their population reached 500+, but I ran into this issue when my population was around 375) .. or too many buildings. I will continue to monitor this and update. But at the moment no patch for the console version has been issued.

Buyer beware! What this means is if you play an extended game (like for me when I'm playing on the sandbox aspect of the game) and your island gets big and successful (which is what you want) and you want to save it, there is a high likelihood you will not be able to reload your game when you try to pull it up later, which kind of defeats the purpose of the game!

**EDIT NUMBER 2**

As of today people are still reporting bugs. However there is word that the developer is preparing a patch. No idea when this will be released. Once can only hope or assume it will be soon. Will continue to update. Meantime, if you can stomach playing the game only in short intervals (it would be hard, as this game is quite good and addictive), you may consider buying now. Otherwise, if you like long games, might wanna wait until this issue is completely resolved.

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NOTE: I own the PC version of this game, and not the console version. Apparently, some problems have cropped up in the console version. PC players will need an internet connection at start up to connect to the Kalypso website. The available patches will automatically download on installation, and quickly with high-speed.

I had the old "Tropico," and the good news is this. Players of the old game will find it largely as user-friendly and familiar as the older edition, and the dynamics of play remain largely unchanged. The new graphics and interface will take some practice to get used to, but not much. Maybe an hour of "fiddling" with the camera angles and mouse. So, even experienced "El Presidentes" will want to run through the generous and easy-to-follow tutorial. The graphics are lovely, and the music just as whimsical and fun as the older editions, but expanded considerably. Some added governmental options also more readily allow the player to pursue which kind of ruler he wishes to be - kind and benevolent, or an iron-fisted tyrant.

The game will also auto-save automatically, a nice feature. The only annoying this is the fact that the overlay system makes it a little more difficult to plot the course of your farms and ranches since you have to jump back and forth between two screens. But that's a minor point. You also have expanded game options - both shorter and loger missions, that better allow you to get the "feel" of the game dynamics.

There is also an avatar feature in this version, although I have not explored it extensively at this time. But it clearly brings more personalized game-playuing options and decision-making unavailable in the older editions.

This game is also a slow one that takes patience if you want to play it as it should be played, with caution and planning. But, for those who want a faster experience, the "speed up" button is freely available. It is not a "shooter," and the pace will frustrate anyone who likes lots of flash and high-energy gaming dynamics. But, if you are a fan of games like "Civilization" and "SIM City," you will be missing out if you don't take a vacation on this tropical island!

This is a game worth having and playing for the audience who enjoys strategic and economic SIM. Solid improvement to an already great game. I really enjoy playing "Tropico."

PC version recommended!

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I enjoy this game, but its not perfect. I wish the text was bigger, it's VERY difficult to read on a non Hi-Def tv.

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I have been a fan of this series for some time, so I was very excited when the new iteration was released on Xbox 360. I was not disappointed. This is a good port of a excellent game. The controls take a little getting used to, but after a single game they will be second nature. There are a lot of built in scenarios, and a great open ended sandbox mode as well. If you have ever been a fan of city building games, or "god" games, then this is a good game for you. You know in your heart you want to be the dictator of a small island, and this is your chance. Become El Presidente, buy now!

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Pros: A true simulation with NPCs that have needs and desires that they actively attempt to fulfill.

Complexity is offset by a still daunting but nevertheless accessible tutorial.

Plenty of variety and options for players to experiment with and customize their governing/building style.

Excellent graphics for this kind of game.

Memorable, unobtrusive, appropriate music sets the mood.

Sandbox mode.

Retains the spirit, basic gameplay, and premise of the Tropico of old, while introducing plenty of new features and tweaks to the game mechanics that today's gamers no doubt expect and demand.

A next gen update to a beloved classic done well.

Great for both brief and lengthy play sessions.

A lot of fun once you overcome the learning curve.

Cons: May be too complex for those who lack patience.

More online functionality would be nice.

The camera at times makes positioning some buildings on certain terrain cumbersome (this is not frequent and it isn't that big of a deal when it does occur. Just a slight source of frustration.)

Otherwise lush graphics are marred by noticeable jaggies (though these are still by far the best graphics you'll see in a game of this sort.)

The duration of the game - while you can save and resume at your leisure - may be too great for some players' tastes (though if you enjoy the game itself I can't see why this should be a real issue.)

Other Thoughts: It is a crying shame that because retailers see Tropico 3, as its publisher Kalypso media put it, as a game that "would not be profitable for them," retail availability for this gem is unacceptably low unless you order it online. If you played the original Tropicos and loved them, or if you love Tropico 3, you owe it to yourself and to the hobby of gaming to let your local retailers know you want them to stock this game. It deserves your support, and unlike many AAA titles, really needs it.

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Great Game! Exactly What I Expected, Probably Because I Had The Demo. Only Problem Is The Text Size In The Game, If Your On An SD Tv. Other Than That Its A Good Game.

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