Originally published on IGN.com

E³ gave us the chance to get a look at a game that was practically made with us in mind. Tropico, being developed by PopTop Software, finally bypasses all the illusions of benevolence and conscientiousness that seem to pervade most ruler games. We all know deep down that we'd exploit the hell out of any society we managed. Since IGNPC is made up of nothing but opportunists, liars and agitators, Tropico is a perfect fit for us. As Phil Steinmeyer says, not only can you "be the bad guy…we encourage it."

Phil further goes on to describe the game as "SimCity with a point." The game does bear some resemblance to SimCity but these similarities are more in terms of concept than design. You'll be running a Caribbean nation instead of a single city. The gang at PopTop actually wanted to call the game Banana Republic but apparently there's some sort of clothing store or mail order business or something that uses a similar name. You have direct control over the placement of specific buildings and structures and you can even regulate their operations down to the level of what they pay the workers. The one thing you can't regulate is the behavior of your people. For this, you'll have to rely on influence and persuasion.

The first step is to customize your leader. This is handled in a similar manner to the leader customization in Master of Magic. You choose your dictator's background and the means by which he rose to power. These will effect the way the people view your leader. If you come from an agricultural background for instance, you might have more influence and sympathy among the farming communities on your island. If you rose to power through a bloody coup, then...well, let's just say you reap what you sow. Next you'll need to pick two qualities and at least two flaws. It's cool that the game lets you select as many flaws as you like. If, for instance, you want to be Pompous, Ugly and Forgetful that's totally okay. In fact, it sounds like the game will be even more interesting when played with a bunch of flaws.

The game uses a "vastly upgraded" version of the Railroad Tycoon 2 engine with over 100 structures for your building pleasure. You'll need to choose when and where to place banana groves, copper mines and hotels and spas for the tourists that will (hopefully) come to spend their winters in your socialist paradise. The game will allow you to zoom in to extreme levels and check out the amazing detail on the buildings. You'll also want to get up close to check out what your people are doing.

There are going to be an incredibly diverse number of characters in the game all of which are "occupationally based." Bankers and police, bishops and rebels, journalists and prostitutes will all populate the nation along with several other types of characters. But the fact that two characters might be teamsters should not be taken to mean that they will be exactly alike. This is one of the more ambitious aspects of the game concept. As Phil said, all the peasants in other games are pretty uniform. Each person in Tropico will have a distinct personality based on fifty separate attributes. The various farmers, fishermen and factory workers will have different political views, physical desires, home lives and moral attitudes. It's a little hard to see it in action at this point, but Phil promises that each of the fifty characteristics for your "citizens" will affect their behavior and their relationships with each other.

You'll (probably) do your best to keep your people happy or at least cowed -- that's how you keep from being assassinated or thrown out of office -- but, as Phil says "you're gonna piss people off no matter what." Just how and when people get "pissed off" is a factor of their beliefs and your actions. But you'll want to avoid alienating the wrong people. Each person has a leadership rating that they can use to influence the ideology of other people. You'll need to make sure that the few people who control your populace are kept either happy, disinterested or in fear of your administration.

Banana Re...I mean Tropico has an economic model somewhat like that of Colonization. There are basic resource operations like logging and mining that offer low profits. If you're willing to invest time and money into building infrastructure, you can begin to trade in industries. The industries will process the raw materials from resource operations and turn an even higher profit. If for example, you grow tobacco on your island, you can convert it into cigars and make more money. Tropico also has a tourism model that will pour vast amounts of money into your economy...if you can attract the visitors that is.

So far Tropico sounds very promising but at this stage we haven't been able to see many of these concepts in action. Phil did demo the game for a while for us, but with a game this intricate and multifaceted nothing can compare to spending several sleepless nights in full exploration of its every feature. As soon as we get a playable, you can bet we'll be doing just that. And if we can tear ourselves away long enough, we just might pass on our thoughts to you.

-- Stephen Butts