Tropico (video game)

While "El Presidente" has absolute rule over the lives of the Tropican people, politics play an important role in gameplay. The player must decide whether to hold free elections, attempt to manipulate the election by intimidating voters, or to dispense with any pretense of democracy and run the island as a dictatorship. These decisions will have direct effects on the Tropican people's happiness, liberty, and respect for the leader. Often the player is judged on "democracy expectations" versus "democracy results", which will influence the public's opinion of their leadership. Having free elections increases the respect of El Presidente among the population, but if their support gets too low, there is the risk of El Presidente losing the elections and being forced to resign. A successful leader will have to either meet the needs of the populace, the political factions, and the wider political world, or establish and police a totalitarian military dictatorship and watch the army carefully.

If pushed enough the Tropican people may choose to rebel against "El Presidente", conducting guerrilla attacks against various buildings on the island; if the rebellion grows strong enough this will result in the overthrow of the player. A sufficiently dissatisfied military will likely instigate a coup. Often threats to power can be measured based on a unit's leadership qualities and his courage. For example, a citizen with poor leadership but strong courage may not be likely to start a rebellion but may be willing to join it.

Most Tropicans are aligned into several conflicting political factions, with some citizens being a member of one or more such factions:

• Communists: Generally one of the larger factions, they are most concerned with adequate housing, healthcare and employment for the masses, and low pay disparities between workers on the island. They also prefer a pro-Soviet foreign policy. Their leader is generally a farmer or a Che Guevara-esque revolutionary.
• Capitalists: They stand in opposition to the communists and are a small, but influential faction. They are concerned with economic development, the provision of expensive luxuries, and low crime rates for the island. The capitalists prefer a pro-American foreign policy and are often led by a top-hat-and-bow-tie-clad entrepreneur.
• Religious: One of the larger factions on the island. This is due to the high value that many Tropicans place on their faith. They often are concerned with access to and quality of religious institutions on the island, as well as the island's morality. Appeasing them can often result in major reductions in liberty as they are swayed by edicts such as "Book BBQ", "Prohibition", "Birth Control Ban", and "Inquisition". The religious faction tends to be led by either a priest or bishop. Having cathedrals and churches on the island encourages the growth of this faction (when citizens go to church they become more religious), but having not enough of them can keep this faction's size down, though its few members will oppose the government.
• Intellectuals: This is one of the smallest factions on the island and tends to have the most detractors. They are most concerned with access to education as well as maintaining a standard of liberty on the island. They can be one of the hardest factions to please and occasionally pose a threat to power, especially if the player is running an authoritarian regime. Their faction is often led by a professor or teacher.
• Militarists: This is a medium-sized but powerful faction mainly concerned with the size and well-being of the island's military. They are one of the biggest threats to power, as armed members of this faction may launch a coup against the player. Prioritizing the militarists' support may result in a decrease in liberty and can cause non-militarists to rebel. The militarist faction is generally led by a soldier or general.
• Environmentalists: A very small faction. They are most concerned with the natural beauty of the island and reducing pollution. As such, they oppose logging and mining operations as well as most industry. Often they are in direct conflict with the interests of the capitalists or the communists. The leader can appease them by building garbage dumps to contain pollution, or issuing edicts relating to the environment, such as an anti-litter ordinance, but this will generally result in increased maintenance costs and decreased productivity. They can be pleased by frequent planting of trees (which can be done along the sides of roads prior to those roads being completed).

Factions can be manipulated both positively and negatively mainly through edicts and buildings. For example, the player may choose to bribe the leaders of factions to attempt to curry their favor or, if the factions' leaders become too much of a threat, he can have them assassinated or imprisoned. The island's media outlets can be directed to distribute propaganda for a particular faction, and schools can be either parochial or military in nature.

After the completion of Tropico, Steinmeyer was uninterested in developing further games in the series.[6] However, later in 2001, Take-Two Interactive requested an expansion pack to capitalize on the game's success.[7]

Tropico was a commercial success; Geoff Keighley of Computer Gaming World declared it one of Gathering of Developers' few "certified hits".[8] In the United States, it claimed fifth place on NPD Intelect's computer game sales chart for the week of April 22.[9] It placed sixth the following two weeks,[10] before holding at tenth for the May 13 – June 2 period.[11][12][13] On NPD Intelect's monthly charts, Tropico took places nine and 19 in May and June, respectively.[14][15] According to NPD, the game sold 67,000 copies in the United States by October 2001.[8]

According to Phil Steinmeyer, the game's highest sales came from "the U.S., Germany, and Britain, respectively", in its first seven weeks. He noted that Tropico did not fall from the top 10 of these markets' computer game sales charts during the period, and that it reached #1 on Germany's chart.[16] As of November 2007, Tropico had sold 1 million copies in total.[17]

John Lee of Next Generation summarized, "Tropico tends to be slow, with no tedium-breaking clash of arms like other city builders, but there's enough innovation to give it charm."[24] In Game Informer, Kristian Brogger praised the game's visuals, music and "wonderfully intuitive camera system". He called the game "an absolute must-have for anyone who found anything from SimCity to Zeus even moderately interesting."[23]

Tropico received the 2001 "Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition" award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences,[29] and won "Best Music" awards from Computer Games Magazine, Computer Gaming World and GameSpot.[30][31][32] Computer Gaming World's staff called the score "brilliant" and summarized it as "easily the year's most evocative soundtrack".[32] Tropico was also nominated for GameSpot's "Best Single-Player Strategy Game" and The Electric Playground's "Best Strategy Game for PC" awards, which went to Civilization III and Etherlords, respectively.[30][33]