Tropico 3

by Kalypso Media

Product Features

• A Latin music soundtrack, as well as a variety of online-functions such as high scores or visiting islands belonging to other players.
• Comprehensive campaign with 15 different missions, and mission generator for random map creation.
• A variety of business sectors to dabble in, including: Tourism, petroleum, mining, agriculture, etc.
• A timeline editor allowing you to create your own fictive historical events or enter real ones and avatar functionality allowing players to wander the island as El Presidente and change the course of play.
• Interactive functionality including, political speeches, edicts and "other" means of influence, as well as a wide range of editing and modification functions.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002LE88MK
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 16, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,576 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #14 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Strategy

Product Description

Platform: Xbox 360

Amazon.com Product Description

Tropico 3 is a single player simulation and strategy game for Xbox 360. Packed with a blend of classic city building gameplay that requires both the decision-making expertise of a manager, as well as strategic elements that give the player political options ranging from winning the hearts and minds of your people, to crushing their will to resist, it is a twist on traditional city sim games that is not to be missed. Story and Gameplay In Tropico 3 players take on the role of "El Presidente," the leader of a millitary coup that has recently taken power over the Banana Republic island nation of Tropico. Simulation aspects of the game play out in a heavy emphasis on civic, residential, millitary and institution building across the island, as well as resource management, with the player given the choice as to how to economically facilitate this growth. Regardless whether you turn Tropico into a vacation paradise, a police state or a modern industrial nation - you will always have to defend your actions before your people. Players wander through Tropico as El Presidente in order to intimidate political opponents, hold populist speeches or just to enjoy your country's own Caribbean flair. Create a society of your own design on the strategic Isle of Tropico. View larger. The strategy angle of the game requires players to keep a sharp eye on the dangers and side-effects of your absolute power. Built on the precedant of your own coup, danger lurks on every corner, be it militant revolutionaries plotting to supplant you, or the machinations of the superpowers USA and the Soviet Union, both of whom would like to see a more amenable ruler in strategically important Tropico. Within the game's 15 missions history takes its course with events such as the Cuba crisis, papal visits and other actual decisive historical events. The choice of the means of governing, and persuasion is entirely yours, and the only question is whether or not your vision of Tropico will survive to play a role in that history. Key Game Features Comprehensive campaign with 15 different missions. A variety of business sectors: Tourism, petroleum, mining, agriculture, etc. A timeline editor allows you to create your own fictive historical events or enter real ones. Avatar functionality allowing players to wander the island as El Presidente and change the course of play. Political speeches, edicts and "other" means of influence. A wide range of editing and modification functions. Mission generator for random map creation. The cinematic, highly detailed graphics perfectly reflect. A variety of online-functions such as high scores or visiting islands belonging to other players. Latin music soundtrack. Additional Screenshots: City building sim play. View larger. Revel in island settings. View larger. Use strategy to keep power. View larger. Develop a unique economy. View larger.

Product Description

No matter whether you turn Tropico into a vacation paradise, a police state or a modern industrial nation. you will always have to defend your actions before your people! Wander through Tropico as El Presidente in order to intimidate political opponents, hold populist speeches or just to enjoy your country's own Caribbean flair. Don't forget to keep a sharp eye on the dangers and side-effects of your absolute power! Danger lurks on every corner, be it militant revolutionaries bent on installing a communist junta, or the machinations of the superpowers USA and the Soviet Union, both of whom would like to see a more amenable ruler in strategically important Tropico!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Dictator & City Simulator *SEE IMPORTANT EDITS!!*, February 22, 2010

By 

H. Wang "nycmode" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Tropico 3 (Video Game)

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.

**EDIT NUMBER 3**
There is word now from Kalypso that a patch is indeed in the works. However, no timeframe for the release is being given. However, at least they are aware of the severity of this bug. Nonetheless, the game issue is still being addressed and I will continue to update if I see anything new. Meantime, just as an FYI for those who are asking, apparently loading the game on the HD does not fix the issue either. So based on this info and what I'm providing as well I would recommended people strongly consider this issue before purchasing, at least until it's resolved. IF you're only looking to play the campaign mode, the game does work fine. This apparently is an issue that only affects the sandbox mode. However, given how much fun the sandbox mode is ... I think one should really think twice until a fix is implemented.

**EDIT NUMBER 4**
This is the latest so far based on someone at Kalypso when asked on their board about when the XBOX 360 patch will be released: "There are no fixed release dates for these kinds of things. We will make the update available via Xbox Live as soon as it's done. This being said, things are going well and we're confident this will be available soon." -- So at least we're seeing some progress. Will continue updating ...

**EDIT NUMBER 5 3/17**
Still nothing concrete from the developers. The forum where one discussion about this issue is taking place still has nothing beyond what they've said before (in short: when they are done, and MSFT has QC'd the patch, you poor gamers will get it then). But at the moment as of this day, still no patch ... Will continue to update as I monitor it daily ...

**EDIT NUMBER 6 3/29**
Still nothing, and there is no patch available for download as of the past weekend. I did a test load of my saved games and they all locked up my xbox ... Why is this taking so long ...

**EDIT NUMBER 7 4/12**
Nothing at all. Did a test run on my xbox last night and again my save files froze my game. Developers have not said anything on the forums despite some more users requesting information. This is pretty lame on their part! See if I ever buy any game made by this company again.

**EDIT NUMBER 8 5/17**
A month has passed since my last update. After recurring checks, there is STILL no update/patch for the game to fix the save file crash issue. Several attempts to reload save files have all failed, and the game still freezes up. There is not a peep on the developer forums, and I think generally most people have given up about asking as well. It's a shame. Remind me not to buy anything from this developer again.

**EDIT NUMBER 9 6/1**
Still nothing. I'm now on the company forums making a fuss. Of course no response (and based on the threads I've seen on the topic, it seems others who complained directly to customer service got the usual corporate brush off with a half hearted attempt to ask about the problem with nothing more than a vague offer of a potential patch in the unforseen future. After 3 months ... you'd think they'd have a fix by now?

**EDIT NUMBER 10 6/14**
Nothing at all. Game still freezes when loading save files. I also noticed there is more activity on the forums, but again it's from people who are asking about why there is no fix for the save file crashes. And again, no response from the company ...

**EDIT NUMBER 11 7/6**
No word whatsoever from developer or publisher about the so-called patch that they said months ago they would make the address the problem. This is very disturbing considering they mentioned it so long ago and still have made zero progress. Nothing is being said on the forums from the company, and I'm seeing lots of complaints from users about the lack of feedback. It's a shame ...

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Xbox 360 version is broken, do not buy!, July 17, 2010

By 

18Rabbit (no where) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tropico 3 (Video Game)

Ok this is an amazing game, on par with or better than the previous incarnation. One of the only great sims for xbox.

However, the xbox version has a major bug. If you save a large population. (forums say 500+ but it is much less than that)
When you try to load the game again it freezes. To give you an idea, most sandbox games max out at 1990ish.

This majority disables a huge portion of the game, hampers game playability and achievement potential. Though you can make it through the campaign without experiencing the bug.

Not only is there NO patch after the game has been out since Feb 2010, but NO WORD on a patch. DO NOT buy the xbox 360 version until you check online and verify that a patch has been released. As of July 2010, it hasn't.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Crippling bugs that will not be fixed. Don't Buy., August 4, 2010

By 

Jordan Humphreys (Leicester, GB) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Tropico 3 (Video Game)

The game was fun to play until I tried to save, then the game would crash and you would not be able to reopen your saved game file. The publishers of this game, Kalypso Media, should reimburse everyone who bought the Xbox 360 version, but they will not do that. The game is a rip off and on the verge of a scam. I will never buy another game from these people.

2115|R2XFK9E2DNV1XF;2115|R2R6TYXDL671YB;2115|R29L2SN3313PEX;