You're not alone in the Caribbean and will need to manage your relations with
the English, Spanish, and French (the Dutch are absent in the game).
Diplomacy can be managed by edicts handed down to your pirates to instruct them
to avoid the ships and settlements of a given nation or to issue a proclamation
of support for one of the three crowns. Friendly nations will reward you
with additional captives while hostile ones may decide to invade your little
island. The inclusion of diplomacy in the game is good, but it feels
underdeveloped. The diplomacy of the times was a very complex web of
treaties, piracy, and privateers, and a deeper diplomacy model would have added
a lot to the game. Instead it is reduced to raid who you don't like while
avoiding who you do.
 |
| A wenching we will go, a wenching we will go... |
The sea mission aspect of the game is also a little disappointing as the action
all happens off-screen and without any input from you. Your ship sails
off, you get some messages regarding successful attacks or the loss of ship or
crew, and then the ship sails back into port. You don't have the
opportunity to command your ships or fight sea or land battles. Since such
endeavors are an integral part of the pirate experience, it would have been nice
if the game let you take part in them.
In addition to letting you build your pirate empire from scratch, the game does
come with a series of missions strung together to form a campaign. The
campaign is more of a detailed tutorial though, as there is not much of a story
to it and each mission emphasizes a different aspect of play. Tropico 2
could certainly have had several deep and compelling campaigns considering all
the interesting history associated with the time and place of the game's
setting.
If you're a Tropico veteran then you'll find a lot about the game familiar,
especially when it comes to the interface. This is not a bad thing,
though, as the interface is well-designed, easy to use, and provides you with a
wealth of information. Between the map overlays and all of the graphs and
data found in the Island Log Book, you'll be able to make well-informed
decisions on what you should build next and where you should place it.
Also in the Tropico tradition is the game's great soundtrack. While period
music might have been the best choice to get you in a pirating mood, the game
has its own original soundtrack that is a fusion of Caribbean, African, and
Spanish beats. The music will keep you in a good mood and make you want to
play with a banana daiquiri in one hand.
While there could have been more to Tropico 2, it is still a good game in its
own right. The economic model is nicely situated between over-simplified
and too complex, and there are enough structures to make your pirate islands fun
to build. However, the lack of a compelling campaign and the fact that the
setting is basically the same for every game could affect the game's ability to
hold your interest over the long haul. The amount of time you spend with
Tropico 2 will depend more on your interest in sims than your interest in
pirates.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
82%. Argh, it's good to be the pirate king! But it'd be even
better if you could do some of the plundering yourself.
System Requirements: Pentium III 500; 64 MB RAM; 16 MB
Video RAM; 1.8 GB Hard Drive
Space; Mouse.
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