Developer by Haemimont Games and published by Kalypso Media, Tropico 3 is a throwback to the original Tropico, the much beloved strategy game from PopTop Software. Tropico was released in 2001 to extremely favorable reviews. The game captivated strategy and simulation fans with its excellent gameplay and tongue-in-cheek humor. In 2003, Tropico 2 was released; a decent sequel to be certain, but the game did not quite garner the same response as the first.

Enter Haemimont Games and Tropico 3. Whether you are new to the series or nostalgic for the Tropico days old olde, fans of the strategy genre should quite pleased with all that awaits them. Tropico 3 takes place during the Cold War. You have taken control of a Caribbean island where you rule as “El Presidente”. In your role as top dog, it’s completely up to you to decide your approach for leading your country. Perhaps you want to treat them mean and keep them keen. That works! Maybe you want to be the people’s president; the most loved El President of all time. Go for it, you are El Presidente and you can do whatever you like. You can use your government’s riches to pad your Swiss bank accounts, or you can put it back into the country in form of food, education or health care. You can build a tropical paradise or turn Tropico into a military fortress.

When starting out in Tropico 3 you will select an avatar, and with it a personality based on past leaders such as Fidel Castro or Eva Peron, or one of your own designs. When creating a custom avatar you must make some difficult choices as you wade through characteristics, as well as your strengths and flaws. Every choice you make during character setup has its own perks or downfalls. For example, choosing a background as a Farmer may buy you the admiration of ‘the simple folk’, but it also comes with a hit to your intellectual faction.

After re-creating yourself to fit your new El Presidente role, you will probably want to head straight in and put up some farms to help feed your people. Of course, buildings farms also opens up jobs for your residents which is always a good thing. Your advisor will make some suggestions on what type of buildings to throw up first. Once you’ve got things rolling it’s time to start working towards filling your objectives. Just when you begin to think that life is good, the game advisor will start slamming you with issues in which you must make decisions on; such as battleships approaching or government protests. There will likely come a time when you are so overwhelmed with things to do that you will have to pause the game to get caught up on your duties. The missions do provide a nice challenge right from the start of the game. There’s a bit of time to get your feet wet, but then get ready to strategize Tropico style!

Fans of the original Tropico will be glad to know that “Edicts” are back. When you issue an edict it comes at a price, as both a negative and a positive are associated with each. I think my favorite edict has to be the one where you can send your prisoners to Florida. How awesome is that?! Unless you live in Florida. But you don’t! You live in Tropico and you are El Presidente! One feature that is new to the Tropico series is the Tropico 3 re-election system. As you prepare for the election you can create your own election speech. You can make promises that you plan to deliver on, or you can lie your ass off and pay the price the later.

Any way you choose to play it, Tropico 3 is a fun game. If you enjoyed the previous versions in the series, then you will certainly love Tropico 3. The graphics are fantastic, the music is immersive, and gameplay is nice and smooth. There’s tons to see and do in Tropico. Find out for yourself! The Tropico 3 Demo features the game’s tutorial plus the first two full missions. Tropico will launch on October 20, 2009 for the PC, and in February 2010 on the Xbox 360.