Tropico 2: Pirate Cove

"Decent For RTS Beginners"

As per other reviews, you play a pirate. Well, more like a governer, mayor, or president that happens to have pirates and captives as your subjects on a small tropical island. Your goals are to keep your pirates (and wealthy captives) happy, and keep your worker captives frightened. You build ships, capture skilled workers, plunder ships, and raid settlements. And you try to start what amounts to a fledgling island ecomony based on slave labor by building farms, massuese shops, bars, gambling dens, housing, and manufacturing facilities.

Graphics: 8

Well done and finely detailed. Recreates the imaginary beauty of a Caribbean island nicely. Pirates look like pirates, buildings have a cute shanty look. It looks like an isometric tile based game engine. But I am guessing that it uses some super detailed tiles, being that it runs relatively poorly on a p4 2.53 GeForce 5700 at 800x600 set at mid-level zoom.

Sound: 7

The game's background music is very well done, in a light light calypso style, quite fitting to the game's setting -although more tracks would have been nice. The credits also list a website for the music producers, alas it was down when I checked it. Background sounds are effective, if a bit repetitive.

Gameplay: 6

I'll admit I've only played ''normal'' so far, but if you have any Real Time Strategy/Resource Management game playing skills, you'll whomp this game. All you really need to worry about is timber. You'll be rolling in cash and captives, generally enough so that if a few escape, it doesn't matter, you'll get more.

But my biggest gripe is the UI. To do certain things within the game requires way too many mouse-clicks (i.e., ransoming captives, doling out parrots and hats) and the accuracy of the pointer leaves a bit to be desired. If I could make one simple change to the UI, it would be that when the logbook is up, the rest of the game menus are NOT disabled.


Overall: 7

Overall the game is kinda fun, if a bit underwhelming -and if you are considering joining the RTS/RM gaming realm, this just might be a decent start. It isn't too taxing to get going and there's no Zerg/infantry/tank rush to worry about. Although given that some of the game's subject matter could be considered ''unsuitable for chilren'', maybe any version Sim City would be better. -or even any of Westwood's excellent Command and Conquer series.

ill13

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/04