Tropico Reloaded

I have played all the successors and Tropico 6 is great, but I always return to the original for the nostalgia and there is still one scenario I have never managed to complete, even with cheats. I just lose sense of time and immerse myself into my tropical dictatorship.

This is one of my favorite games of all time. At time of review, 50 hours on steam. Realistically, since I was a teenager, its in the many hundreds. Game mechanics are simple. This is one of the first games I've played where each individual person on the map had needs, basic personality traits, skills, etc. Contrast that with other contemporary city builders, like SimCity, where the people didnt really exist. My favorite parts about the game are the aesthetics, personality/charm, music and level of detail. Above all, the aesthetics were unlike that of any game I had played before or since. This was a product of the golden era of 3D generated sprites (AOE2, Diablo I/II, Starcraft, Donkey Kong Country, etc.). The graphical user interface decisions made then to optimize for slow hardware made for a really unique and beautiful aesthetic. Personally, I was not much impressed by games in the era immediately after this of low-poly 3D junk graphics. It wasnt until ~2010 that 3D graphics bridged that uncanny valley.

That said, I love the sound of grinding stones when pressing buttons, I love the worn stucco texture on the GUI, I love the little graphics in each of the edicts, and hand painted graphics of fruit when checking the fertility screen... I couldnt list it all. This game is just full of charm. I mostly played it as a sandbox game, aiming for high scores on the 70 year play through. I was a major fan of the Cafe Tropico website and forums where some people had this game figured out to an absolute science. Sadly, I think all that content was lost and with individual forum posts not archived by the WayBackMachine.

Fast forward a few years, when Tropico 3 came out, and I had to say, all of the unique features that I thought made the game unique and special were gone. The interface was bland. Graphics were pretty bad. The translation of mechanics to 3D just felt very "meh" to me.

I love Tropico for being one of the great games from its era. This was back in the day when my mom probably randomly picked me up this game standing in line at a TJ Max or Marshalls, on the shelf next to Roller Coaster Tycoon--most likely. Simply different times.

Had I written this review at any other time in my life, I'm sure I would have had much more, specific and greater things to say about the game, but I'll leave it here.

Definitely worth

It's 2023, I played this game to check out how much difference it is compared to the newer Tropico and also because I bought the whole series. I remembered the first time I tried to play Tropico was Tropico 3 and coming back to this 1st edition, its like what they say 'old but gold'

The original TROPICO, plus DLCs, plus two sequels. Plays definitely better than on a Windows 98 or XP PC, and I have the receipts! If you like RETRO Games and City Builders, you definitely can't go wrong with this one.
I played this game on a Win98 and XP PC for me Retro Series on YouTube, check it out here:
(Tropico episode will release shortly)

The original with tailor made challenges or free play on your own tailor made scenario.
Music is iconic and the graphics, whilst old, are still perfectly adequate.
The idea is simple; stay in power till you retire. Create a little nest egg whilst making your island profitable and happy. Create an economy that will support your ambitions. Beware of the mood of your people as revolutions can be costly...as are the natural disasters! The characters are great and fun to watch. Seriously recommended as the future Tropico's, whilst using better graphics, can't hold a torch to the original.

The original Tropico isn't that bad of an original title considering it's age. Tropico, if it was a person would be able to buy beer, cigarettes and guns; the title was released twenty two years. It's an interesting case study in game design and was quite novel for the year 2001. Tropico II is in my opinion less interesting to play for the simple fact that you can't build structures in the game as you please. You're forced to build next to a road which makes no sense, pirates aren't known for building roads; like say the Romans. I'm pretty sure that they would be okay with simply clearing the jungle like in the original Tropico.

Go back to where the Tropico series started! Tropico Reloaded includes the original Tropico game from 2001 and its Paradise Island expansion. It also includes Tropico 2: Pirate Cove (the "piratey" Tropico).
Given it's an older game, the demands are not high, so you should be able to run this on ancient hardware.
The graphics are obviously a bit dated, but the core gameplay is excellent. If you're looking for a more modern entry in the series, I'd recommend Tropico 4.