Tropico 3 or Empire:Total War

I know these games are vastly different experiences but I was wondering if you guys could help me with making a decision over getting one of these games. I'd like to know if either of these games have any blaring weaknesses or gleaming advantages over each other. I've read many reviews for both but I can't make up my mind. Thanks in advance for any help I may receive!

ETW is longer and has a lot more replay value. Some things are kinda broken though and it doesn't run well. If you can see past the lack of polish and is moderatly interested in the concept it can give you some really epic battles.

Tropico 3 is really fun with a lot of humour etc, but it doesn't really last. The game gets boring pretty fast for me. All Tropico does is make me want to play Anno1404 really.
Doesn't run that well either but isn't buggy as ETW.

I had Tropico 3 installed on my computer for about half an hour.

Empire, well.. I would actually say the atmosphere of empire, the "history lesson" you can get from the game, is what I thought was the greatest part of Empire, the battles and the AI seems "wrong" to me, they got some problems..

Tropico 3 - well your typical sim builder - on an Island with you as the dictator. I thought it was fun for a couple of hours, then it's basically doing the same again from scratch - there are some pretty nice inputs during the course of a game thou, which can spice it up a little.

Empire - 1 hour to 1000 hours of fun (and frustration, due to glitches etc.)

Tropico - 1 hour to 50 hours of fun

Basically both games are coffee drinking games, but one focus on building an empire, and dealing with wars/diplomacy/trade, whereas the other is focused on building the/your empire, while keeping track of a little logistics/happiness of the slaves/inhabitants of your island.

I cant comment on ETW but Tropico 3 is a really fun game. I highly recommend it. Its even better with the expansion and it has quite a meaty campaign.

ETW is a great game with a lot to do.

I thought Tropico 3 was hella boring, but that's just me.

Go with Tropico 3, you won't regret it

I like tropico better. Total war is great but empire is by far the worst title.

Tropico 3.

hmmm tough call... but I'd have to say Tropico 3

Empire: Total War is a great game if you look past the poor perfromance. To me, Empire's biggest flaw is that the scale is to big