Eat your heart out, Tycoon fan. Tropico's got the cure for what ails you.
In Tropico, are cast as the ruler of a small island in the Caribbean during the Cold War. You select from a list of characters (Ranging from Fidel Castro to Lou Bega), and each one comes with a set of vices and virtues which can be altered to your liking. Were you installed by the CIA or the KGB, or did you seize power in a military coupe, or did the Pope appoint you to lead Tropico? Are you an environmentalist farmer or a military-industrial tyrant? The choice is yours. You are then given tools to customize the actual island which you shall control. Mountain height, surface area, population, vegetation and mineral presence may all be fixed to your liking. Then you select from a variety of victory conditions, ranging between merely making people feel good to depositing as much money in a lucritive Swiss bank account as possible.
Once you begin your rule of youri island, it is free to be run as you choose. You can alter your economy per business (Construction, education, military), so you can set equal wages across the board or use a more capitalistic approach. The results will either anger or please your population, and the world superpowers as they watch. Over time you can build military bases, universities, cathedrals, sports arenas, media outlets to spread propoganda, and foreign military bases (In case the Americans become too angry with you and try to invade, the Soviets will protect you).
If the people are unhappy, you can either suffer through the effort of appeasing them, or just have them executed. Either way, you always face the prospect of revolt and peasant revolutions, and occasionally you will be forced to hold elections. But even here you can fudge votes and remain in power, though intellectuals on the island will cry foul. In short, you are as nice or as nasty as you please, and there are literally thousands of possible outcomes so no two games will feel exactly the same.
Graphically, the game is a little simplistic. I personally am not a big proponent of the Sims-esque isometric view that can only rotate 90 degrees, and there are not a prethora of animations to each individual three-dimensional Tropican. But the frame rate is steady, and you can definately tell what is happening by looking at the screen.
The sound effects in and of themselves are a little repetitive (You will grow particularly accustomed to the sound of hammers), but your advisor, a lively disembodied Hispanic voice, has a wealth of suggestions that are usually helpful. And the music is a real treat: it's all Latino music, and it ranges from a nice light background jam with a smooth bass line to some fiery trumpet lines and rousing Spanish vocals. It is worlds apart from your standard Tycoon game fare.
Considering how many options you are afforded in the set-up of each individual gaming session alone (Not to mention that your actions once you begin a game in earnest are totally up to you), and that the expansion comes with a dearth of pre-made scenarios ranging from simplistic to damn near soul-crushing difficulty, this is a game that rewards multiple plays and experimentation. I've been playing it for about five years now and there are features here that make me sometimes wonder if I enjoy it more than, say, the Total War series. Go grab this game, folks.