Tropico 2: Pirate Cove Review

Ahoy there you filthy scallywags! (Ed.- Yarr.) We will be hangin the manjacks from the Mizzen Yardarm, or my name be not Bootblack VADAR of the Seven Seas! These delightful catchphrases are sort of an emblem of Frog City's new achievement Tropico 2: Pirate Cove. Players who are familiar with the first two incarnations of Tropico (Tropico and Tropico: Paradise Island) are no doubt fully aware of the concept that's being presented here. In each title in the Tropico series you assume the role of a local governor and you do your best to establish a prosperous and well-organized society. Of course, you have seen a game like this before, similar gameplay fundamentals have been utilized in games like Caesar and Sim City. The question of course, is whether this type of game can still appeal to hardcore gamers in our modern times. Looking at Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, we see that not much has been done in terms of making any revolutionary progress in gameplay. Regardless, the whole idea of running your very own pirate cove appears to do the trick. But, does the game have all it takes to meet the likes of titles like, say, Sim City 4? Well, that's what we're about to find out.

Welcome stranger.

This is where yer be keeping all the treasure?

No matter what genre is in question, I think all of you would agree that a good storyline always counts for something. To be honest, it should count for a lot, but the plot, which is conveyed throughout the campaign in Tropico 2, is somewhat weak and underdeveloped. Anyway, the story begins after you escape from captivity and find refuge on a pirate-infested island. As luck would have it, you happen to be a slick young individual who has soon became respected by the local buccaneers as well as the dwelling captives. Soon enough you were awarded the title of governor. A triumph you say? Hardly. Now you are faced with many agonizing decisions, through a career which requires you to appease a population of raging pirates and hard-working detainees. Challenges will be at your doorstep every minute. If the overall happiness on your island starts to drop, you run the risk of mutiny and general collapse of the entire society. (Ed. - And when your society is made up of prisoners and bloodthirsty cutthroats, that ain't good.) At any rate, keep the pirates and captives happy and no harm will come to you... So, keep the men content, or you are liable to get your head cut off, literally.

The player can look forward to a campaign that comprises of sixteen missions. Next to that, you may choose from a several individual scenarios. Generally, things are not that different from any of the previous Tropico games. Even the basic interface outline remained the same, although the makeup has changed slightly to fit the tropical-pirate setting. Functionality wise, there are no apparent mishaps or problems that could be associated with the overall design of the interface. The newbie player will take an hour at most to get acquainted with all of the options and the fairly standard point-and-click control system. On the other hand, not all things are perfect in Tropico 2. Although the basic concept of the game is very simple, players might have trouble understanding straightening their manufacturing priorities. So, I think you could say that it has a slightly steep learning curve, but nothing serious.

The simplist piece of advice I could give you regarding T2: Pirates Cove is, do not rush things. Building impulsively across the map can create several problems that are hard to overcome. Plainly enough, the idea is to carefully consider which structures will benefit your population in a particular moment during the game. While this may seem obvious now (while you're reading this review), during the game it can be somewhat puzzling to determine your construction priorities. Most players will get confused at the very beginning, and usually erect buildings or houses impulsively. Also, there's a number of missions in the beginning of the campaign that do not appear to offer enough solutions with which the player could handle the lack of working force. Captives are your main working force. And, being such, you can increase their numbers in various ways; they can either be gathered by raiding military settlements or by collecting shipwrecked civilians. The problem is that when you begin any mission, resources are scarce, so you are obliged to gather all the manpower you need in order to speed up production. That only leaves shipwrecked captives as your sole source of workmanship. Of course, the bad thing is you cannot choose how much people will be washed up on shore (that's more of a God-like decision), which means you have to wait for the computer to pick a random number of marooned prisoners and only then can you start employing more inhabitants to perform all the exasperating local slogs.

Vadar's cozy pirate lair - all females will find a home here!

Everyone has to do their bit for the good of the community.

To those of you who are expecting to play a classic Pirates game, fighting against galleys on the sea, you are sadly mistaken. This game is not about cruisin' across the sea so you can fight in sea-dog style sword duels. Tropico 2 underscores the importance of preserving a wealthy and stable economy. Differing from its predecessors, Tropico 2 brings a refreshing concept into the world of micromanaging simulators. There are three ways in which you accumulate your gold coin collection. Your buccaneers can set out to sea and start plundering other ships (which will be done automatically by the CPU, you just get to select the pirates you think are adequate for the journey), or they can just interfere with neighboring trade deals. Also, when your crew starts ransacking enemy frigates and schooners, you can easily get your hands on wealthy captives, which may then be ransomed for a substantial amount of money - their value will increase if you keep them on the island for a long time. This works pretty well and can sometimes become the only way to avoid going broke.

After playing the game for more than a few days, I was slowly beginning to feel tired with the whole idea. Clearly it seems that this sequel was arranged and designed in kind of a hurry since there aren't that many alternatives throughout the missions other than kidnapping skilled craftsmen, plundering, raiding, and exploring. It all works very well when you combine it with the whole gameplay on the island, but it would've been nice if you could control your ships every once and a while, changing the standard scenery, which you're likely to get tired of real soon.

Visually, the game hasn't brought any particularly innovative moments over the original. Still, it possesses enough features for this type of game. Perhaps the only thing that could be regarded as a slip up is the poor ground textures that are noticeable once you zoom in. Other than that, the animation of some of the characters is smooth and realistic, often humorous. It wouldn't have hurt though, if the developers threw in a bit more details, like day and night cycles, different weather effects, larger maps, etc. Regardless, these few weak moments in the graphics shouldn't worry you too much, because Tropico exhibits a range of high-quality sounds effects, as well as a neat-sounding mix of cheerful tunes that could perk up even the stiffest gamer. So, if any comments are to be given out to the technical aspect, I'd go for the music and sound first.

In summary, there's really nothing else to say about Tropico 2: Pirate Cove. For those of you who are expecting radical changes or improvements over the original, it's safe to say you'll be slightly disappointed. Nonetheless, if you have enjoyed the previous two titles, this one could keep your attention for some time. There's no doubt that the game puts forth well-oiled gameplay dynamics and a revised economic system that appears to have done the trick. The key to success is stirring up your population growth and looking after the best interest of your community, taking care of your citizens both individually and collectively. In short if you're worried about not having any challenges, you can stop worrying, cause there will be plenty of things for you to do.

The bad thing is that at some point, the game is bound to become tedious and there's not much in it that would increase its replayability. In the end, even though Tropico 2 addresses a completely different timeline and culture, it's still has that special zing that remains true to the series. But, in all honesty, the game doesn't seem to deliver any particularly striking facets that might put it up there with other micromanaging legends.