I tried it tonight, and prior to trying it hoped that it wasn't too different from Tropico, since the original was so fun, and Tropico 2 was hardly a sequel at all. Well, it certainly wasn't too different. I was soon struck by just how similar it was. The gameplay seems to be almost identical. The character traits, the buildings, even the prices for the buildings are almost exactly the same. Sure, there's one or two more options for character traits, and you can build a Llama Ranch now in addition to goat ranches and cattle ranches (which is kinda cool), but it really is essentially the same game with a few minor additions. Even the Avatar feature really is a fairly minor addition. It's cool to be able to have El Presidente actually present on the island, and able to interact with the populace somewhat, and give election speeches, but it doesn't make the game radically different.
The one area that I'll have to reserve judgement on is the events. I'm just a few years in, but they actually have seemed more varied and dynamic. The US and USSR care that I'm borrowing money from the World Bank, and international funds are giving me development money because my island is the worst place to live. Feels a bit less isolated.
edit: I'd like to see how it performs with a very large island, too. The ol' Pentium II tended to slow down with about 400 Tropicans, and now Tropico runs like the breeze with that many. Hopefully software bloat hasn't rendered it so 300 Tropicans makes a modern processor seem slow now.
Economically, the Banana scenario seems easy so far - the U.S. and USSR are just throwing money at me. But then again, I don't know what the difficulty settings are. MrPopov, if the export prices are similar to the original, fish draw rock-bottom prices, and coffee takes a long time to grow after the initial planting (once you get the first harvest, the second it much quicker). At least in this scenario, though, foreign aid ought to be enough to make it through the lean times so long as you don't do anything to significantly upset the USSR.
So I'm undecided on whether I'll buy it. They definitely played it safe, which means there's no real big negatives. But whether it's worth paying $35-$40 for, with it being so similar, I'm not sure. I'd been hoping there'd be just a bit more to differentiate it.
Us Europeans get shafted once again.
