So, you've always wanted to be a nefarious, bloodthirsty Pirate King who causes his captives to cower in fear? Well, you'll have your chance in Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, the sequel to Tropico, the popular economic strategy game from a few years ago.

As in Tropico, ethics are thrown out and the name of the game is to advance by unscrupulous means. Unlike Tropico, the main money making source is not industries on the island, but rather stealing from other countries on the high seas. I haven't played the original Tropico, so can't really compare differences in detail, but the interface and game mechanics appear to be pretty much the same in both games. The main difference lies in the pirate theme and the economic necessity of offshore lucre.

Players are presented with four main choices of play: Campaign, scenario and sandbox modes, plus an extra map editor that allows players to first generate a map as in the sandbox mode, and then change the scripting code to tweak the game further. There is also a "learn" mode, which is a tutorial that walks players through the interface commands and main game strategies. The learn mode is an excellent place for newbies to start, and the campaign mode also leads players gently through game mechanics in the first five or so episodes. The online guide, "Smitty", instructs players on various game components in the learn mode. He is also present in the rest of the game, but can be turned off.

The story is that you, a young aspiring go-getter, has ended up on a pirate-infested island in the Caribbean after escaping from authorities who just didn't understand. You instantly hit it off with the pirate king, and embark on a campaign of larceny together, attempting to dominate the New World's seas. The year is 1650 and the ocean is your oyster, as the saying goes.

Games begin on an island, somewhere in the warm waters off the southern coast of North America known as the Caribbean. While the objectives of the different scenarios and episodes vary, the basic goals are still the same: Keep the pirates happy, and the captives subdued. In order to do this, character specific buildings have to be built to influence ratings such as anarchy and gambling for the pirates, and fear and prayer for the captives. Above all, keep the gold flowing!

Certain buildings have auras that directly affect passersby, so careful thought has to be taken to their eventual placement. In essence, while building, players need to keep in mind that an entertainment district needs to be planned for the pirates, and a commercial district planned for the captives. Of course, there is some through traffic of captives and pirates due to the need for captives to work at the entertainment places, and for pirates to be overseers at commercial buildings, but the main decor needs to be one or the other. Also, in the mid-point of the game, dwelling places for the pirates will also need to be planned.

In the beginning of each game, players will need to build essential buildings such as timber yards for lumber (a requirement for payment on most future buildings), and entry level entertainment buildings such as a brothel, a gambling den and a dining place. Buildings which supply the needs for these businesses must also be built, such as a brewery and banana farm. And, of course, a boatyard is essential for constructing a boat that will enable players to leave the island in search of booty and more captives.

The main difficulty in most of the scenarios and episodes lies in the limited labor pool in the beginning, and the restricted means of getting more workers. A large work force is essential to build specific buildings, and to make it a little more interesting, many buildings require skilled workers which have to be kidnapped singly, which takes a bit of time. Juggling the need for more workers, certain types of workers, and money is a constant struggle, as the ships can only undertake one sort of mission at a time.

Once a ship(s) is built, the pirate crew can sail off to collect workers by raiding settlements, or steal money, weapons and wealthy captives for later ransom from three different countries: Spain, England and France. Edicts direct the ships to either cruise for booty, explore, raid settlements, kidnap craftsmen and foster war (plunder ships while falsely sailing under a different country's flag). Having more than one ship is essential to facilitate multiple missions. In between missions, the crew will relax on the island, doing what pirates do best, eating, drinking and seeking "companionship", the game's euphemism for sex.

As the companionship aspect is an integral part of the game, it does need to be addressed a little in this review. Visiting a brothel is important for the pirates' companionship needs, and wenches are the suppliers at the buildings. The entry level brothel just features an unskilled wench at the door and a pair of lips above the building, but the mid-level building has a topless mermaid prominently featured on the side of the building. If players don't want their kids wandering by and asking, "hey, what exactly is that building with the naked mermaid for, anyway?", they may want to keep the building out of sight on the main screen while playing. While the sex that apparently happens when the male pirates go inside isn't displayed (female pirates satisfy the need for preening at these same buildings), everyone pretty much understands what a brothel and a courtesan is for.

Each of these buildings are important for the effect they have on the pirates and captives. Each individual character's personal statistics can be viewed singly along with their latest thoughts, but also the collective ratings can be viewed for the two main groups, via the handy log book. This book is essential for checking the ratings to see what character needs may need to be addressed. If a particular group becomes unhappy enough, either a mutiny or revolt may be eminent, an event that needs to be avoided, if possible.

The ship missions are an interesting addition to the Tropico model, and offer a large variety of options such as gathering information, toadying up to one of the important nations such as England, raiding for captives, and more. Unfortunately, all the action is taken care of by the computer, and players don't have any input on the missions once undertaken, not even as an onlooker, as the action takes place off-screen. Being able to direct the battles aka HOMM would have been great, especially as each pirate's skills are directly affected by these missions and battles. Oh well.

Some of the more fun edicts include the ability to betray all the pirates of a certain nationality to gain favor with the nation and also to help alleviate pirate overcrowding, to assassinate certain pirates, and to foster war with the other countries. When getting rid of certain nationalities of captives, though, players need to keep in mind the nationality of certain skilled workers. One episode, I lost both my pirate captains due to betraying all English pirates.

The interface is designed well, and imparts a great amount of information without being cluttered. The log book is a wonderful compendium of statistics! Other information such as the current status of buildings, individual ratings, and various edict commands are readily accessible by a single click, unlike many interfaces in similar games where the desired information has to be followed through by a convoluted trail of menu buttons. A few things could have been better designed, such as the urgent need for an "undo" button, and the ability to "drag" building functions to perform multiple constructions, instead of having to hold down the "ctrl" button while building to do so. Also, for some reason certain buildings can be rotated for placement, but not all, which is strange.

The map editor definitely adds to the longevity of the game, but is a little more complex than some map editors that do all the work for the player. Here, players will need to first generate a map in a method similar to the sandbox mode, then name and save the map. Then, exit from the game to access the scripts that go with the various maps in the program folder and manually tweak the code, finally saving the finished .txt file under the same name as the generated map. This process is made fairly simple by two sample .txt files that explain how to do this, but some experimentation will be necessary for those who are not used to programming language.

The game looks fairly nice, with no loss of detail on zoom. While not state of the art, the graphics do a good job of enhancing the game's enjoyment. Each character is busy going about their daily tasks of living, and it's fun to watch them work, rest, and gamble. I also got a big kick from seeing the different styles of walking and the different dress of specific workers such as priests, cooks, servers, farmers, lumberjacks and others.

The music was easily my favorite aspect of the game, which is unusual for me. The Caribbean tunes were so much fun to listen to, and the tunes crept into my brain and have stayed there. A funny thing about this is that my husband and I are planning on taking a Caribbean cruise this summer and these songs have just added to my anticipation of the trip.

I've had a lot of fun with this game, and have enjoyed building my pirate kingdom while listening to some great music. The initial gameplay is varied and amusing, and will keep players busy for awhile. However, the depth of play after several days isn't quite as deep as games such as Warcraft, HOMM, Caesar 3 and Civilization. Still, a worthy entry into the simulation/strategy world for players who are looking for something a little different and who are not bothered by the brothel theme.
 

Graphics: 7 
The graphics are mostly of average quality which maintain the same integrity in different zoom views.

Sound: 9
Easily my favorite part of the game! The Jamaican-style music is wonderful and will have everyone tapping their feet.

Concept: 8 
A different type of strategy game, where the bad guys win.

Overall: 8
While this is an amusing game, I'm not really happy about playing a game with a brothel, but that's an individual decision. I do believe that the same game component could have been as easily satisfied with having the taverns feature pretty serving wenches as entertainers, besides the basic servers working there.

The gameplay will keep everyone busy for awhile, but after some time spent building the pirate island, things become more of a waiting game than anything else. The time limits have something to do with this, as many of the scenarios and episodes have to do with accomplishing things by a certain time, rather than meeting a goal. Once the goal is met, players have to wait for the time to run out. Other than keeping the pirates happy, the captives resigned and the gold flowing, there's not much else to do while waiting.