I lack the necessary charisma to rule over anything. I’ve always been more of a follower than a leader. After playing Tropico 3 , I’ve gained an appreciation for being one of the unwashed masses. Tropico 3 is a management simulation game with the focus on city-building and ruling over a fictional third-world island nation. It sounds simple enough, but things get hectic quick, and this game will make you work for your good time.

You’ll play the part of El Presidente as you take control of the island of Tropico. You’re goal is to develop the barren rock into a thriving island nation. You’ll have plenty of tools at your disposal to accomplish this feat, with the tools of construction being key among them. The emphasis of the game is on city-building, and you will be doing plenty of that. You’ll build things to make yourself rich, defend your island from enemies and please the people.

Ah, yes, the people. Despite being the beloved dictat— I mean, ruler, of Tropico and its populace, part of your mission is to placate the humble dirt famers that live on your island. After all, a rebellion is never good for your health. This wouldn’t be so bad if these people weren’t so damn unhappy. They’ll complain about everything and have no remorse for a leader cursed with debt. This proves to be the biggest hurdle you’ll need to cross when playing Tropico 3. The learning curve is stacked against you in the beginning, since everybody demands something of you and you’re too poor to do anything about it. Tropico 3 is determined to separate the true rulers among us with such a steep entry fee. However, you’re in for quite the fun game if you can pass the entrance exam.

Once you manage to get the economy moving into the green, you can focus on the game proper. The people are divided into different factions, such as environmentalists and militarists. You have to make sure the leaders are happy enough to rally the people against you. If a faction member gets especially annoyed with you, they will flee to the jungle and become rebels. Too many rebels means a big problem for the future of your reign. In addition to the internal diplomacy, both the United States and the USSR are keeping tabs on you and how you’re treating the people. Keeping them on your side leads to financial aid, a glorious boon in the beginning stages. Having them hate you means an invasion. The main strategy to keeping everybody pleased is building things they want.

Basically, the challenge comes from taking the punches in the early years when you can’t afford to build things the people need. After that, most of the challenge comes from making space for all your urban development and resisting the urge to kill your builders. These builders are the sole reason the beginning is so difficult. They construct buildings seemingly whenever they feel like getting around to it and only assign one or two to builders to a project no matter how many of them you may have hired. They also refuse to build more than one thing at once, ensuring the people are mad at you as long as possible. Happily, you can eventually execute them for kicks after your island becomes financially and politically stable. Sometimes, it really is good being El Presidente.

Thankfully, Tropico 3 does its best to keep you entertained through the frustrating parts. The fictional radio program run by Juanito of Tropico News Today keeps things loose with its funny commentary on the situation of Tropico. Most of the random events that you will be faced with will also give you a chuckle or two. Will you save the explorers from El Chupacabra and gain the respect of your people or arrange lucrative hunting expeditions to its den? Given the fact that you can run your empire as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara or your own created ruler, there are some fun and games along with the tough parts.

The Xbox 360 version of Tropico 3 is a port of the original PC game, and almost nothing was altered in the transition. Although it is nice to see such faith in consoles, the complexity can be troublesome at times. The menus, for instance, are just plain out to get you. You’ll need to navigate many lists and stats to see who’s angry, who’s poor and who needs to be “silenced” for the good of Tropico. Using a controller to do this is awkward at best and an exercise in futility at worst. You’ll accidentally close out of menus on a regular basis and desperately try to simultaneously press all the buttons needed to open financial information. I was begging for the ability to click a mouse once rather than press 10 buttons just to close the menus.

Tropico 3 is not for the faint of heart. It will make you earn your fun. I was frustrated at first, but mastering the mechanics of the game was such a satisfying experience that I can hardly remember my early difficulties. If you’re up to the challenge, Tropico 3 is worthy of your time and domination.