Rule a Caribbean Island in Tropico 4!

Viva El Presidente! Have you ever wanted to be a dictator? Now you can experience all the ups and downs of absolute rule during the Cold War with Tropico 4, a city-building political sim now available on Xbox 360. As president of a small Caribbean nation, you must build your tiny country into an economic powerhouse, while juggling the demands of rival factions and trying to keep everyone happy.

At its core, the console-exclusive Tropico 4 for Xbox 360 is a colorful city-building sim, so first provide basic necessities for your Tropicans, such as housing and medical care. Later, you can build an industry making rum or rolling cigars, or you can opt for a luxurious Caribbean resort to attract high-roller tourists.
Download the free Tropico 4 demo here.
If you're new to the series, I'd suggest playing through the tutorials, which introduce all the various gameplay elements and get you ready for your first island. If you're a Tropico 3 veteran, there is lots of new stuff to look forward to, as the new game also contains all the extras from the Absolute Power expansion (which never came out on Xbox 360).

The award-winning Tropico 4 introduces many new elements to the series, such as a Council of Ministers, imported goods, interactive disasters, plus dozens of new buildings and edicts. There are new disasters to contend with, such as volcanoes and tsunamis. The controller is easy and intuitive to use while navigating menus and moving around your island, not an easy task for any conversion from the mouse-and-keyboard setup.
Rule your island however you like – be a benevolent dictator or a ruthless tyrant. Pay off striking dock workers to return to their jobs, or send your army to the docks to deal with the troublemakers. You can try to buy elections by bribing faction leaders, or you can declare martial law and outlaw elections altogether. Better keep your military happy though, or you'll end up with only a few palace guards to protect you in the middle of a military coup.

Play in "God Mode" on your own created island with no real objectives if you want, but the real fun is the Campaign, a series of 20 missions across 10 different islands. Complete a series of tasks on each island to advance. You may need to export a certain number of cigars, for example, or attract a certain number of tourists to your island.

Helping (or complicating) your plans is a hilarious cast of international characters, from a sexy KGB spy to a U.S. senator named Nick Richards (who keeps assuring you that he's not a crook). The factions on your island are also represented by characters who praise or (more often) complain about your efforts, such as a drunken priest, a hippy-chick environmentalist, or a snarling mohawked nationalist.
I haven't encountered any of the save issues which plagued Tropico 3 on Xbox 360, but I haven't pushed an island much past 400-500 citizens. It's a genre sadly underrepresented on Xbox 360, with all the blockbuster shooters dominating the conversation. Haemimont and Kalypso have done a great job bringing it to the Xbox 360 audience.
Download the demo here and try your hand at ruling a Caribbean paradise. Talk about it here in the Tropico 4 forum. Viva El Presidente!

import from: http://forums.xbox.com/xbox_forums/b/community_blog/archive/2011/10/21/rule-a-caribbean-island-in-tropico-4.aspx