Many other reviewers have hit on the high points of Planescape: Torment. I wholeheartedly agree that it's one of the most engrossing games I've ever played, and the characters are far more interesting and worthy of the gamer's attention than in any other RPG (save perhaps for some of the Final Fantasy titles). This is a dialogue-focused game, where combat is relatively simplistic (though satisfying, kind of like the original Diablo), but there are many puzzles to solve that can be approached in different ways depending on the gamer's desire. You can be a dashing selfless hero, or a manipulative rogue bent on total chaos and destruction. Either way, you can still "win" the game. That said, having finished the game and seen at least 2 of the possible endings, I was very much disappointed in how it all winds down. The second half of the game--pretty much everything after leaving Sigil--was nowhere near as developed as the first half. The areas are small and static, there are far fewer NPCs to interact with, hardly any sidequests, and a few great pieces of loot/equipment that come way too late in the game to be of any use. You don't even *have* to fight the final boss. And this leads me to my biggest critique: after all the build-up in The Nameless One's relationships with his companions (especially the not-so-subtle innuendos with Annah, and the unexpected hints of devotion from Grace), I felt like we deserved much more than the brief, choice-less dialogues that come with only some of the endings. The other endings don't even bother resurrecting your allies. I'm not a critic of the ultimate fate of The Nameless One; it leaves a very open-ended scenario for the gamer to imagine what comes next. But for the lack of closure with his friends (or his hapless servants, if you went that route), as well as for the generally rushed feeling of the latter sections of the game (perhaps understandable when you look at the production history of P:T), I have to deduct one star.
Tropico 1 is an addictive political / strategy sim game, more in the spirit of Sim City than Civilization. They did a great job of making every individual citizen of the island interactive, so you could, for example, assassinate or imprison someone who leads one of the opposing factions. The Caribbean island setup is clearly based on real historical places and leaders, but you have plenty of flexibility in mixing and matching or creating your own character. It's one of those games that makes it enjoyable to be the 'bad leader.' Most of the time, there's no combat (only in some scenarios, or if the opposing factions get out of hand). It's more about building up your island's economy while keeping the capitalists and communists and everyone else in check. It has a fantastic soundtrack, to boot. Tropico 2 is a completely different game, that in some ways seems like the younger brother of Tropico. It's set in the same place, but several hundred years earlier. You take on the role of a pirate and build up your pirate's cove while sending ships out to prowl on the European colonial fleets. Unfortunately, the most interesting aspect of the game -- the pirate ships' missions -- isn't very interactive. You can set some options and tell them where to go, but once they leave port you don't have any control until they return. It's also annoying how the ships will often get captured or sunk, leaving you without any real source of gold until you construct another one. The pirate economy is much simpler than the island economy in Tropico 1, and rather than dealing with multiple competing factions (which is very interesting), you're just dealing with pirates and prisoners. It's a fun game in itself, but for the low price of both of these, it's really more of a lagniappe. Buy them and enjoy!
