Bored? Tropico 2 is cheap, entertaining investment.

Recently I found myself browsing the computer games at my local Best Buy store. "Tropico 2: Pirate Cove," with its brightly colored packaging and low price, immediately stood out. After reading the box, I decided to give it a shot.

The premise of the game is that you are a pirate captain and your job is to build and control a pirate island. You can play in the campaign mode, which is a series of scenarios in which you have goals. For example, you might be required to capture 10,000 goal, using your pirate ships. You can also play in free play mode.

Later, after installing the game, I realize that the controls were a bit complex and I would have to use the tutorial. Thankfully, the tutorial is very easy to follow and is a fun way to start the game. A colorful pirate with a great voice in the corner of your screen takes you through the games many options.

The game is set up very similar to sim city style games. You must build roads, entertainment for your pirates (bars, wench houses, casinos) and also industrial buildings that will be run by captives (lumber camps, mining, blacksmith) There are tons of different options in this game. You can build banana, corn, tobacco, sugar cane, and papaya farms. You also have to build a shipyard, and select which ship you would like to build. There are about seven different ships you can select, and you have to hire a captain for each one of your ships.

You can send your ships out to capture specific people, such as a priest or skilled lumberjack. You can send your ships to explore and, mostly importantly, you must send your ships out to gain plunder by attacking other ships. You can choose to be friendly with the English, Spanish, or French...or you can attack all of them. It is up to you.

You can also control small details, such as how much money to give your pirates, how much to change at the bars and wench houses, and you can make a captive into pirate if you choose. You can build decor, such as skeletons to increase the fear on your island, and you can build canons to increase the defense. If the fear or order is too low on your island, the captives can revolt and cut off your head. If the defense is too low, the order is too high, or if the entertainment is lacking..the pirate will get mad and they will cut off your head.

The possibilities are endless in this game. You can send your pirates to various pirate schools to improve their swordsmanship, navigational skills, etc. You can throw parties, give out free beer and rum, kill people that you don't like, rig gambling odds, etc. I have been playing this game every day for the past three weeks, and I still haven't exhausted every possibility.