overseer unit was made to use a towel whip at Rachel Bernstein's suggestion. In designing the sequel, Frog City sought to balance its differences from and similarities to its predecessor, which Spieth called "a tightrope [walk] between 'too different,' and 'not different enough.' " Steinmeyer remarked that this concern persisted until near the game's release: certain spectators called Tropico 2 too much unlike Tropico, while its "sales, marketing, [and] overseas offices" considered it to be too similar to sell. He believed that the latter problem was caused by the game's reuse of terrain visuals from Tropico, which led the team to create new tree models, and to edit the "colors and textures" of Tropico 2s reused water and earth graphics. To appease those who found Tropico 2 too different from its predecessor, Frog City increased the game's emphasis on city-building, which had previously been marginalized in favor of pirate raids. Tropico 2 reached gold status on April 2, 2003. It was released in North America on April 8. Reception and legacy In the United Kingdom, Tropico 2 sold poorly during the first half of 2003. Kristan Reed of GamesIndustry.biz wrote that it was "struggling to sell upwards of 5k", and speculated that software piracy could be the cause. According to former members of Frog City employed at Sidecar Studios, Tropico 2 sold over 300,000 copies worldwide and was commercially successful. The review aggregation website Metacritic designated Tropico 2s critical reception as "generally favorable". Kristian Brogger of Game Informer summarized Tropico 2 as addictive and "a blast", and noted its "irrepressible charm". However, he called the game a small step down from Tropico, and found its pirate setting unoriginal and its gameplay repetitive. In Computer Gaming World, Di Luo considered Tropico 2 to be a missed opportunity, and found its new mechanics limited and "tedious" compared to the gameplay of its predecessor. Although he enjoyed its theme and audiovisual style, he found that Tropico 2 contains "nothing to set it apart from the crowd." However, Luo argued that the game never loses its "inexplicable charm", and that it "never really gets bad". Writing for IGN, Barry Brenesal called Tropico 2 an improvement upon Tropico, thanks to its "more open-ended quality" and new setting. He praised its interface, particularly the logbook, and called the game a refreshing standout in the management simulation genre. While Brenesal considered certain aspects of Tropico 2 to