This is as much a grand parody of the world's dictators (hillariously emphasized by the loading screens which include real and unbelievable facts about dictators) but it's also like owning your own private island. You set the crops, build the infrastructure, set the trade routes, determine the fate of every individual citizen (yes, you can execute them!)
The graphics are charming and it's genuinely soothing to watch the paddle boat dock letting loose new citizens or smuggled goods or exporting your hard earned resources for a fat bonus. Combined with a great selection of latintype tunes and the fact that you can pause of fast forward any time you want this is the ultimate casual management game.
The only reason it misses a star is probably my fault: It is HARD. On higher difficulties juggling the responsibilties of satisfying factions, importing goods at a premium and exporting at a profit, rembering to build guard towers to contend with pirate attacks, dealing with the aftermath of a tornado and other disasters...it can get a bit hectic.
But I still think it's an intelligent and very entertaining journey and by the time you reach the end game and have built a giant laser to cement your super villain status you will have gotten your money's worth in spades.

I heard scathing reviews of this game, but now that I finally have it I'm not nearly as unhappy as the criticism would have it. I really like the original time period and setting which translates into a compelling approach to aliens from the perspective of the cold-war era American heartland. The controls and interface are a lot like Mass Effect but that's not a slight against the game either as they're smooth and responsive. The aliens have interesting appearences and there's a sense of the real origins of X-Com is a way no other game has managed, not even Enemy Unknown I'd argue.
The lowered score is because of hardware issues. The game is fun but it stutters and crashes despite the MacStore saying that the game is playable on the lowest settings. I don't doubt the Macstore so apparently there's some issues, or at least I had some.