Tropico 5 Review (PS4)

A tropical political beauty

When one thinks of city and civilization building games, it's hard to imagine it being it in on a console platform let alone playing with a controller. Games like these are really a rare gem to be found on console and they hardly even come to console platform at all. My only guess is that these games usually have a favorable success on PC.

Whatever the reason may be, developers are starting to open up their doors for console gamers to get their hands on some sim city-ish building and managing challenge. This is evident with the release of Tropico 5 on the Playstation 4 and just so happened it is the free game of the month for PS Plus subscribers.

With a touch of console control mapping, the whole package has been a deep and rewarding experience one usually get from any simulation city building games on the PC. At first glance, Tropico 5 seems dangerously similar to its still-recent predecessor, Tropico 4 especially for those that have played the previous installments of the series. The art direction, the music as well as the characters are almost indistinguishable. As one always say, why change something that is already working and true to that Tropico 5 sticks to that statement while improving the gameplay mechanics to make it a more challenging and engaging game.

At its core, the Tropico series is a city-builder that has always emphasized on fun and style over challenges. It may sound like an unwise move especially for games at this genre but truthfully that's not necessarily a bad thing: What this means is that it's allows you to get on with the fun of building without feeling the need to pull your hair out over fussy requirements like other city-builder games. Starting out Tropico 5 is pretty standard base. You put down a couple of plantations, then start exporting your agricultural resources like Corn, Sugar and even Meat while expanding your town in whatever ways you like. Standard stuffs as mentioned.

Tropico 5 can be a learning experience especially to new players. The game allows you to choose at the start from Mission mode which consist of missions mostly from the DLC (You get one free DLC from the June Free game offer) and Campaign mode which basically throws you into a forgettable plot that requires you to complete a couple of tasks like exporting a said amount of meat or building a couple of houses for the Revolutionary. There is also a Sandbox mode which gives you free rein to govern an island as you see fit. You can adjust the starting conditions (including the island itself), as well as the difficulty of the economics and politics to however you see fit. You can even set a goal, like amassing $1,000,000, so it doesn’t have to be open-ended. After the constraints of the campaign it’s great to be set free, and there are still optional tasks that appear that will provide various bonuses.

As mundane they sound, they will certainly steer you in the right direction into knowing the game mechanics even further. Things may get out of hand so it is very highly suggested that you go through the tutorial a couple of times to familiarize every basics you need to know in micro managing your town.

The game largely sticks to the basic city-building formula with a couple key changes. Firstly, everything will unfold through eras where you start at the 20th century and you work your way up to the modern era. There are four eras to play through, each with their own overseas political factions and technologies for you to research. As Governor, you have a tenure determined by the crown, and must meet various objectives to extend it further. Gain enough popular support and you can declare independence, progressing through all the eras. This provides a nice context to the decisions you make such as deciding whether to export oil to a certain country during the Cold War or where you should insult a king to gain more support from an important faction.

As cool as that sound, my gripe with this is that there isn't much visual interpretation when you move into a different era side from modern day roads and a couple of buildings which in fact still feels like they are from the 20th century. There's no clear display of what the coverage area of a police headquarters actually is, or why people in one block are happy with their local entertainment options, while the next block are seething with boredom and resentment. The challenges or consequences that come with your decisions at times does not have a very strong impact and can be resolved in a matter of a few smart managements and you will pull it through eventually

My other problem with the game is that is particularly poor in helping you map out your economy. Such as when your resource are all depleted, trees has been all cut out and high-output farms have drained the soil, you will be forced to start importing basic commodities and exporting intermediate and finished goods. However Tropico 5 doesn't give you a clear sense of what's coming in and what's going out. I personally thing that is a big issue - for me at least since at late stages of the game where the economy is entirely about managing that exchange of resources. Nonetheless, i can appreciate the simplicity Tropico 5 gives without making a dynamic economic situation where it may put off new comers to act quick and fast though one still cant help to think that it could have given some extra punch to rack up some strategy without just simply resorting unlocked buildings and technologies that basically make every problem disappear.

Another feature worth mention is the Dynasty mechanic. You will create your El Presidente at the start of the game that acts as the head of the dynasty. As you progress in the game, you will sire new heirs though a birth or an adoption and you get to choose a trait for each one of them which can bring benefit to your city and you also can manage them as well as upgrades their performance. However i felt this feature is pretty dry and doesn't seem to add much depth to the overall experience.

If you find yourself in needing more play time with Tropico 5, there’s also a pretty entertaining multiplayer mode. Setting up to four-players on one island, you’re given tasks three at a time like see who can export the most cigars and who can be the first to build a drydock. Since everyone is competing for land, eventually you start to run into each other, and you can even begin sending armies out to fight and destroy each other's buildings. The first player to complete a task gets a point for it, with the first to fifteen points ending up the winner. It’s surprisingly fun, although there’s no way to check how your opponent is doing and no performance breakdown at the end either.

Conclusion

The bottom line is Tropico 5 is a good entry-level sim and strategy game. While it isn't the game-of-the-year masterpiece of a generation but it could still provide hours of entertaining experience especially to console gamers whom are pretty dry when it comes to RTS or City-building genres. If you love SimCity and Civilization, give this game a shot and hey, it's free on Playstation Network, Why not right?

Score: 6/10

The Good - Easy to pick up for new comers - Lovely campaign - Beautiful tropical theme

- Fun multiplayer The Bad - Does not convey much information clearly to you - Not much to do at end game - Progression may feel rather bland and unconvincing