Tropico 5 Review (PC)

With elections coming in 12 months, the popularity of my ruler is hovering a little under 50 percent and an enemy army has already stormed my island, which probably marks a low point in the career of all potential dictators.

Fortunately, my island already has the ability to make money quickly by exporting raw materials and I have already built a number of the military buildings that can help me repel any future attacks.

The bigger problem is winning the elections, which I am trying to do without tampering with the results in any way and without killing my rival candidate.

I plop down a new cotton farm and a textile mill to use a new and rich trade route and then set about convincing my citizens that I can deliver food, fun and protection in the long term.

This means doubling their rations, delivering a Mardi Gras parade, improving the efficiency of the local tavern and finally adding some guard towers around for good measure.

I finally also cut their taxes, which is somewhat risky given my economic situation, and that finally pushes me to 52 percent popularity just one month before ballots are cast.

I win my first election in Tropico 5 without cheating in any way and I feel suddenly better prepared to lead my glorious island nation into the future, while syphoning some money into my own coffers, just for emergencies.

Story

The Tropico series is a game about the way power can corrupt the leaders of nations and about the complex mechanics that allow them to keep their positions even if they are not especially loved by their neighbors or their own population.

When the game starts, players can choose the look and the special skills of their ruler and a dynasty will be established, with regular updates that add new members and allow the gamer to decide their evolution.

Tropico 5 offers a classic campaign, which moves from scenario to scenario and asks players to meet certain objectives, and a sandbox mode that gives the player full freedom to create his own dream island paradise and lead it into the future.

The story created by Haemimont Games is solid and even funny at times, even though it sometimes strives a little too much to deliver gaming-related puns, and the game could have dropped the threat of nuclear war and some of the wars included in the narrative.

There are four ages to explore in the new Tropico and each of them comes with unique challenges, access to more tech and buildings and some interesting commentary on the way real-world Caribbean islands have evolved through history.

Mission design

Dictator customization

Romania was a Communist country not so long ago, with the freedom of its citizens curtailed and a powerful secret police ready to monitor and punish all dissenters, and it was hard to see that a Ceausescu reference in a loading screen failed to acknowledge the horror of his regime.

I have only hazy actual memories of the period, but I have read about it extensively and Tropico 5 sometimes makes me cringe when it tries to portray questionable tactics as just one way of staying in power for the main character.

I understand that it’s hard to create a dictatorship-focused video game that explores its realities in a meaningful way, but I would have liked to see the title from Haemimont Games acknowledge not just the quirks of dictators all over the world, but also the plain evil things they did while they were in power.

Gameplay

Tropico 5 is a city builder at its heart, which means that gamers will be mostly concerned with the development of a thriving settlement, with the creation of income sources, the development of nice neighborhoods for the citizens, public services and a strong military presence that can be used to make sure that El Presidente stays in power for as long as he wants.

The game offers a very large number of buildings that can be constructed, ranging from residential to raw materials to entertainment, tourism and industrial, but their availability is linked to the environment and the overall goals of each scenario.

I found that the best way to start off a mission is to quickly take a look at the most requested export good and make sure that you produce it as fast as possible in solid quantities in order to get a good revenue stream going.

Once that’s up, Tropico 5 is all about expanding slowly but surely, increasing the number of citizens, finding the best managers for each business, erecting the buildings required to progress.

Play Video

Research is also important as it unlocks more edicts and gives the player options to improve his city and make his citizens happier and as more possibilities open up, gamers need to also worry about the interference of outside forces like the great powers, who will try to get more influence over the island or even invade directly.

Tropico 5 is a video game about dictators and that means there are options to keep power by simply winning elections legitimately and ways to twist the results in favor of El Presidente, with plenty of occasions to inflate his Swiss bank account and keep the other members of his family satisfied.

Try not to steal too much public cash early on, because it can wreak havoc on the economy, but once a player gets a solid source of revenue, he can easily enact edicts and make choices that will make him wealthier than his citizens.

Island look

Lovely city

Thematically, the game does a good job of exploring its main theme and infusing it with plenty of parody, but there were times when I would have appreciated at least a small acknowledgment that dictatorships are overall negative political regimes.

Tropico 5 features an extensive and well-designed tutorial that will allow newcomers to the series to quickly understand how the game works, while also introducing some new elements to those already familiar with the franchise.

I also found no bugs during my play sessions, although sometimes the game slows down a little when rapidly zooming in and out.

Graphics and audio

Tropico 5 keeps the trademark look of the series, bright and colorful, and adds more details than before to the geography and the buildings.

Citizens are constantly moving around, crops grow and are then harvested, the dictator himself moves through the city and the player is free to watch the daily life of the settlement he has created, while always having quick and easy access to the building menu and a wide variety of statistics.

When it comes to sound design, Tropico 5 delivers some catchy, happy Caribbean-themed songs that really brighten up the play sessions, but the voice acting is often over the top, with the actors tying a little too much to be funny.

Multiplayer

Tropico 5 is the first title in the series to offer both competitive and cooperative multiplayer for those who want to interact with other humans as they try to develop their island and stash away as much cash as possible.

The modes are well designed and the community seems filled with people who are more focused on developing their settlement than on annoying others but, as always, it’s a better experience when friends are involved.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion