Tropico 5 Reviews
Tropico 5 is a solid and gleefully wicked take on city building and strategy. The game's modes and tone cleverly push you toward the path of power-mad nutbag at every step, but frequent restarts can feel like an insufferable drag.
At number 5, we're still seeing iteration rather than revolution. Everything that's great about Tropico 5 is built on the same foundation that all the previous games have built on. That's a solid foundation, of course, but it's become a bit too familiar. There aren't any surprises to be found here. But just as familiarity can breed contempt, it can also provide comfort. Returning to Tropico remains a delight, and the drive to plonk down one more hotel, oversee one more year and win yet another election continues to make it the sort of game that can swallow hour after hour.
[L]ike with many simulation games there are AI issues, especially with the automated combat that sees single squads of your troops run off to fight multiple squads on their own and in turn, lose. This can be a problem in multiplayer games, alongside no ability to save, meaning that it's a nice 'for the fans' feature that still needs some work to become an actual selling point. But like with any modern game a lot of these minor issues can be fixed in patches, and with any city builder, the game works best when played alone. Just like ruling a tropical island paradise.
The end result is a good game that is held back by the very thing strategists come to this genre for: the freedom to use your own planning and tactics to win the game.
Tropico 5 made me feel powerful in the worst way
Tropico 5 is a noticeable, if subtle, revision on the Tropico formula. The new Eras and the Dynasty system create additional gameplay layers without disrupting the balance of the experience. The multiplayer, while fun when it works, mostly doesn't.
While the great entries to the Sim City series, the Civilizations of the world, even Ubisoft's Anno series and Galactic Civilizations II all give more back the more you put into it, Tropico 5 is unable to do that. And a lack of longevity in a game that should last so very long is just, ultimately, disappointing.
Until the rest of the game is released in the form of DLC, at least, it's hard to imagine a good reason to go with Tropico 5 instead of Tropico 4 unless the addition of a tech tree gets you excited.
The developers at Haemimont Games have taken their series apart and reassembled it in a whole new way, and while the result is riddled with flaws, it's also charming, funny, and welcoming to newcomers and veterans alike. As aimless steps away from stagnation go, that's a pretty solid one.
There are some bum notes both tonally and strategically, Tropico old hands will find the bones of the things over-familiar, and despite having tons of things to fiddle with ultimately it's hard not call it a lightweight game. I really think it has to be, though.
Wait. Patches or expansions may tweak its motivational balance in the right direction.