Greg Recommends Tropico 4 + Modern Times Expansion

Price: $16.99

Website: http://store.steampowered.com/app/57690/

Tropico 4 is a smart city builder with a twist; you play as El Presedente, a ridiculous but brilliant (or quite possibly just very lucky) tin pot dictator who must build up a Caribbean island nation while stashing away as much money as possible while also ensuring that the Tropican citizens don't arm themselves and storm the palace. With over 90 hours of game play logged I have played through all of the content in Tropico 4, including the Modern Times expansion and all DLCs. The mechanics are deceptively deep and intricate while also seamless, the graphics show some aging but still offer some beautiful shots, and the humor spread throughout is a blast. This is definitely my city builder of choice.

Special note: Don't bother with Tropico 3 as it is the same game as Tropico 4 except but with less options.

Special note 2: Tropico 5 is a significant revamp of the Tropico series and is worth playing if you enjoy city builders. Tropico 4 is my favorite though and it's cheaper.

Gameplay

Humble beginnings... your lonely palace, a handful of corn
farms, a dock, a construction office, and some shacks.

The general goal of each Tropico game is to take your tiny underdeveloped and poverty stricken island village and turn into a profitable Caribbean paradise. There are many ways to do this and many challenges along the way; the scenarios in the campaigns also tend to mix things up a bit with special objectives and unique challenges.

As already alluded to the mechanics of Tropico 4 are complex and very well integrated. As El Presedente you are responsible for all aspects of your islands' infrastructure, economy, politics, military, and the well being of your citizens. To summarize things very briefly the two main things that lead to success are the happiness of your people and the amount of money you are able to generate. Generally speaking you begin by build up basic industries to export goods which make enough money to build more industries as well as the things that make your citizens happy (real houses, churches, hospitals, entertainment options, etc). As the game progresses you will be able to expand beyond basic raw material exports (crops, metals, lumber etc.) to processed goods (Rum, weapons, furniture etc.) as well as create hotels for tourists to come give you their money, that is, assuming you have the infrastructure to field these things. Where you place buildings matters as a long commute may cost you productivity or citizen happiness and some buildings have area affect bonuses depending on what is around them. Efficient roadways are important and require a measure of planning as they can become clogged and bog down production. There is rarely enough money, time, or resources to make everyone happy until a successful mid - late game and the fun is striking a balance and watching your island nation grow. In terms of the size of your city you are only limited by the size of your island (up to 'very big') and the speed of your processor.

Turns into skyscrapers, factories, shopping malls, tourist
traps, luxury entertainment, and bustling roadways.

Every citizen is procedurally generated with varying importance spread out among several needs (food, housing, job, entertainment, safety, health etc.) and will seek out ways to meet needs that get too low. Your citizens choose which building to live in, where they want to work, and which political faction they support. They interact with your city and react to how you rule them. You can click on any one of them to see their stats and have them fired, arrested, executed, excommunicated, bribed, or arrange an accident... Likewise you can click on specific buildings to adjust the wages they pay, who works there, and how many positions they are allowed to fill. El Presedente's ingame character can even visit specific buildings to increase their 'quality', make construction crews work faster or give speeches from the palace to raise the respect of everyone who attends. You can zoom the camera right in to street level and get up close and personal with your creation and the people who live there. These sorts of micro-management options are especially useful at the beginning of the game when money is tight and high school / college educated citizens are in short supply, but what is even more impressive is the way the game gives you information and control at the meta-level.

Zooming in on a residential sector with a nice little restaurant on the corner.

The 'Almanac' gives El Presedente a bird's eye view of all the important statistics of your island. The happiness of your people (for example) is listed as percentages which can in turn be clicked on for a full breakdown. You can get a birds eye view of your economy, trade, political factions, and the various demographics of your citizens. The almanac is especially useful when an election is called and you want to see where you stand with the various political factions (Capitalists, Communists, Militarists, Religious, Nationalists, Environmentalists, Loyalists). The makeup of these political groups will affect how you approach your island. A Communist majority will have different demands than a Religious majority and appeasing one group may make other groups upset with you. It's an uneven sea-saw and you are in the middle trying not to fall off.

At least the people respect their leader and are eating well... No, you cannot have more liberty!
Here's some blocky soviet tenements and a church to appease you while I bathe in my money.

The foreign superpowers also affect how you will rule your little island paradise. The US and the USSR will provide you with annual financial aid and unique trade options according to how much they like you but will invade if you make them angry. Other foreign powers like the UK, China, and the Middle East will provide lucrative trade options and gifts if appeased. The foreign powers as well as Tropico's political factions will offer minor objectives throughout the game asking you do something they want in return for money, respect, or a trade deal.

Also available to El Presedente are powerful edicts that can be unlocked to change how things are done on the island. Some examples are 'Food for the People' which gives a large boost to food quality at the cost of allowing Tropicans to eat twice as much of your food, 'Martial Law' which cancels all elections and greatly reduces crime at the cost of liberty and tourism ratings, and 'Off to Florida!' which sends all criminals to Miami on a government approved raft-like structure at the cost of US - Tropico relations for the next five years.

Looking over a mid - late game Tropico.

The campaign does a good job of breaking you in slowly as you learn how to build farms to feed your people and set up basic industries to start earning some cash. New concepts (foreign affairs, military, education, and edicts to name a few) are introduced slowly at first and it makes for an enjoyable tutorial as such. There are always strategies for how to run the island as well as a multitude of ways to squeeze extra money out of exports and tourists either into the island's bank account or into El Presedente's retirement fund... some of them are even unsuspiciously legal!

Between the robust mechanics and a multitude of options there is no right or wrong way to rule your island, although some strategies are better suited than others depending on the situation. Keep it simple as a self-sufficient farmer's haven or try for the big bucks by building factories and importing the necessary raw materials. Keep your citizens uneducated and indoctrinate them to become Loyalists Kim Jong-il style or embrace democracy and bring your people all the luxuries and liberties of the western world. Find the play style that works for you and then use your political influence to encourage some factions to grow while discouraging those troublesome nay saying factions. Bribery, coercion, control of the media, prison labor camps (DLC), and good old fashioned execution are all at your disposal. A word of caution though, ensure that your army is big enough (and loyal enough) to handle any explosive consequences that come from aggressive political shaping. A secret police HQ wouldn't go amiss either...

The Tropican Armed Forces intercept a group of rebels intent on storming the palace!

Bright Aesthetics & Humor

The overall tone and atmosphere of Tropico is as bright and silly as a city builder could be. The graphics are of an older generation but they are nonetheless full of vibrant colors, swaying palm trees, busy streets, blocky communist style tenements, glass skyscrapers, and beautiful gardens surrounded by the blue of the Caribbean Sea. The soundtrack is an absurdly happy, catchy, lively and (depending on your tastes) possibly annoying medley of Latin-American inspired musics which set the mood for upbeat fun in the sun. The representatives of Tropico's factions serve as your advisers and each one is a silly caricature that will chime in with helpful advise every once in a while and will occasionally take control of the radio and comment on El Presedente's actions and quite possibly bicker with other faction leaders over the air waves.

The story line of the campaigns starts out normal enough but becomes a wacky over the top concoction of conspiracies, international espionage, outrageous master plans, and crazy vendettas all wrapped up in some excellent humor and lighthearted fun. This is a story where El Presedente begins as a simple tin pot dictator with delusions of grandeur and in his quest to make Tropico the richest most powerful nation on earth he ends up the victim of an elaborate conspiracy (original game) and then in the expansion also single-handedly diffusing World War 3, defeating international terrorism, landing on the moon, warding off the zombie apocalypse, and moving Tropico out of the path of a nuclear missile by building lots of wind turbines. The characters are bright, zany, and varied. El Presedente is obviously corrupt but is so charismatic that he convinces everyone that he's the hero. You're #1 adviser worships you and is utterly incompetent, but his crazy schemes usually end up working in the end. Your environmental adviser, Sunny Flowers, is a tree hugging hippy left wing loon and your military adviser tries to scare off tornadoes to make them retreat while your capitalist adviser tries to sell discount weapons to the rebels over the radio. Everything is a joke in Tropico, everyone is happy in Tropico, everything is corrupt in Tropico, and Tropico is most definitely the best place in the entire world.

A Note on the Modern Times Expansion

The modern times expansion adds new buildings, edicts, and an additional campaign to Tropico 4 that build off the existing mechanics. As time progresses in your games these new buildings and options will be unlocked (makes the decision of when to use certain options more interesting). Older buildings can be replaced by modern day buildings improving efficiency and (maybe) decreasing pollution. Many of the modern buildings have options that affect how they function as well as potential bonuses depending on location. It adds a nice addition to the Tropico experience and makes for a more interesting late game but it's not necessary and I'm not sure I could recommend buying it at full price to new players. Play through some Tropico 4 to see if you enjoy it enough to commit the time required to play a few games through. My recommendation would be to wait for a good Steam sale and pick it and all the DLC up for about $15.

A nice Tropican skyline brought to you by the Modern Times Expansion.

Summary

Tropico 4 is a smart city builder with great style. Robust and seamless building, economy, and political mechanics covered in bright and lively aesthetics wrapped in some of the most humorous writing I've ever encountered in a video game make this a personal all time favorite. The learning curve in the campaigns is gentle enough to ease new players in while also leaving all the options open for more adventurous players to experiment and go wild. Pick this title (and all the addons) up in the next Steam sale for some excellent city building and seriously silly fun in the sun.