Review linked to August 2016 anniversary sale.

245 hours played. Wow.

For those that have never played the game before. Tropico 4 is an island management strategy game set in a Carribean island. Effectively you build buildings to provide your Tropicans with homes, jobs, religion, medical treatment, food, entertainment. You have very little to no direct control over the people themselves so you must achieve your aims by building or passing edicts - Presidential orders.

For those that have played Tropico before - there aren't massive changes. This version has no Juanita on the radio from Tropico 3 who was always helpful in pointing out where your society had problems. She is replaced by (unvoiced) faction leaders (who are different from the ones you can actually see, bribe and kill on your island). Overall the game is significantly easier than Tropico 3 - no more having to repeat the same mission over and over. The economy is generally more forgiving, particularly in the Modern Times expansion which provides some exceptionally helpful new buildings. However intitial development is slower. Many edicts require a government minister which requires a ministry and a Tropican with the required skills. Generally choose the best available. Competent ministers can bring you valuable bonuses. Incompetent ones must be sacked to avoid disaster. The campaign is linear. Russia and the USA are joined by The Middle East, Europe, and China as world powers. Another big development is natural disasters. One of the great horrors of the game is watching four huge tornadoes descend on your island and spend a game year smashing up your carefully built island. Helpfully Tropico 4 allows you to "rebuild" rubble so you aren't left guessing what each pile of busted masonry was before it got destroyed.

Approaches differ. I always tended to try and maximise happiness on the islands with free and fair(ish) elections and no-one being killed except active rebels. Even then I'd always try and bring rebels back from the jungle with an amnesty rather than risk the lives of my gallant soldiers with battles. Others I have heard play as intolerant dictators.

This is actually a great game. It requires a fair degree of patience although there is a speed up option but there is a gentle pleasure about watching your islanders go about their daily business with a soundtrack of funky Latin music (in fact EXACTLY the same funky Latin soundtrack they have had since the original Tropico). This edition has virtually all the added missions and costumes that otherwise they'd nickel and dime you for.

Effectively this involves you playing the same game thirty or more times on different islands with different resources, different problems, and different victory conditions. But it's a great game and the different rules for each scenario do force you to modify your favourite strategies.

Overall of all the Tropicos up to and including 4 this is the one I'd rate as the most fun. People have talked about Tropico being a challenger for Sim City in the city builder stakes but that's not true. In terms of fun, personality, and playability Tropico is clearly better.

Buy this game. You'll never have so much fun demolishing poor people's shacks, either torturing prisoners or exploiting them on work farms, murdering enemy spies, putting down rebellions, and bribing strikers. And I play nice.

S.x.