Tropico 4 Review

I've been a big big fan of Tropico 3, so when 4 came along naturally I was excited and couldn't wait to get my hands dirty as el presidente once again! Unfortunately I am not sure my excitement was met with the experience I was hoping for.

Tropico 3 was something special, anyone that played it knows it was a fantastic title, and I would even go as far to say a work of art. It was going to be tough to top it, I'm not even sure as a developer what I would have done for Tropico 4, but it feels blindingly obvious from the moment you start the game that what we have here is Tropico 3 rebooted, and not much more...

For those that didn't play Tropico 3, it was a new take on a stale genre without a doubt. Humour and fun was brought to city building, a great spin on simply building a city and then building another and another and another like most city builders push you into. It made you feel like a leader, your decisions were direct and made impact, and there was a lot of enjoyment in taking your people from self built shanty towns to full blown apartment complexes the likes of which most of them would have never ever seen in their usual lives.

Now onto 4, the core hasn't changed much if at all, the interface layout is generally the same, there's been an addition of Facebook and Twitter integration, but that's not exactly innovative these days, there's some new buildings available, natural disasters are also a welcome addition, but nothing to justify more than a DLC in my eyes, and on the surface that's about all there is that's changed. As you get a little deeper, faction interactions have been improved, which is one upside, giving you reasonable goals to face to keep each happy in their own schematic ways, and countries act much more like factions now too, making things a little easier in my mind.

Some of the building additions are pleasant, entertainment for your citizens has been improved, with more distractions and rides and roller-coasters which I'm not sure belong in the setting but certainly brighten up the place at least.

Beyond that, and I'm not sure if I'm sorry to say it or not, but there's really nothing much else Tropico 4 has to offer over its predecessor. It does nothing new, if anything the game's been dumbed down more, holding your hand through more popup's and directional goals, and while some may enjoy that, for me its taken away part of the magic of discovery, wanting to try and exploit every building you can and learn from your mistakes. When someone's telling you to do something or walking you through it, it's never as interesting as taking those steps for yourself.

Now if you're new to the Tropico series, 4 on its own is a good game, I can't say that it isn't, it's still a mile above most strategic city builders, and it does a lot of things right. But long term fans I can't help but feel will be disappointed as essentially they've been repackaged the same product from 2009, which makes me question what they have actually been doing for two years, as I don't feel there is more than a patch worth of content here, and certainly not enough to justify a £30 price tag.

This review's put me in a horrible place as it's a game I know and love, and the only thing I can think was they were trying to pull in newer players, maybe forgetting their roots a little when they put out Tropico 4, I'm really not sure, but it's certainly left me a little disappointed and if another Tropico title ever does come along, they are going to have to do something much more special to have me part with any money, especially in todays economy...

In closing, I want to say that I'm basing my scores on Tropico 4 alone as a title, and although I'm bitterly disappointed as a previous Tropico player, I cant say 4 is a bad game, it isn't, it's great, and will be loved by many, its just not the title I'd have hoped for personally.