Tropico is consolidated in Haemimont Games , just as the leaders who star in each game of the saga, cling to power with all their might. The big difference with respect to these, is that the Bulgarian company has accumulated sufficient merits to stay at
the forefront of a series that unites – in a unique way – management in real time and humor. The way in which the saga caricatures the so-called
” banana republics ” makes Tropico an entertaining game on several levels. With its fifth installment, the developers wanted to introduce some changes in the mechanics, respecting the foundations of the series started by PopTop Software . Let’s take a look at the Tropico 5 news .
Our goal, as in all the games of Tropico , will be to keep ahead of the government of the island that gives its name to the title. It is a paradisiacal insula – at least, in essence – whose initial government is no more than a puppet of some other world power.
The game allows us to choose between different modes, counting on a campaign whose first phases will serve as a tutorial, a free mode and, for the first time in the saga, the opportunity to participate in games with other players. Broadly speaking, there are
no exaggerated changes between any of these game modes, although we will go into specifying the details of each one a bit later. Once the type of game is chosen, we are allowed to personalize the President .
It’s not that the personalization options are excessive. Gender, hair color and a few aesthetic adornments and clothes are all necessary to define the appearance of what will be the highest representative of Tropico . From this precise moment, the game makes clear his intentions: The humorous approach to this policy of “banana republic”. From uniforms that remind some famous politicians, a thousand times caricatured, to extravagant costumes and accessories so that,
from afar, you can see that we are the President of Tropico. This fifth installment also plays with the idea of dynasties, in which the sons and daughters of the President can take their place at some point. Those characters can also be customized, later.
The game begins during the Colonial era, in a period before the Second World War. Tropicois an island with its own governor-us-controlled by some foreign power. The tasks that we will have to carry out will be oriented to two contradictory objectives:
To maintain the confidence of our ” masters “, so that they do not expel us from our position prematurely, and at the same time that we take the necessary steps towards independence. Thus, much of the management we must perform is based on our response to
various events or orders that will arise, by the government intermediaries of which we are puppets or by our advisors to seek independence.
The tasks may require the construction of a specific building, or reach a production level for certain resources, including population. Thus, little by little, we will strengthen our power in two ways: Gaining confidence from the foreign power while the number of rebel tropicans increases.
When the precise moment arrives – as long as the rate of independents is greater than 50% – we can give a coup to declare ourselves independent. At that moment, the rhythm of the game changes, although not too much. We will continue to need the support of some foreign powers, or we could be attacked because of their expansion policy, while keeping the Tropicans happy.
Time is happening like this, in different periods. From the Colonial period we will go to World War II , in which we can lend our support to the Axis or the Allies. Later we will reach the Cold War , in which the powers of Russia, the United States, the Midwest or
China will be available at the time of carrying out diplomatic tasks. The end of these epochs takes place in the present, if we have been lucky enough to stay in power during all these years, after almost a century of dominion over Tropico. That said, it may seem easy …
But to achieve this, we will have to pay attention to many details, if we do not want the tropicans to get fed up with us, or some foreign force takes away our power.
One of the added changes in Tropico 5 , as we mentioned at the beginning, is the inclusion of our dynasty as an element of the game. The President may have up to 7 sons and daughters, each with their own characteristics, who may later occupy the highest position on the island. Each of them can be completely personalized, just like our main character, and we will see how they
walk around the island while they have nothing to do. At any time we can “retire” the ruler to give way to one of his descendants, changing also the bonus granted to the government for the new character … And keeping Tropico as a hereditary republic.
