- [T.J.] There aren't a lot of city builders
that let you feel like you can role-play
a specific type of leader, so I immediately took a liking
to the freedom Tropico 6 gives you to do just that.
There's nothing stopping you
from trying to build a communist paradise
where everyone lives in haciendas
and banana pickers make as much money as tech executives,
or a brutal military dictatorship that only cares about
human lives can be turned into profitable exports,
nothing, that is, besides an unwieldy economy simulation
that can quickly go belly-up without giving you easy access
to information on how to fix it.
There's a lot going on
across the inviting white-sand beaches, bungalows,
and lush jungle interiors of this version of Tropico,
which looks great,
except for these weird eyesore waterfalls.
Despite its relaxing environment,
its politicking, trade, and mission systems
kept me busier than any of its predecessors.
Usually, I didn't have a problem with that
because the tools are pretty good.
Laying roads, building houses, creating jobs,
and ensuring access to public services
is relatively easy to do,
other than the fact that you can't zoom in or out
when placing a building,
and some of the logic that the road painter uses
to get everything to snap together
does not resemble our Earth logic.
All the while, you have to keep the population happy
with some combination of a stable food supply, healthcare,
entertainment, protection from crime and war, and liberty.
Some of these needs are in direct competition,
which leads to interesting choices.
Military buildings, for example,
reduce liberty within their radius,
but failing to build any will make you very vulnerable
to attacks from rebel groups or foreign powers.
Each citizen also belongs to a faction,
such as the Communists or the Industrialists,
which often have mutually exclusive desires
that must be strategically fulfilled or ignored
in a tense but enjoyable juggling act
to keep your approval high enough to keep getting elected.
You can subvert democracy in a pinch
with bribes, assassinations, or rigging elections,
but these all have meaningful consequences,
such as reduced liberty or increased rebel activity.
Keeping things legit can feel like
constantly having to placate a room
full of feuding preschoolers,
but the tradeoff is not having to worry so much
about interrogating rebels
and filling the islands with machine gun towers.
Both styles of governing are enjoyable in their own way.
The less entertaining side of Tropico 6 is the economy.
It can be fulfilling to set up a production line
that turns sugar cane into delicious rum
to either increase the happiness of the locals
or make you some big bucks on the export market,
but no matter how much fiddling I did,
I almost always found my island's economy
to be a precarious leaning tower
that could tip over at any time.
You get access to plenty of data on citizen happiness,
factory output, and market prices
if you dig through the fairly easy to read menus,
but the lack of aids for interpreting that information
left me in a position
where it was surprisingly hard to understand
what was wrong exactly when my treasury took a dive.
Not enough industry, too many service buildings,
wages too high, some combination of all of the above?
I ran into the same problems
regardless of what kind of play style I attempted,
including extreme austerity, which was frustrating.
And since spending is very limited when you have a deficit,
it can be almost impossible to fix a financial snag
even if you do understand what's up.
Having more ways to borrow money
than a single, one-at-a-time loan of 50 grand
would have been nice.
Also, if I were El Presidente for a day,
one of my first edicts would be to demand
a more diverse soundtrack.
It's well done and fits the setting,
but there are only so many hours
of upbeat Caribbean trumpet music my sanity can handle
before I need to turn that volume slider all the way down.
(upbeat Caribbean trumpet music)
The amount there is to do
and the depth of its political mechanics
make Tropico 6 stand out over its immediate predecessors.
It's a tropical vacation worth taking
when you're looking for an in-depth city builder
with a strong personality and a touch of humor,
which is something of a rarity
outside this long-running series.
But drink too deeply of its perplexing economic systems,
and you may find yourself feeling a bit queasy.
For more strategy and simulation,
check out our reviews of Two Point Hospital,
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, and My Time at Portia.
And for everything else, stick with IGN.