TROPICO 6
Puts the lime in the coconut
With Tropico 6, another instalment of the city-building heavyweight makes its way to PS4 to let you experience the joys of dictatorship. New developer Limbic Entertainment doesn’t change much about the classic formula – this is still a city-builder in which you mostly make nice with several political factions warring for dominance on your archipelago, and build relationships with international powers via trade routes and other business contracts.
The interface is inherited from Tropico 5. You select maps and building tools from a ring menu, which you navigate with the right analogue stick. Thumbing through submenus, for example to select a specific type of plantation or look further into the stats of a building, is done using the buttons on the D-pad. Outside of menus, you use the D-pad for slowing or accelerating time, which you will do frequently. After a short settling-in period the controls work well; the only gripe we have is that text and display sizes aren’t ideal, forcing you to zoom in a lot before you can confidently build something. 1
Tropico 6 isn’t just the best-looking Tropico yet, it also constitutes a franchise ‘best of’, doing away with some elements that didn’t quite work, such as Tropico 5’s expansive dynasty system, and reviving others, like the pirate cove that makes a comeback from Tropico 2, adding a fun layer of corporate espionage to later eras. With each map consisting of three islands, a large variety of buildings, and 30 story missions, 2 there’s more to do than ever, which makes it ideal for beginners to the series. Just don’t expect innovation over previous Tropicos or similar games.