Tropico 5 review: wasted away again

It's the latest in the series of tongue-in-cheek strategy games, and the third to be made by developer Haemimont Games. And, much like its predecessors, it aims to put the fun back into dysfunctional totalitarian government.

But while the game itself works well, the satire it relies on so heavily does not. Tropico 5 tries to be funny but ends up as a childish thing, a game light on substance and seemingly unaware of its own internal ironies.

In Tropico 5 you play as a colonial governor whose family grows, over hundreds of years, to become the dynastic dictators of a tiny, lush banana republic. I started the game in the colonial era as a governor assigned by the British crown, and moved through a timeline dotted with multiple world wars and into the present day.

Externally, my country drifted into and out of the sphere of influence of the Axis powers, the United States and eventually even China. Internally, political factions tried to undermine my authority and topple my government from within. These are the complex political waters I had to navigate in Tropico 5.

As with most city-builders, I had to purchase and maintain a variety of buildings. Plantations, ranches and mines dominated my time in the early game. But eventually my economy evolved into an industrial and commercial force. I began the game selling tobacco and pineapples, and finished it peddling high technology and pharmaceuticals on the open market.

It's a shame, honestly, because the gameplay here is good. Every feature instilled a sense of power. I was able to bulldoze tin shacks to make way for mansions or quell riots by paying off the right people, and the ability to execute rebel sympathizers was just a mouse click away. Tropico 5 let me explore what it means to govern as a dictator, and worked against the conventions of traditional city building games.

What that means, however, is that many of the game's features are overpowered to a degree that makes Tropico 5 less challenging. With enough money in the treasury or debt on the international market, most "problems" I encountered could be made to go away.

While it lead me along the easy path to victory, Tropico 5 also took great care to lull me into a dreamy haze. The art direction pushes the best parts of life in the Caribbean to the forefront, always providing something beautiful to look. Even the load screens, oil-painted Caribbean landscapes, are gorgeous.