Tropico 5

This week in our History Through Gaming class, we played Tropico 5. This game was developed by Haemimont Games, was published by Kalypso Media, and was released in May 2014 on Windows and then on Mac a few months later (then a year later was released on console). In this game you are “el Presisente”, and are responsible for research, sustainable growth and diplomacy on your island. As you work through the game you are guided by your greatest advisor, Penultimo (see image 1), who is basically implemented to help you learn the game as you play it. As president you work through the campaign completing over 15 missions that are each split into two parts. During my time spent playing this game, I focused on generating roads, agriculture and living spaces. It is important to have all of these things because you must not only focus on the amount of people that live on your island, but you must also take into consideration their approval rating. As the game progresses there are elections, and I presume if you do not win the election you lose the game. However, long story short you are not a “presidente”, you are a dictator without the game actually telling you you’re a dictator. Having said this, this means you can rig elections, as well as hire people to silence or kill others. As the game is continued you make your way through different Era’s in time, starting in the Colonial Era, World War era, Cold Wars Era, and ending in Modern Times. You begin by declaring independence from the Crown, which is a one-off of the British Empire. Going a long very nicely with what we talked about in class even though the events in this game did not actually happen.

This game had very good mechanics, it was very impressive the way they combined the construction aspect with the political aspect, it was definitely a lot smoother when you play it on a console in my opinion. A lot of the short cuts are easier to access on console rather than on a laptop ( I am unsure how this game would playing on a gaming PC). This game reminded me very much of Sid Mier’s Civilization.

Looking at this game from a marketing perspective was very interesting, especially with its availability to console players. Also this game offers a very interesting approach to multiplayer gameplay. I would target strategy gamers, construction based gamers, and even social gamers.