Tropico 4

TL:DR; One of the better Tropico's, still on brand and slightly clunky, but still fun in what it does best. Being a lighter city builder that focuses less on economics and more on politics and legalism. Out of all of the currently existing Tropico's, this one tends to be the voted best when everything is weighed up. It doesn't have the scale of the later ones, but it does have a greater depth of choice in the smaller elements. It does a good job at being both a comedic satire of Capitalist/Communist politics and a city builder that goes beyond managing economics. It does a fair amount to allow you to build the dictatorship/socialist/liberal island of your dreams, even if I think the edict system could have always went further or had more options for non-fascist options. If you don't have much interest in building a banana republic dictatorship for one play-through or a campaign mission, a good 1/3 of the edicts are useless to you and there's not many alternative ones to choose from that could be considered opposed to them. For example, I might not want to sign martial law and stamp down on freedom of the press but there's no counter option to increase free media funding or demilitarise. You can pay to have your cops and troops go through "don't be a nob" training, but that's it. Some elements are quite interesting in the way they have unexpected consequences, and my favourite example is the same-sex marriage edict. Putting aside any ethical/political reason for using it, it tends to be a good choice to sign as it decreases the pressure to house every citizen as now much more citizens have the option to co-habitate, and the game only allows families or couples to live in the same housing slot, no roomies allowed. The game doesn't have a lot of things like this, but the few it has are very intriguing. Having El Presidente be a physical avatar you can order around to increase efficiency or take part in fights is a natural next step I feel. The series has always had you be a key figure to how the island runs due to positive/negative traits and now actually being boots on the ground makes sense. Its a shame that the female voice lines are a little... one note? Male Presidente is neutral to slightly aggressive/proud and the female one is bordering on sexism with some dated tones and dialog. It gives me the same feeling "G.I.Joe is for Boys and Barbie is for Girls" kind of thinking does. Very old fashioned and just lazy for a game that came out in 2011, not 1990. Of course, the deluge of DLC is obnoxious. Every game past the third has had them, and a lot at that. The best thing that can be said of it is that none of them are expensive for T3, and a few do add interesting new things to play with. Modern Times in particular does well to expand the scope of the game well into the modern era and beyond, as the game series tends to hover about 1950-80's in terms of time period and available content. Most are cosmetic, poorly balanced, or just have a very niche audience. Its a good game overall! If you like how issuing edicts works, Frostpunk is a good next game. If you like running a communist economy but want more detail, Workers & Resources is a good next one. If you like a lighter focus on economics but still choices to be made in legalism and politics, Tropico is for you.