Recent reviews by brendaniel

[SPOILERS]

This game has some really interesting parts in the beginning. There's a lot of really beautiful imagery, and you get a sense of the precarious political situation that the developers want to convey through the various factions you need to keep happy. As the game moves on, though, it kind of hits the guardrails for me... there are like 5 different plots in the 3rd chapter, from woman suffrage to family troubles to your brother leading an army against Paris to a magical puppet maker hinting that you're a character in his cosmic play, and it got really impossible to stay interested in what was happening. On top of that, the game mechanics in the 3rd chapter aren't really all that well-designed. There's so much chance that goes into your success (what cases you get assigned, what the enemy armies decide to attack with) and so little strategy that it didn't even really feel like I was playing a video game so much as I was playing a slot machine. I ultimately finished the game by restarting over and over again until I got favorable odds, which wasn't really at all satisfying to me as the "player."

Okay... I don't usually write game reviews. I generally have a pretty good idea of what I'm buying beforehand on Steam, and if a game is ♥♥♥♥ it's usually because I paid for ♥♥♥♥. But this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game got me.

The biggest trick is that little "Choice Matters" tag that people gave it. I love choice games. The replay value of finding every unique ending alone usually makes it worth the price. There's also something thrilling, something special to video games, when you're able to make a choice and know it matters.

Choice doesn't matter in this game.

You do ultimately get to choose what's "shown" to your supervisor, and sometimes those choices do affect the game in some way. But you're railroaded HARD through just about every major event, forced to fight for even the smallest change in dialogue from game to game. The only half-consequential "choice" you get comes at the end, and to get there you need to sit through 2+ hours of the exact same gameplay. You might as well be buying the game to play once. If you're ok with playing once and then quitting (the game does have some beautiful artwork and some really gripping moments) then by all means do so. But if you want your choices to really matter, don't buy Orwell.

Tropico 5 is a city-builder with a twist. It serves fundamental aspects of political science and economics at you smeared on top of a crusty humorous premise like jelly on top of burnt bread. I was a fan of this game from the get-go because I'm a public policy nerd, but I think you'll enjoy the game even if you're just looking to be dictator for a day. Also the Cuban music that plays in the background is BUMPIN which is always a plus.


REASONS YOU MIGHT WANT TO BUY THIS GAME:
You like city builders.
You like strategy.
You like political science.
You like economics.
You want to be a Caribbean dictator when you grow up.
You want to listen to Caribbean music.
You want to bbean the Caribbean.

REASONS YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO BUY THIS GAME:
Strategy games aren't your thing.
You don't like having to approach a country like a puzzle.
The word leadership makes you sweat.
You have no hands. (Kind of a system requirement.)
You have no eyes.
You have no rhythm in your feet to dance to the spicy Latin American soundtrack.




QUICK TIP BECAUSE IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO FIGURE OUT: press down the ALT button and move your mouse to adjust the screenview.