Tropico 6 and the DLC Llama of Wall Street was developed by Limbic Entertainment and published by Kalpyso Media and are both available on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Tropico 6 is a construction and management game in which you are given the role of your very own Dictator. This is where Tropico shines, it’s all about the choice of how you run your island. If you want to be corrupt and get all the money, that’s fine, go ahead but be warned, you’ll anger people in doing so and face uproar, but hey, you’re the leader you can soon squash an uprising in many ways. Or be good to the people, give them what they desire and keep your island happy but also another warning, sometimes not everything will go your way being the good Samaritan, I learnt the hard way that sometimes, something has to give. With the new Llama Of Wall Street DLC though I found that I had much more control over my finances and could play with the system again to make stuff go in my favour. The Llama Of Wall Street gave me an insight to my markets and enemy markets so that I could play it all off against each other which helped my island progress. With the DLC there are also some welcome challenges and a new sandbox map.
I always at first struggled with the Tropico series and going through each era and managing to keep the profits coming in. Tropico 6 was no different, once I got to the World War era I would always struggle with the new industries coming in. What I’ve learnt with the series is patience and learning as you go is best, while in one era perhaps your banana industry is extremely popular, later on, you’ll have to meet higher demands with steel mills, nuclear power-plants. It’s all about time and progress and it’s what I loved about my play-through’s. Once you have a semi-successful island you can just play around with it all and expand upon your new empire and kill those who stand in the wa….. I mean create a lovely island and invite tourists to see the magnificence and fairness in your little tropical paradise. I feel that the overall management options you are given are entertaining. You’re given control over import-export, policies, new projects and buildings, but sometimes it’s a challenge and you have to balance it all correctly and not go too mad. Elections will pop up so you must keep impressing people to gain the vote or you can become corrupt and make it sway in your favour or even call a military coup and force people to vote for you. If you don’t manage to get elected sadly it is game-over. While there are a couple of bugs nothing is game-breaking but unfortunately, I have seen reports of a few crashes with the DLC but knowing Kalypso Media, they’ll jump right on it as they did with Tropico 6 at launch.
Graphically the game is stunning, the beautiful island is full of life and character and seeing your island grow is amazing. Watching each little life on the island is also great as you can see the hard workers doing there daily jobs which I thought did impact the way you felt about your little city. You’ll also get to listen to a themed soundtrack that fits in with the overall feel and it’s nice, but I much prefer the ambience of the city noises while also hearing the crashing of the waves against the sand and rocks.
Verdict
I came in late to the Tropico series, I tried out 4 for a little bit, had a good time with Tropico 5 on the PlayStation 4 but Tropico 6 is I feel where I got into it and became a fan. The way the systems work are fantastic and enjoyable, seeing your island grow from nothing to a massive city is beyond satisfying. I had a really good time with both Tropico 6 and Llama of Wall Street.
8/10
Nerdy Bird Games 