Tropico 5

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 163 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 81 out of 163
  2. Mixed: 64 out of 163
  3. Negative: 18 out of 163
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  1. gozzy87
    Sep 21, 2016
    10
    Got this game free with PS+ and I've v enjoyed every second playing it. I've spent many hours playing and will continue to play. It's humorous, fun and easy to get the hang of.
  2. BestSametr
    May 26, 2021
    10
    Oyun Harika ötesi. Oyunu 100 saatten fazla oynadım, hala da hiç sıkılmadan oynuyorum. Kesinlikle alınacak bir oyun. Oyun ilk başlarda zor geliyor (yaklaşık 1 saat) sonra rahatlıkla oynamaya başlıyorsunuz. Fazla söze gerek yok oyunu hiç düşünmeden satın alın derim.
  3. Agarwel
    Apr 28, 2015
    9
    Tropcio 5 is a great city building game. Of course it is best of the genre on the PS4 (duh). But personally I consider it best in the series and one of the best city building games in the genre (platform wide). There are better city builders, but not so many and Tropico is still worth playing too..

    If you did not play previous Tropico games: Tropico is a city building game based on    Tropcio 5 is a great city building game. Of course it is best of the genre on the PS4 (duh). But personally I consider it best in the series and one of the best city building games in the genre (platform wide). There are better city builders, but not so many and Tropico is still worth playing too..

    If you did not play previous Tropico games:
    Tropico is a city building game based on pretty deep (but not overwhelming) simulation. There is no "zoning" and you place each single building indivitually. There is also almost no "area of effect" placed on buildings. The game is focusing on simulation of individual citizens. Not individual buildings. (you dont need to feed hospital with employees to automatically improve health in surrounding area. But you need to get individual citizens to the working hospital). The difference is, that in theory one hospital can cover whole island. It is not a good idea because the capacity may not handle all sick people. And if people live and work far away, it will take a long time to travel there and will maybe miss the work, etc. But in theory sick person on one end of the map can walk to hospital on the other end.

    There is also big focus on politics. You need to keep other countries happy (to avoid invasion and receive bigger foreign aid). And your citizens are divided into several political factions. Each with own preferences. You can also issue different edicts (laws) that will somehow change the life on the island and have different advantages and dissadvantages (you can assign some free food to citizens = happier people, but lesser exports,. etc). Nice example of the game depth is for example allowance of same sex marriage. Houses does not contain free slots for people, but families. Allowing same sex marrige will group more people into familise and you need less houses. But everybody in religious faction will recieve negative points to his happiness.

    Due to this deep simulatio nthe game is easy to play (the impacts of your actions are intuitive and you need just common sense to understand what you need to do) but difficult to master (you can really micromanage individuall factions and try to affect how many people are in each of them and, bribe their leaders, etc.)

    Nice thing about Tropico is that you can play it with diffeerent styles. It is great fun to experiment. You can try to be nice, keep your people happy and keep yoursefl at power by elections. Or you can ban the elections and just keep yourself at power by military exploiting your people to get as much cash as possible. Hoping the rebels will not destroy your palace. You can run the police, prison and order assasinations to get rid of most probelamtic citizes. Again - the deep simulation of this game makes this fun. You can kill crime lords and rebels making your lands safer for you, but you will make unhappy all the family members, etc.

    I also like that raw resources on the island are limited. This forces you to update your strategy and plan for the future. At the beggining you will realy heavily on mining. But you need to expect that all mines will run out. And if you dont prepare yourself in time, you will cut yourself from cash. So from one strategy you slowly need to start depending on tourists, offices, production from imported goods,etc

    If you played previous Tropico games:
    If you are experienced in the series, here is a list of main updates. The way the city works is almost the same. The rules are same, the graphics are almost same (port from last gen). There are few buildings and options removed. And few added. But at first look, it seems like a same game. Luckily it is not.

    The city works a same way. But rules how you can build it changed. And it changed the game a lot. Old strategies does not work and you need to play differently. The biggest update is flow of time. (it was somehow done in T4 DLC, but now it is implemented much better). First of all there is standart research tree. And then four different eras. Each unlocking you new buildings, edicts, nations, goals etc.

    In T4 you had all building available from the beggining and were limited just by their costs. It was wasy to exploit some building to make the game really easy (free hotel bonus, customs office,...). Now these building are simply not available at the beggiing. You really need to start with backwards village with no advanced buildings available and no cheap sources of money. And slowly move to more advance eras. And when you get there, these buldings are not so powerfull, because you already have the old backwards city full of problems to handle. And few hotels will not save you.

    Because you are not able to exploit some older strategies from the beggining, the difficulty is much better balanced. I think T4 was too easy. It was almost impossible to loose. I always ended with huge amount of money kepping everybody happy. This time it is more challenging and better balanced. You really need to work hard for money and happiness    … Expand
  4. ps4lover
    Apr 29, 2015
    9
    this game is great and more fun. graphic look good, gameplay is decent. campigan mode is fun. Tropico 6 should improve some features whenever it release in future i am enjoying it so far
  5. RedWulfr
    Dec 27, 2015
    8
    I have played most of the Tropicos that has been released on PC, but this was the first on console. I was impressed how easy it was to control and pick details. As of how the game kept me intrigued for a pretty long time, which some of its successors have not been able too. Im probably going to pick this game up again now and then.
  6. mgftp
    Aug 11, 2015
    8
    First, I haven't played any Tropico game before so I can't compare to the others but this is the first sim builder to hook me since the first Sim City. Loved playing through the campaign, it was very enjoyable and one of those games I really hated to put down every time I had to stop playing. With that said my gripe is the MP, it just doesn't grab you, and maybe that is the nature ofFirst, I haven't played any Tropico game before so I can't compare to the others but this is the first sim builder to hook me since the first Sim City. Loved playing through the campaign, it was very enjoyable and one of those games I really hated to put down every time I had to stop playing. With that said my gripe is the MP, it just doesn't grab you, and maybe that is the nature of this type of game, but in a world where MP adds replay value, Tropico 5 doesn't deliver. With that said, if this type of game appeals to you I think it's surely worth a play through the SP.… Expand
  7. Dal_ReviewedDat
    Jun 1, 2015
    8
    Doesn't the PS4 feel like it needs the sort of sit-down-strategy that can immense a good days time away?

    Not anymore. Tropico 5 offers on the most basic level a sandbox city builder set on an island. It has a good economic system offering over 100 buildings to make set in 3 eras from 1900 onwards. If the game was just this, I would be happy enough and have given it a 6 or so. The    Doesn't the PS4 feel like it needs the sort of sit-down-strategy that can immense a good days time away?

    Not anymore.

    Tropico 5 offers on the most basic level a sandbox city builder set on an island. It has a good economic system offering over 100 buildings to make set in 3 eras from 1900 onwards. If the game was just this, I would be happy enough and have given it a 6 or so.
    The brilliance of Tropico, as with its predecessors is the ability to be cunning, sly and the evil overlord you know you want to be, or be merciful socialist president of the people. Either way, you get to indulge in a good number of assassinations and carve your influence deep in the fabric of your little island.

    As a CIV fan, I like most strategies in this layout, and hadnt played a version of Tropico since 3 on PC, which I found really frustrating. In comparison, the PS4 polishes up the graphics and sound and smoothly plays out the game. It's beautiful to build up as well as scroll about on your island.

    I've played through twice now on Sandbox, and about to start the main campaign, but I like the variety of settings within the sandbox mode to allow you to play the way you like. The random map generator isn't all that, but with a good number of pre-set islands to start with it's not an issue.

    There's a real casualness to the game. If you like chilling out with a game for a good long session without getting flustered or angry at constant death syndrome of other games out, it's a real change and I really hope to see more strategy games converted so brilliantly to PS4.

    The menu has DLC options also, I hope they come out sooner rather than later and add more content to this already awesome game.    … Expand
  8. MilanPhilip25
    May 2, 2015
    8
    Although I think there is room for improvement, Tropico 5 is a great way to kick back and relax after a long day, when you aren't really in the mood to get stuck into a more complex game.
  9. setuis
    Sep 5, 2016
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Tropico 5 its flaws are limited by one fact in the mission where you start to earn a million on interest is that you don't get to keep or spend any of it in my game the money didn't carry over and it seemed like it encouraged the building of an unstable economy, I liked the idea of moving money from one mission to another but the money kept resetting each mission. The secondary flaws of tropico not able to make dual carridge ways and roundabouts to fix grind lock slowment. Tropico 5s flaws come from show casting something good interest rates in a mission and then remove it for the next few missions while only using it once. On a side note getting 900 population from 258 is hard if not impossible make sure you spend time on leon must die correcting your economy, and building population.… Expand
  10. Oliverhilt
    Mar 26, 2018
    8
    Tropico 5 is a nice and relaxing strategy game. The game is very fun, because it is not easy. I love being a dictator in small island. The music is also very good and you can build so much. I like that the game is actually challenging and it makes the game good.
  11. Torcidash1950
    Aug 26, 2018
    8
    This is my first Tropico game.I was positively surprised.Graphics,soundtrack and humor never gets old.I played it a hell of a lot in the past few days because it is addictive as crack.Now,i got a city with 2,200 people living in it.The only (big) problem i encounter in the game is population limit.When i reach that limit,i have to invite workers every in-game year.The workers are ALWAYSThis is my first Tropico game.I was positively surprised.Graphics,soundtrack and humor never gets old.I played it a hell of a lot in the past few days because it is addictive as crack.Now,i got a city with 2,200 people living in it.The only (big) problem i encounter in the game is population limit.When i reach that limit,i have to invite workers every in-game year.The workers are ALWAYS abandoning the supermarkets,metro stations,restaurants,parking lots and taverns.It feels like that they HAVE to abandon those buildings and it is very frustrating.This is why I gave this game an 8/10.… Expand
  12. Berik
    Nov 4, 2018
    8
    If you ever wanted to play as dictator while disguising as a fair leader and city builder, then you should consider playing Tropico. As these games are best played on a PC, i tried it on PS4 and discovered the developer had chosen a good UI to play this game with.

    Tropico has a deep, sometimes very hidden gameplay with lots and lots of features and options. Figuring out how to rule    If you ever wanted to play as dictator while disguising as a fair leader and city builder, then you should consider playing Tropico. As these games are best played on a PC, i tried it on PS4 and discovered the developer had chosen a good UI to play this game with.

    Tropico has a deep, sometimes very hidden gameplay with lots and lots of features and options. Figuring out how to rule (manipulate) the voters the best takes time and trial and error, but once you learned it you feel like a true dictator making world powers dancing to your feet.

    As a city builder, management and politics game, there is a lot to take in when playing. Unfortunately the tutorial doesn't cover very much, so checking guides on the internet is advisable. Not understanding the game makes the difference between a debt of -$40000 and a wealth of almost a million.

    Since launch a few expansions have been added which adds even more options and missions to the game. The campaign itself is funny and gives the player a lot of opportunities to learn.

    All and all this has been a very enjoyable game to play, it is an excellent game even on PS4. I rate this game an 8/10.    … Expand
  13. Enforcer122
    May 5, 2015
    7
    Just more of the same, which isn't always a bad thing, but there's absolutely nothing fundamentally different from Tropico 4 to Tropico 5. It's still a great pick up and play game, where you can relax and have fun with it, but I expected more changes then what it offered.
  14. gamingnewsdaily
    May 13, 2015
    7
    Tropico 5, like its predecessors, (Tropico 3 & 4,) casts you as El Presidente, the Communist leader of a fictional republic. You control everything from housing to infrastructure, healthcare, international trade, voting rights, hiring managers for individual businesses (given that they’re government-owned), budgets, military/police, etc. Where most cities in city building simsTropico 5, like its predecessors, (Tropico 3 & 4,) casts you as El Presidente, the Communist leader of a fictional republic. You control everything from housing to infrastructure, healthcare, international trade, voting rights, hiring managers for individual businesses (given that they’re government-owned), budgets, military/police, etc. Where most cities in city building sims traditionally exist in continual stasis, your island in Tropico 5 is subject to the passing of time. Your dynasty presides over Tropico across the Colonial Era, World War II, the Cold War, & Modern Times. The changes that occur between eras, though simple, are more than just aesthetic swaps. The citizens of your country could witness an era of prosperity as they loosen the King’s grip in the Colonial Era; you could make a killing exporting livestock and iron to other countries. But next thing you know, Germany invades Poland, and the whole world changes. Gone is the demand for foreign meat, because in the post-colonial world, every variety of livestock has been spread far and wide. Gone is the demand for iron, because industrialized warfare demands steel. Gone is your golden age; your lifelong citizens, along with the hundreds of people who immigrated into your country seeking opportunity, are poor, hungry, restless, and pissed off… Good job El Presidente. The graphics of Tropico 5 have not made all that much improvements from Tropico 4, it doesn’t seem to have too much have an upgrade which is quite disappointing, but they shall suffice, after all gameplay is the most important part! The sound quality is okay but they could be much better, sound effects, voice acting could use work which we hope to see improvements in the next Tropico with graphics & sound. In the next Tropico we also hope to see a greater improvement in gameplay too, their needs to be more variety in what you can build & customize, although there is quite a bit of stuff to build & customize in Tropic 5 it feels very similar to Tropico 4, it almost feel like one maybe two large expansion packs if you will.… Expand
  15. Nel
    Apr 2, 2017
    7
    Fun, interesting game kinda extreme version of sim city. The game is based more on you being a president and which you then can pick whichever way you want to lead your island.
  16. stamito
    Aug 1, 2016
    7
    Maybe ps4 is not the best platform to play strategy games, I think we could all agree on that and there isn’t a lot of strategy games either anyway, but this tropic 5 works well and it is fun to play. I wasn’t really going to give this game a chance, although I have always felt kind of attracted to it, but since I got it for “free” on psplus I gave it a try and I’m happy I did.Maybe ps4 is not the best platform to play strategy games, I think we could all agree on that and there isn’t a lot of strategy games either anyway, but this tropic 5 works well and it is fun to play. I wasn’t really going to give this game a chance, although I have always felt kind of attracted to it, but since I got it for “free” on psplus I gave it a try and I’m happy I did.

    Graphics, music and that kind of stuff is nice, I wouldn’t say it surprises the player in any way but it works well and it is nicely done. I think the main thing about this game is the fact that it is not too complicated but not too simple either, in terms of the gameplay (i.e. how many things you have to manage). That, IMO, is at the same time both its best and worse feature. Basically, depending on the kind of gamer you are, you might feel disappointed about the game not being deep enough in the city management stuff. However, if you’re not too bothered about that and you just want something a bit simpler and have a fun time, then it’s good and, I’ll say tropico does a good job with that. I think it is worth commenting that you have the choice to be a good ruler or a really bad/corrupt one, that can be hilarious at points and it’s really good that you can basically make that choice as it gives the game a bit of variety. Also, it is important to say that the controls feel good and I never missed the keyboard and mouse once I got the hang of it, really good work there.
    The campaign is decent, although I was kind of getting a bit tired by the end, and the game itself is quite good. The thing about it being kind of simple is that I feel it might be the kind of game you get tired of relatively quickly. That’s basically what happened to me, I only played the campaign an after it I kind of felt I had enough tropico, it was very nice but enough.

    Summarising, it is quite an interesting and good game, but on the long term I think it can feel repetitive and you might get bored. For people, looking for complex strategy management games I wouldn’t recommend this; similarly, if you’re looking for combat strategy don’t play it, combat here is almost none existent and not particularly funny. It is all right tough as it is not trying to be a combat/military strategy game. Finally, if you’re kind of new in the world of city management strategy games, this is a really good game to start your way in this genre, go get it!.    … Expand
  17. jackhunter
    Apr 12, 2016
    6
    Tourism is now very profitable(all buildings can give money, while some of them never did in tropico 4) and it seems traffic issues have been fixed; the era system makes you feel limited sometimes as you cannot build specific buildings in early eras. You can also loose easily in campaign becauese you continue each mission with islands you developped in previous missions, so if you managedTourism is now very profitable(all buildings can give money, while some of them never did in tropico 4) and it seems traffic issues have been fixed; the era system makes you feel limited sometimes as you cannot build specific buildings in early eras. You can also loose easily in campaign becauese you continue each mission with islands you developped in previous missions, so if you managed something poorly, you may be trapped. The story is in my opinion more repetitive and less fun than in tropico 4. Tropico 6 should definitely mix features from Tropico 4 and 5. Also, note that speeches during elections have been removed and some buildings like the golden statue have disappeared. Its a mixed bag, to sum up.… Expand
  18. BatmanBuster
    Jun 25, 2015
    6
    The game comes with no innovations, it simply remains the same Tropico 3 but in a shinier form. ( personally i hate the campaign , it could be more interesting)
  19. Ruzaky
    Sep 4, 2020
    6
    Previous game was more interesting for some reason. But if you enjoy tropico you will have fun with this one also i guess.
  20. summerblend
    Dec 4, 2015
    5
    This is my first ever Tropico game. I enjoy it but it has serious flaw. Rebels and Unrest seem to be predetermined. Trying to find information on how to manage your settlement better is difficult to locate at best. I was trying to found out how many deaths I had per month, or how much revenue each resource made a year and you cant find that. Also seems like there were other variable inThis is my first ever Tropico game. I enjoy it but it has serious flaw. Rebels and Unrest seem to be predetermined. Trying to find information on how to manage your settlement better is difficult to locate at best. I was trying to found out how many deaths I had per month, or how much revenue each resource made a year and you cant find that. Also seems like there were other variable in deciding degradation of ranches that are not explained. Which is another thing, there is no detailed explanation of how things work. You get a quirky paragraph or two that has nothing to do with what you need to know and then a very vague sentence of what that building is supposed to do. After reading other reviews it seems I wasn't the only person to encounter these issues. On top of all that the campaign was too short, there is literally only one side mission and sandbox is pretty bland. After completing the campaign I found myself out of challenges. There are several bugs to this game as well. If Kalypso was looking to gain new people to their products; this is not how you do it. I'll probably go play T4 from what everyone has said but I more than likely wont buy the next Tropico.… Expand
  21. JJsusinho
    Aug 21, 2023
    5
    It's fun at first but it's a totally forgettable video game, there are much better ones.
  22. iduncan91
    May 4, 2015
    1
    One step forward, two steps backwards. I do not understand how people give this game a 9. It is far from a 9, but not quite a zero. Construction is very limited in the beginning and you constantly need to appease the crown to continue to rule which is frustrating at time. In addition, territory has to be explored which is very frustrating. If that were not enough, the soundtrack stillOne step forward, two steps backwards. I do not understand how people give this game a 9. It is far from a 9, but not quite a zero. Construction is very limited in the beginning and you constantly need to appease the crown to continue to rule which is frustrating at time. In addition, territory has to be explored which is very frustrating. If that were not enough, the soundtrack still sucks. The game has changed very little since Tropico 3 or 4 besides graphics. There are still very few buildings.… Expand
  23. taroko
    Oct 16, 2015
    1
    City builders are not meant for consoles! Controls are quite difficult and the interface is wacky and unintuitive. Too many options, not well-explained, no way to figure out how the economy works, things just happen at random and you have to guess why.

    Humor is not very elaborate, just some lazy dictator stereotypes with no social commentary... it's so neutered that it's not political    City builders are not meant for consoles! Controls are quite difficult and the interface is wacky and unintuitive. Too many options, not well-explained, no way to figure out how the economy works, things just happen at random and you have to guess why.

    Humor is not very elaborate, just some lazy dictator stereotypes with no social commentary... it's so neutered that it's not political at all, it's just bland garbage.    … Expand
  24. USAsucks
    Jun 20, 2016
    1
    Oh man, the gameplay is severely dated...If I wanted to plan build orders, manage terrain and city planning and deal with population in terms of social and housing matters, there are plenty of golden titles out there (classics by now, Civ II, Sim City old titles - hell even Dungeon Keeper comes to mind) which the half assed Tropico series fail to even try to copy or resemble HorridOh man, the gameplay is severely dated...If I wanted to plan build orders, manage terrain and city planning and deal with population in terms of social and housing matters, there are plenty of golden titles out there (classics by now, Civ II, Sim City old titles - hell even Dungeon Keeper comes to mind) which the half assed Tropico series fail to even try to copy or resemble Horrid gameplay, annoying music, the menus make me feel I'm in Railroad Tycoon II - which unfortunately I wasn't, since that would have been a tenfold more enjoyable experience than this cheap mish mash of other billions of titles with it's only uniqueness being "oh it's a tropical Island - everyone likes that right?" paired with low class and stereotypical racism and normalization of the doings of the land of the free (*pardon me if I'm struggling not to laugh while calling the house of the star spangled banner that) and the old usual vilifying of the Red Star in the east. I guess this last point makes for at least *some* sales in the land of the free where being spoonfed with the false imagery of how the world is constituted is not only a well selling concept but at this stage, probably necessary to keep things up and running all in all, you now, so people don't go haywire and overthrow institutions and all.

    Aaaaaaaanyway; the setting is just obnoxiously immoral by all means - I prefer mayhem and GTA style violence or the charmy evil that Dungeon Keeper was first to set out and propose and conquered a whole generation over banalizing and trivializing _real_ historic atrocities, such as the impoverished and totalitarian rules of Latin America and the Caribbean in the shadow of the so called super powers and besides the setting, the whole music/voice/imagery is burlesque, distateful, out of touch and immensely disrespectful to all my fellow latin american brothers and sisters. I spit on your project Kalypso, and I mourn that my hard drive ever saw your filth inscribed on it's disc.

    However it does, after all, revolve around a tropical island, which is nice.    … Expand
  25. disappointment
    Feb 29, 2016
    0
    It is a pretty good game except I bought this game for the ps4 in February 2016 and I encountered this little gem of a bug which I cannot save progress. There is also the fact that they still have not released a patch for this game. http://www.forum.kalypsomedia.de/showthread.php?tid=27538
  26. Greghead
    Jun 30, 2016
    0
    I usually love these sort of games. This one is absolute **** Talk about boring. After several hours of gameplay, I was ready to jump off a cliff.
    AVOID.
  27. ablaise82
    Nov 24, 2016
    0
    This game is broken. Citizens contradict eachother and make no sense. Directions are unclear. controls are awful. The fact that you cant restart a mission is ABYSMAL. You can very easily get perma stuck and be forced to restart the ENTIRE GAME. Just awful in every possible way. Honestly the worst AAA title Iv'e ever played on ps4, this game is dog ****

Awards & Rankings

86
#86 Best PS4 Game of 2015
94
#94 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2015
44
#44 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Jun 30, 2015
    80
    Tropico 5 is like taking a holiday from standard strategy games: warm, amusing and, just like packing a mankini instead of your board shorts, revealing and stressful. [July 2015, p.96]
  2. Level7.nu
    Jun 10, 2015
    70
    Tropico 5 is a well-made strategy game filled with humor. The gameplay works ok with a controller instead of keyboard and mouse, although some menus are unnecessarily cumbersome. The genre's true peaks are still found on the PC, but Tropico is a good choice if you want to play a more laid back yet challenging strategy game on your TV.
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  3. The Digital Fix
    May 26, 2015
    80
    With great gameplay and a funky aesthetic, Tropico 5 manages to turn its dubious subject matter into something enjoyable. It's a pity that it doesn't quite sit comfortably on the PlayStation 4, but it's an engrossing experience nonetheless.
    Read full review
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