REVIEW: Tropico 6 beta eases players into changes
- Melissa Erny
- Mar 11, 2019
- 4 min read
El Presidente is back and better than ever.
Last week, Kalypso Media announced a limited-time free beta for Tropico 6 to give those who haven't preordered the game a little taste of paradise.
With a decent amount of content available, players were able to play through the tutorial, a few missions and even test the multiplayer.
But first thing's first, creating your very own El Presidente.
Right out the gates, we can see the difference in developers. With Limbic Entertainment at the reins, as opposed to Haemimont Games from previous games, customization has become more of a mixed bag.
Features for your Presidente's physical appearance seem to be the same: outfits, hairstyles, race, hats, glasses and, of course, your classic cigar/pipe/pacifier accessory. The only glitch I encountered during character customization was none of the makeup seemed to be working, an error hopefully fixed by launch. But no matter your look, Presidente will always end up being Presidente, as you can no longer pick a name for your ruler.
Unfortunately, there are only eight personality traits to pick from so far. Players can select only one from apologetic to pyromaniac to workaholic in order to describe Tropico's ruler's personality, as well as add some benefits and/or detriments to gameplay itself.
Perhaps this was to make room for an entirely new customization, your palace. For the first time, players can determine the layout, colors and decorate parts of the estate. I mean, what dictator doesn't want a rooftop aquarium filled with sharks?
Then came the tutorial. It runs similar to the previous game's beginner's guides: run a few scenarios, slowly introducing players to the rules and mechanics, from basic city building to deeper politics.
However, this time, the lessons are more in-depth than in the past, making this the best introduction to new Tropico players. For those with the patience to read each panel, Tropico 6's tutorial will explain key aspects of the game players had to figure out on their own in the past.
Don't worry, it doesn't lay everything out right away. There's still plenty players can learn as they go, but advice on certain issues, such as why shacks appear in certain places and how to better read the overlays, will make both you and your Tropican citizens breathe much easier.
Even veteran players can benefit from these lessons to get a feel for some of what's new in the sixth installment. There are new buildings and edicts to learn over four eras. In particular, a pleasant throwback to Tropico 3, pirates. You will be guided through building your own pirate cove and how to utilize it as if it were another set of trade routes, with the added benefits of plundering treasure and even stealing famous world monuments.
Another new addition includes choices. It seems players will often have to decide between supporting one faction or another. As you might guess, if you help one group, your standing with the other will fall. And if you decide to not side with either, or don't complete the task within the time limit, expect negative consequences all around, which could lead to coups, uprisings or even foreign invasions.
Veterans who want to dive right into missions may rejoice in the return of your ever-loyal servant, Penultimo. It appears as though these missions will take you back through your rise to power, again, starting from when you first meet Penultimo. Expect to see other classic NPC faction leaders as you wade through decision after decision and grow your banana republic.
Although not all missions were unlocked during the beta, players were able to see what's to come. We can expect to see 15 different scenarios to play through. Players also have the choice of easy, normal or hard difficulty, lending them to more replay value than before. Honestly, I failed my first mission normal mode, so I'm excited to see what challenges hard mode will bring, with a little more practice.
Multiplayer seemed to be the biggest challenge. As far as my friends and I could see, there was no invite option, which also meant there wasn't really such a thing as a private game. However, once one person gets the game started and the others can find him or her from the list of hosts, the servers seemed to be very stable.
Each person starts on their own island (signified by a set color aura around your territory), growing and expanding in competition with other players to create the most powerful civilization.
As opposed to previous games where anywhere up to four players would have to share one large island, most maps, including singleplayer maps, are broken up into multiple islands. Now, instead of polluting one island with all your industrial waste then trying to put a tourist destination right down the beach, you can further specify different areas of your Tropico. Some islands are small and others have almost no resources at all, forcing players to strategize about what they want and where they need to expand to before others get there first.
If all of this seems like a little much and you just want to throw down as El Presidente, Sandbox Mode is still there for those of us who just love to build, expand and rule, or run everything and everyone straight into the sand.
Overall, I can say I'm very excited to see the final product. Choices like never before and even more detailed governing look like they will prove to add new challenges to players both new and old. I can only hope that the campaign mode previous games had will be part of the complete game, but we'll have to wait and see.
For those who have preordered on Steam, the beta will be available until release. To anyone looking to buy it on Playstation 4 or Xbox One, you can play the full game March 29.
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