iPad, PC/Mac/Linux •
Ah, nothing like a warm island breeze cooling you off as you’re sipping a daiquiri from a comically tall glass on a hot beach. The only thing that could make it better would be pocketing away millions of corrupt dollars while doing so, all while avoiding being handcuffed and taken away to a reeducation center because you happened to mention that El Presidente’s mustache was looking a tad droopy this morning. If you have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, welcome to Tropico, the city building game where you play the corrupt leader of a banana republic. The original Tropico is more than 15 years old now, but it’s had a slew of sequels and, later this year, it will make its debut on iPad.
Feral Interactive, the guys behind bringing Rome: Total War to our tablets have announced that Tropico will also be making the move to touchscreens.
If you like piña coladas, tropical weather and autocratic rule, you will love Tropico.
A city builder and hilarious political simulator, Tropico for iOS brings Kalypso’s acclaimed series to iPad for the very first time.
Devour the teaser trailer on YouTube for a sweet taste of island life.
Now, I’ve played Tropico and many of its sequels, so let’s get a couple things straight. First of all, Kalypso didn’t start publishing Tropico until Tropico 3, so it’s clear we’re getting a port of one of the later versions of Tropico and not something nearly 17 years old. They’re coming out (soon) with Tropico 6, so maybe the iPad version will incorporate mechanisms from that one, but we don’t know. Secondly, hilarious is a bit of a stretch. It can be clever and, sometimes, biting satire but I’ve never sat back and laughed out loud while detaining my political enemies. Well, okay, I did laugh once.
We don’t know much more about the announcement, but Macrumors dug a little deeper:
Feral mentioned that Tropico for iOS has been “redesigned and developed” for mobile devices, and when it launches on iPad it will be a premium, full-priced game with no in-app purchases. The tablet-optimized app will feature new touch controls with an easy-to-navigate user interface that Feral developed in the transition from PC/console to iPad.
The fact that it will be a premium game with no IAP means I’ll be downloading it when released if only to support more premium titles landing in the App Store. No clue on when it will actually arrive other than “later this year”, but we’ll keep you in the know.
I have fond memories of the original Tropico (probably because it is the only one of the series that I played). I remember one particular incident, however. My son, then around 4, was watching me play and making suggestions of what to build and generally getting involved in the lives of the islanders. There was an election, and I was evicted, and if you recall there was a cut scene of you rowing away from the island in a dinghy. Raphael looked at me with tears in his eyes and asked “But who will look after them now?”…
Tropico 3 was the one of the few games I managed to get 1000/1000 achievement points on Xbox 360. I do not at all mind the idea of having another crack at the on my iPad
Our former home is reporting that it’s a port of Tropico 3, with some revisions for mobile’s sake.
https://www.pockettactics.com/articles/never-fear-el-presidente-is-here-tropico-is-coming-to-ipad/
I’m not sure what breaks my heart more…that they scooped me on this or that you’re still reading PT.
“Reading” is more like it. In truth, I was on the phone with Amazon customer support for an eternity and reached the end of the internet, figured I’d see if the site still existed.
tl;dr I’m sorry, I promise I’ll never cheat on you again!
It’s okay, I’ll just have to destroy you in our next TtA game for punishment.
@Neumannium has some ‘splainin’ to do…wasn’t he over there commenting on a TTA picture a few months ago?