Tropico 5

Being the best dictator I can be.

Part I : Building as Island

Tropico 5 is a great game for those who wish to become dictators of their own world.. virtual that is. From the very start you are responsible for constructing a lucrative colony – something the imperial power makes very clear. I learned the lucrative aspect the hard way because as I continually tried to build an island paradise, My right to rule would be revoked! It took me three tries before I realized that I am working for a higher power. Once I accepted that, i was able to slowly build a more independent island, after making sure i kept extending my mandate to rule. Finding a right balance between revolution and making sure i have a castle to sleep in at night was tough, assumably just as tough as it would be in real life.

Very soon I found myself having to look after my citizens, so many were homeless and jobless. My rapid industrialization and nation building had left behind the concerns of the people, that is until it was an election year. Once an election was looming I had to act and build the proper housing, while at the same time not losing too much money on exports. This is a battle I am still waging to this day on my Island – a dictators day is never over.

Part II – Realism

I found this game to be very accurate and realistic. I loved the attention to detail that the developers put into the game. In particular, I enjoyed the overlays impact in the game. As a ruler you are forced to decide where to farm what, or where to put a building to get the biggest potential return. In the picture above you can see that if I placed my coffee plantation on the bottom of the screen, then I would receive a good yield from that crop. Conversely, if I had place it at the upper portion of the screen, i probably wouldn’t have even been able to farm at all! This is a great feature of the game that I believe makes it much more realistic with it included.

Another realistic feature of the game that had a huge impact on the gaming experience was the import/export mechanism. At the start, your exports impact your mandate to rule because if you trade too much with other nations, your mother country will become upset. At the same time, the more you export as a nation the more you make! So it is increasingly enticing to trade with pirates or likes or the sort.

Once you enter the World Wars Era, the new export issue is choosing which warring nation you will side with. While one trade contract might make you rich, it also might put you on the losing side of a war. This mechanism is great for trying to teach or show students the intricacies of trade relations during wartime, and can even be paired with a lesson on Cash and Carry economics during World War II!

Teachability

Could students learn certain historical aspects from playing this game? Overwhelmingly Yes! This game could be paired with lessons about trade relations, colonialism, communism, capitalism, socialism, resource management, cuban missile crisis, latin America, and so many more. However, this game is fun to the point that it actually may be hard for students to see past it being a game, and that is why I think it is crucial to teach this game alongside with lessons. Sure students might plug away at the game and create an awesome island, but without paired lessons that might be the extent to their learning ability, creating a “sick island”. Although, I think it would be easy to pair it with so many lessons!