Tropico 4

My favorite of the Tropico games. Like the others in the series, you are a dictator building up, and running your Caribbean island while juggling its factions. The campaign's writing's great, and has a great sense of humor, though some of the pop culture references are a bit outdated at this point.

This is easily my favorite city builder around. I've finally completed every scenario in the game. There are TONS of scenarios to play. Each mission is long enough to not feel like it has stayed it's welcome. Tropico 5 & 6 do not hold a candle to this game.

I am El Presidente! And you can be, too! Be a dictator, be a fascist, be a rebel, be a communist! It doesn't matter, you will get assassinated or you will rule! Have a good time :)

This game is the best of the series from 1-6.

Tropico 4 is beautiful and has an excellent economy and set of items and graphics. The audio (music and speech) is also stunning.

I love Tropico 4 for the progress of the game and its economy and graphics. Excellent way to spend an afternoon.
Although I wished there were rails, but these have not much use on an island.

TROPICO 4 WAS THE BEST AFTER THIS THEY RUINED THE GAME

Great game to pass time.

EL PRESIDENTE IS THE BEST. What else should i say? :">

8/10 genuinely very fun city builder to challenge yourself.

I really liked Tropico 4, if you get all the DLC there's PLENTY of challenges and the perk combos are really fun to do. I have entirely played the random scenario mode, and its super fun to screw around with.

The Good:
Tropico 4 is a banana-republic banger that’ll have you strutting like a dictator in a shiny sash! You’re El Presidente, ruling a tropical island with a cigar in one hand and a tiki drink in the other, building shacks, factories, and casinos like a sunburned SimCity god. The vibe’s a salsa-dancing riot—steel drums, palm trees, and citizens who love or loathe you depending on how many rum distilleries you’ve got. The economy’s a juicy puzzle: juggle exports, tourism, and bribes while keeping rebels from torching your palace. Missions are a hoot—smuggle cocoa, host a world expo, or just fleece your people for a golden statue of yourself. The humor’s sharper than a machete—radio DJs roast your every move, and your advisors are snarkier than a parrot with a grudge. It’s a dictatorial dream, and you’ll be cackling as you oppress with style!

The Bad:
Okay, there’s a slight hiccup—nothing a true Presidente can’t squash like a pesky rebel! The learning curve’s a bit spicy, like downing a habanero smoothie—newbies might flinch at balancing trade routes and factions, but you’ll be a tyrant tycoon in no time. Some missions repeat like a bad calypso cover band, and keeping every faction happy—commies, capitalists, tree-huggers—feels like herding flamingos on roller skates. The AI’s a tad dim; citizens wander into hurricanes like it’s a beach party. But pfft, who needs smart peons when you’ve got a Swiss bank account and a megaphone? These are tiny potholes on your road to glory.

The Ugly:
Flaws? More like charming quirks of island life! The graphics are a bit dated—think early 2000s postcard with pixelated palm trees—but it’s got retro swagger, like a dictator’s vintage mustache. Pathfinding can go loco; workers get stuck behind shacks like they’re auditioning for a traffic jam. The interface’s clunky, with menus messier than a post-coup cantina, but you’ll navigate it faster than a smuggler’s speedboat. Late-game lag creeps in when your island’s a bustling metropolis—your rig’s just sweating from all the tropical heat! Tropico 4 is the rowdy sibling of SimCity and Anno, but it’s the one who showed up with a piña colada and a plan to rule forever.

The Verdict:
8.5/10 City-Building Simulation

Lets make it simple.

If you new to the genre and not a pay pig, then a suggest you just give up on this genre entering or ask a friend to let you try it before you buy.

If you are a pay pig, I find this is a good start, the theme will help you out in getting in genre, however note that the big names can cost you around 200+ USD in dlc. So 25 USD is a good start.

For the fans of city-builders, this is the peak of the series so far, the "idea" cow is dried out and you know what that means for later titles. Especially for the Post 2010s niche market.

I would thumbs down it just because of the pure spite I have to the growing milk the niche market for all its worth, however this skids by on being reasonable. However the series just needs a wide Eye on it.

I love city builders. So much I just can't describe them. So will review the spice. The feeling of being the Bio-dad of Justin Trudeau is there. In sound, visuals, the state of mind it puts you in, even the jokes just fit. Perfect except game-play. Game play is great, however it does not give the the spice promised. I just do what I do with other city builders. I make sure the stats are all in the green. To their credit it is due to they DON'T hamstring you in to it, but I kinda want to be. Look at history, Justin's Father's lover/baby daddy was obsessed with milk products. He demanded the World to move so he could have a Cow breed for Cuba. Despite everyone LOATHED the idea. I just don't feel like I do that here. In game I just try to make everyone happy. Maybe take the cream off the top but I am not down right ignoring everyone to get my way. That is the problem. However to do so would admit to the truth of why Collectivism fails. Ironically that would require a Spine, not capitalist greed.

This game proves that I should be trusted to run a tropical island

gud

If you're not smoking cigars playing this, you're doing it wrong.

The game crashed to desktop while I was playing the fourth mission of the campaign, and I lost all my progress—including my avatar traits. The game is really fun to play, but this stupid crash made me rage-uninstall

There is just so much to love about the base game here.. Might just be Tropico perfection

I love this game!

Tropico 4 is definitely worth your time, even in 2025.

It's a solid city builder on its own, with charming aesthetics (both music and visuals), nice sense of humor and addictive gameplay.

However, it fails miserably when it comes to actually playing as a Caribbean dictator. There's no real incentive to be the "bad guy" — it's too expensive and doesn't offer much benefit unless the game artificially forces you into it. It's almost always simpler and cheaper to just build a strong economy rather than bother with election fraud, propaganda, police states, army, nuclear program etc.

After 100+ hours of playtime, I found myself never using about 2/3 of the edicts and ~half of available buildings. And without that gameplay lacks depth, as the same formula - "build industry > build amenities to maintain happiness > repeat" - always wins

best tropico game, in depth, clunky controls, buttloads of classic tropico humour and charm...
the works, i dont have any dlc but it already feels like it has more content than tropico 5 or 6

el presidente

My fav of all the Tropicos

Nice fun game!

Really enjoyed this game. I have played and played, kind of just doing whatever. Today I finally finished mission 20 with over half of the achievements unlocked. Great game. Great fun

Fun and silly sandbox that makes those dreams that you can run a country better than those currently doing it come true.

Viva El Presidente

Being El Presidente is a lot of fun. One of the best city-builders I've played, with the added bonus of being genuinely funny at times (llama-related jokes aside). Surprisingly deep and complex.

great game! nice story line.

Love it

Amazing game

Best tropico game imo

very good

Fun to play.

I am finally revisiting this franchise after years. I DO RECALL absolutely loving this game and really wanting to try Tropico 5 back then but couldn't afford it at the time. Now, finally Tropico 5 has been released with their "Complete Edition" but I kind of forgot about Tropico over the years until I recently saw TROPICO 6 was out, on sale and already had DLCs.

As I said, I have fond memories of Tropico 4 as it made me laugh, relax & forget about the troubles I was going through in life at the time. I may not have much playtime in Tropico 4 but it looks like I WILL BE skipping Tropico 5 and just diving right into Tropico 6 as time allows.

I have read a LOT of reviews about Tropico and MOST fans of the series say Tropico 4 is the best, even to this day.

I don't have enough experience with all of them to say for sure, but this one certainly left a mark on me! Grab it when on sale FOR SURE!... even just to have in your collection! It's worth it!

good

My favorite Tropico game and one of the best city builders by a country mile. The brilliantly drawn caricatures and top notch voice acting make this a timeless experience that I still play to this day.

Democratic Leader simulator 9.9/10

Not sure about Tropico 5 but this is better than Tropico 6 and an improvement on some aspects of Tropico 3

Not sure why the game performs like it's running a cryptominer on my graphics card, but pretty good aside from that.

Tropico 4 has depth and an excellent vibe despite some confusion.

The mechanics all appear to be connected with a sense of balance, but certain details are not clear, especially regarding some of the buildings - How many of them do you need? Where are you supposed to put them? Do they need free space around them? Why do they disappear? Some are obvious, but others are left unexplained. Some of the mission goals should have offered detailed hints.

You don't seem to need to play "optimally" to progress, atleast until you reach the end of the game. Even if the gameplay itself falls apart, the soundtrack and the satirical theme (supported by good voice acting) is all memorable.

The technical and product side of the game is a bit disappointing - the options don't always save, and there's a pointless launcher that shows a bunch of advertising, and it wants you to subscribe to their newsletter and post about the game on Facebook and Twitter. For a game that was released over a decade ago, and has advertising in it, I'm not excited about the pricetag of £12.99.

Fun, goofy little city builder! The jokes start to wear thin after a while.

Tropico 4 is a fun city builder with cultural flare. The deep campaign mode has some unique challenges and the game lends itself to varied styles of play. Historical leaders each offer unique bonuses to encourage replay with strategies built around specific strengths and weaknesses. Tropico 4 is often considered the best of the Tropico game series and the game-play design still holds up in spite of dated visuals.

Still the best outing for Presidente. The most fun, the easiest to play, and a great example of what all city building and management games should be. The graphics, after 14 years, are of course dated, but everything else is perfect.

One of my favorite games, and definitely my favorite Tropico game.

Still fun after 14 years.

i love tropico

Tropico

A cheeky city builder. Decent Campaign mode/story. Gets a little redundant after a while, but overall scratches that city builder itch while adding a comedic tone!

7/10;
-Good follow up with expanded economic and political systems.
-Minimal technical issues.
-Game play loop is more of the same, with some added depth for population and economy.
-"Still no education for the children"

I would recommend this game on sale at 70% or greater.

Plain city builders can get dull. Not this one! You have a lot going on but you can get by without going super in depth. Different challenges and events keep things interesting as well. My only problem is not knowing when to quit. It;s easy to get caught up trying to build the next thing or resolve an issue. I stay up too late playing.

Its fun, humorous, creative and seems to cover the "island" life. Take hours to make a perfect town or far less to complete task, you play your way.

fun and addicting

Tropico 4 is the pinnacle of the Tropico series. Could it be improved upon? Of course, but Tropico 5, unfortunately, did not improve upon it. In fact, Tropico 5 was far worse. I came back to Tropico 4. It oozes charm with it's wacky characters, it allows chaos by not requiring you to build roads, and the military system actually made sense. If you want to truly experience the Tropico series at its best, play Tropico, Tropico 3, and finally, Tropico 4.

Solid game, lots to do, reminds me of classic Tropico