14 DAY TRIAL // Tropico 5 was an interesting game when it was first launched and the development team at Haemimont Games is trying to expand the concept with a new expansion called Waterborne, which adds more islands to play on, a new story campaign, and a set of buildings that allow gamers to claim and use the resources of the sea.
The premise of the single-player narrative that gamers are invited to play is that a very rare and expensive Black Pearl needs to be first found and then sold in order for the ruler of the island paradise to get some more money into his Swiss bank account.
The premise is pretty cool and the familiar cast of advisers tends to actually deliver some humor-filled briefings for the various missions, something that I felt the initial Tropico 5 missed.
The Black Pearl is a good McGuffin that motivates players to once again try to develop an island to the best of their abilities, trying to choose between tyranny and democracy and to maximize earnings while also avoiding invasions and natural disasters.
Unfortunately, Tropico 5 – Waterborne is undermined by the fact that the gameplay never manages to mix well with the story and the missions often come across as unfair.
Competition with an unknown entity
A very good example is the quest that’s designed to allow players to win the second mission introduced in Waterborne, which asks them to compete against a corporation that’s fishing out the sea around the controlled island.
Gamers need to set up their fishing trawlers and then to export a huge number of fish and canned food, all the while performing better than the off-screen entity.
Even if the player optimizes their own output before the quest is introduced, it’s hard to reach the objective that Tropico 5 introduces.
Basically, the best way of approaching the mission is to play it once to understand the general progression and to then restart it and develop the island in order to reach the final goal.
Even for those who enjoy a solid challenge, this is bad design because it undermines the freedom that was one of the main selling points for Tropico 5.
