I LOVED this game... But unfortunately it did nothing to try to innovate/improve on the formula of JSR/JSR:F and it felt like a game that was hamstrung by copycatting rather than attempting to stand out on it's own. The movement began to feel really slow about midway through and as fun as the tricks were to pull off the fact that there was really no incentive to do a ton of tricks nor were there a great variety of them it all began to feel very stale very fast. I got about 80% of the way done and I may come back in the future but this is where I am leaving it.

Really clean and authentic driving experience that is hamstrung by a career mode that progresses at a snails pace. I have done the same handful of maps probably 2 dozen times each at this point and I am finally getting to the point where I can unlock more races and more of the expensive tier of car. The whole introduction to the game is a learning experience for sure. I think that the game could do a lot better in terms of interactive tutorials, a small free roam map that players can test drive cars and car setups, and a more interactive crowd system like the old school rally games had. The game is completely saved by the driving physics, co-driver calls, and the 3 different rally race types that offer plenty of variety.

Hooray! I finally beat the base game and get to start playing the DLC maps :)

This was the worst possible way to start that experience. The 1st map of this DLC is not too terrible. Nothing excessively special and I like the ice mechanics of the DLC. However, when you get to the second map the entire DLC just falls apart and turns into a needless grind through some of the most godawful terrain with some of the most godawful missions I have yet played in this game. You'll be hauling oversized cargo through a literal forest and through tight gaps that are impossible to avoid without doing special maneuvers through steep hills and dreadful ice slides. The whole game up to this point has trained players to look for alternative routes to complete missions. But with Imandra (the second map) there are no real alternate routes. You have 2 ways of crossing the main lake in the center of the map and both of them are absolutely godawful. Every mission in this map will require you to frustratingly sludge your way through the most absurd obstacle courses known to man. I swear the Devs of this map wanted to force players to stop playing their game!

The good part of this DLC are the new vehicles they added. The Ford is a great truck to have in your arsenal as a refuel/repair all purpose scout car and the new offroad truck is a nice bite sized hauler.

Don't get me wrong Tropico 6 is a good title for people who are new to the series and standalone it is a decent Tycoon game. Nothing to really write home about but still good.

However, coming from a huge fan of the series Tropico 6 just does not capture the same aesthetic, game-play loop, and overall goofy factor that Tropico 3 & 4 offer. If you are coming from Tropico 4 I recommend holding off on your purchase and waiting for a prospective Tropico 7.

To give a quick rundown of things I dislike

- Very few ways to have a successful Island. You are almost always forced down 2-3 paths of economy and it really encourages you to min max your economy to be successful.

- The new politics system is garbage imo. The faction demands feel like they were pulled out of a 3rd graders understanding of Latin American politics and some of the factions make very little sense for the era the game is set in. I mean really? You guys are putting liberal vs conservative dynamics in a game about the caribbean? Where half the elections are between socialists, liberals, US backed fascists, and very very very few neocons? It is nonsensical.

- The era system is too large in scope. I would prefer a game that focused on cold war and then into the modern era in order to keep things focused and keep the aesthetics in line across the entire game.

- The aesthetic is all over the place between eras and it really ruins the whole caribbean vibe. The series has always focused on a faux central America vibe in the 1950s onward. You go immediatly from colonizers in the 1700s to 1917 then jump again to WW2 then jump again to the Cold war.

- Some of the systems in the game are OP. Raids are far too easy to min/max.

Finally, the only thing I really enjoy in this title over 4 is the ability to sign trade deals that affect relations between superpowers and can also give you bonus money for exporting goods. This system is better than Tropico 4's notifications system where you would just get 5k for promising to complete a trade deal.

A good game worth a playthrough if you've never played it before and are yearning for the classic open world games of the early 2010's. However, this game falls flat in many areas this day in age. The open world is not compelling, the vehicles are mediocre feeling to drive, and the combat is confusing while the guns don't feel "punchy" enough to be worth using. I just spammed hammer melee the whole game and came out successful 9/10 engagements.

A lot of these reviews I am writing might end up being short and not all encompassing but I am putting serious effort into my backlog and it makes me feel better to write up when I finish a game. It's like a little reward for not abandoning a game after 3 or so hours of playing it.