That's partially due to the eras alone, but also due to the philosophical focus on making the “sandbox mode” more important in Tropico 5. That seems like it'll be less effective in Tropico 5. One of the biggest problems I had with Tropico 4 was that, once I figured out the best method of exploiting what needed to be exploited on my island, I'd just do that and let any other problem slide until the timer ran out. I can see the demand that I find new cash crops and economic systems reframing how I viewed each new scenario in Tropico 5, forcing me to view my city and island from a different perspective. I may like having the architectural record of my city, but what happens when it's more convenient to bulldoze those to construct more efficient new buildings? That's merely a mental choice, but Dyankov described a goal of having “organic growth and continuity” in which “a solution will only work for a limited time.” He described how the economy would change when moving through eras, where industries that made money in the colonial era might be superseded by later developments, like factories unavailable in the early eras producing goods later, or the importance of uranium in the Cold War era. Second, the different eras lead to dramatically different strategic decisions. Just seeing where I'd have expanded over the course of a playthrough indicates that Tropico is recording an architectural history of my playthrough, which appeals greatly to the history nerd inside me. The graphical engine has been revamped, so the buildings also look better than they did in previous Tropicos, but even if they didn't, the idea of different styles appeals. So, as producer/designer Bisser Dyankov showed me around his modern era city, I could see the multi-colored “Cold War” era apartments and compare them colonial mansions or modern skyscrapers. The different eras are represented by different architecture for the various buildings. I found two aspects of the era system extremely attractive. If developers Haemimont Games can pull it off, that's potentially exciting news both for the Tropico series and the city-builder genre. By integrating its different time periods into multiple aspects of gameplay, Tropico 5 may be a far more dynamic experience than the conventional city-building offering. Time is the most distinctive new part of Tropico 5, as now it moves through four different eras, from colonial to modern. For its fifth installment, Tropico is moving into the fourth dimension.

Tropico 1 reverting bulldoze