Tropico Arrives on iPhone, New Features for iPad Version

[MacRumors]

Tropico from Feral Interactive got its release on iPhone today. The iPad version, released in December, also received an update containing several additional features that are likely to be welcomed by fans of the strategic city builder.

Based on the acclaimed series originally published by Kalypso Media, Tropico for iPhone and iPad features intuitive touch controls and a user interface designed to make it smooth and simple for players to lead their small but proud island nation into a glorious future, one tap at a time.

Tropico for iPhone supports the following models: iPhone SE, iPhone 6S/6S Plus, iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS/XS Max, and iPhone XR.

New features for the iPad version include El Presidente's Watchlist, allowing all citizens to be tracked; a minimizable UI that enables a clearer view of the island; a screenshot mode that hides the UI; and critical intel messages, including assassination attempts, that feature new illustrations.

Tropico for iPhone and iPad is available now from the App Store for $11.99 (£11.99 / 12.99 euros) with no IAPs. Tropico requires iOS 12 and just under 3GB of space. It's also a universal app, so players who have previously purchased the game on iPad will be able to install it on their iPhone at no additional cost, and transfer their save file.

Article Link: Tropico Arrives on iPhone, New Features for iPad Version

 

[Canubis]

Happy to see some serious games like this coming to the iPad. No IAPs, no ads. Simple old-school one time payment. I instantly bought it few weeks ago, after my new iPad Pro arrived. The experience is fantastic, great job Feral, again!

In my opinion the iPad is a totally underrated gaming device for such type of games. Looking forward to more such titles!

 

[R10k]

100% agree... this is how you do iOS gaming right...

 

[Remy149]

Happy to see some serious games like this coming to the iPad. No IAPs, no ads. Simple old-school one time payment. I instantly bought it few weeks ago, after my new iPad pro arrived. The experience is fantastic, great job Feral, again!

In my opinion the iPad is a totally underrated gaming device for such typo of games. Looking forward to more such titles!

I’m surprised there isn’t an entire market of digital board games for tablets. I think full featured board games are perfect especially on larger iPads

 

[simonmet]

Always liked the Tropico series, but I can’t imagine playing this on an iPhone SE!

Unfortunately, it appears to be mainly a port of Tropico 5 rather than the latest Tropico 6. Tropico 5 is 5 years old at this point and I already played it on PC. I might still pick it up for iOS but I can’t see why they didn’t just go straight to Tropico 6.

 

[R10k]

I’m surprised there isn’t an entire market of digital board games for tablets. I think full featured board games are perfect especially on larger iPads

There is...

 

[bearda]

I’m surprised there isn’t an entire market of digital board games for tablets. I think full featured board games are perfect especially on larger iPads

There are quite a few excellent ones from what I’ve seen. Blood Bowl and Puerto Rico have sucked up a lot of my time.

 

[IGI2]

Sweet!

 

[vmistery]

Happy that it’s one purchase for both iPhone and iPad otherwise I’d have to have gambled on which one to buy it for. Downloading on my X now to see what it’s like.

 

[simonmet]

I’m surprised there isn’t an entire market of digital board games for tablets. I think full featured board games are perfect especially on larger iPads

There are plenty of good adaptations. Talisman is great on iPad. Likewise Carcassonne, though they stopped adding new expansions some time ago.

Publisher Asmodee Digital has quite a few franchises in its portfolio including the popular Ticket to Ride and Pandemic games as well as the aforementioned Talisman.

Hope that helps to get you started.

 

[davidg4781]

Always liked the Tropico series, but I can’t imagine playing this on an iPhone SE!

Unfortunately, it appears to be mainly a port of Tropico 5 rather than the latest Tropico 6. Tropico 5 is 5 years old at this point and I already played it on PC. I might still pick it up for iOS but I can’t see why they didn’t just go straight to Tropico 6.

I think it’s Tropico 3. I’ve spent a lot of time playing 3 on my Mac. I can’t imagine playing this for long periods on an iPhone. iPad may be different.

 

[simonmet]

I think it’s Tropico 3. I’ve spent a lot of time playing 3 on my Mac. I can’t imagine playing this for long periods on an iPhone. iPad may be different.

Edit and correction:

After picking it up, you’re right. It’s mostly Tropico 3 from what I can tell. It doesn’t have the eras or any of the new graphics introduced in Version 5, which is pretty disappointing.

I’m surprised they even bothered to re-hash a ten-year-old game, which is probably why they’re not using a named version number. It’s hardly good marketing to openly advertise it as Tropico 3, which came out on PC in 2009.

It’s also hardly a major advertisement for the iPad or iPhone as a gaming platform to be getting a game 10 years after PC, unless you happen to want to play in-depth strategy sims on the toilet at work I suppose. But there are other more modern options that are arguably better suited to the platform in that genre anyway.

 

[Canubis]

It’s definitely 5 because Tropico 5 got all new graphics and many changes from the previous games, so it’s immediately obvious from screenshots and gameplay videos that it’s 5. As with Tropico 4, T6 looks to be a fairly modest change from its predecessor, using largely the same graphics but with new maps, a new campaign, and a few different buildings and rules.

On basically all sites I ran into over past weeks, it's stated the iOS port is based on Tropico 3 (with some additions).
E.g. https://toucharcade.com/2019/05/02/tropico-review/

Also it seems the Mac port of Tropico 5 wasn't done by Feral but it's published by Kalypso directly.

Technically and also from a legal perspective, I guess it was just easier for Feral to start the port from version 3. So if the first Tropico iPad is going to be a success (which I strongly hope) they still have enough content for a second Tropico iPad (based on Mac version 4).

 

[simonmet]

On basically all sites I ran into over past weeks, it's stated the iOS port is based on Tropico 3 (with some additions).
E.g. https://toucharcade.com/2019/05/02/tropico-review/

Also it seems the Mac port of Tropico 5 wasn't done by Feral but it's published by Kalypso directly.

Technically and also from a legal perspective, I guess it was just easier for Feral to start the port from version 3. So if the first Tropico iPad is going to be a success (which I strongly hope) they still have enough content for a second Tropico iPad (based on Mac version 4).

You’re absolutely right. I just came back to edit and fix my post after picking it up. I’m very sorry about that.

It’s honestly pretty pathetic that they can’t even port a 5 year-old title to the iPad, instead re-releasing a 10 year-old version of the game and trying to pass it off as some kind of new release. I’m not the least bit interested in going back to Tropico 4 either. I put hundreds of hours into that 6 or 7 years ago on PC.

If they can manage to get the latest FULL version of Civ 6 onto the iPad and iPhone they should be able to do better for Tropico. As a fan of the series I’m disappointed, so I’ll be requesting a refund.

 

[davidg4781]

I wonder how difficult it is to even port these games to iOS. I was amazed at the complexities and background computations needed to run a game like Tropico. From what I recall, and I don’t play games like this on an iDevice, there aren’t any other games like this.

My main game is Star Wars Commander. In that you have different troops going around but they’re programmed to go after certain targets and take a certain path.

 

[simonmet]

The problem for games like Tropico may be the relative lack of RAM. iOS is supposedly very efficient at RAM but there’s still only so much you can do within the 2-4 GB threshold that most current devices have. I’m sure the latest iPad Pros could run Tropico 5 or 6 no problem. They are after all more powerful than most laptops from 5 years ago except dedicated gaming laptops, ram aside.

There’s also no obligation to support older devices apart from economic pressures. They probably don’t want to impose a requirement of ≥ 3 GB because that limits the potential pool of customers too much to make the work in porting the game profitable.

Unfortunately, my request for a refund has been rejected by the automated system, no matter which excuse I try! I downloaded the app and tried it out for 5 minutes tops before deleting it. I think Apple needs to lift its game in this area. Steam gives you a full 2 hours while other sites give you as much as 30 days, satisfaction guaranteed! I’ve requested a refund a couple of times before (once because of a genuine accidental purchase where I never even downloaded the app) so I’ve probably used up my grace, but it’s overall a pretty negative thing about the App Store and makes me far more cautious about trying out apps.

 

[davidg4781]

Are you playing on an iPhone or iPad? I think this could be fun on an iPad. The iPhone 8 screen is just too small. But I’ll still try to play.

It’s a different style of play. It’s not like doing a quick level on candy crush. I played a campaign last night on my Mac and lost after 1.5 hours.

 

[simonmet]

Are you playing on an iPhone or iPad? I think this could be fun on an iPad. The iPhone 8 screen is just too small. But I’ll still try to play.

It’s a different style of play. It’s not like doing a quick level on candy crush. I played a campaign last night on my Mac and lost after 1.5 hours.

I tried it on my iPhone 8 Plus. Performance was ok, but the experience not that great, and as soon as I realised it was such an old version of Tropico I gave up.

There are other engaging games better suited to mobile out there. I’m playing a beta of Mystic Vale at the moment and it’s really good. It should be released pretty soon on iOS but is already out on Mac and PC.

 

[Canubis]

I can imagine the experience for such type of game being not the best on an iPhone. Such games just scream for a big screen.
But the experience on iPad Pro (12.9) is absolutely awesome. I think such games work so much better with touch input than with mouse and keyboard!

I never played any Tropico games on PC or Mac before, so I don't really care they started with bringing Tropico 3 to iPad instead of 5 or 6. (I guess it was easier to port their existing Mac code to iPad.) The graphics look great and at least for someone who never played one of the newer Tropico games on PC/Mac the gameplay of the iPad version is a lot of fun. I already spent several hours with this and just only finished 3 campaigns so far. No bad value for 12 bucks.

Really hope it will be a success and the iPad will see many more such games incl. Tropico 5 and 6.

 

[davidg4781]

Are YOU a rebel?

 

[simonmet]

I never played any Tropico games on PC or Mac before, so I don't really care they started with bringing Tropico 3 to iPad instead of 5 or 6. (I guess it was easier to port their existing Mac code to iPad.) The graphics look great and at least for someone who never played one of the newer Tropico games on PC/Mac the gameplay of the iPad version is a lot of fun. I already spent several hours with this and just only finished 3 campaigns so far. No bad value for 12 bucks.

Really hope it will be a success and the iPad will see many more such games incl. Tropico 5 and 6.

Tropico 3 (T3) was my first foray into the series and it definitely became a favourite. I have 290 Hours in T4 and 302 hours in T5 according to Steam, and I didn’t even get all the DLC for that I don’t think.

I just don’t feel like revisiting something I played 10 years ago even though the price is ok.

 

[Donka]

I'm a huge fan of what Feral are doing on iOS. Bringing the full Grid Autosport to iOS for a single payment and also including many optional in app upgrades free of charge is a great model. As for Tropico, I'm new to the series but it is an excellent game on the iPad. I get people that have played v3 and later versions may not wish to replay the older content but in isolation on iOS, it is a great port and Feral continue to support and improve the experience.
I look forward to what Feral will bring out next because for me, they have got the model right for the end user by delivering a quality, solid port with no micro transactions.