I can't decide whether this expansion deserves a 3 or a 4 star rating, so for the sake of argument I'll give it a 3.5, but Amazon won't allow that, so 3 it is.
Edit: A lot of the missions are bugged, maps are re-used during the campaign even with only 12 of them. I'm not finding the later missions to be much fun and the references to the current political problems in the world seem forced and unfunny. Between the bugged quests and disappointing missions I'm going to lower the score to a 2, there are just too many little annoyances that are ruining this expansion for me.
I pre-ordered this on Steam for $16.99, if you're thinking of buying this remember that if you own Tropico 4 on Steam you need to get Modern Times from Steam as well. The boxed version of this expansion for some reason costs $29.99, do yourself a favor and just get this one instead, it's only a small download, about 600 MBs or so, took me about 7 minutes on a mediocre connection.
So, what does this expansion offer? You get 12 new missions in a continuing story on different islands much like Tropico 4's main story line. As far as I can tell the island designs are a mix of new and old, but I'll have to comment further on that when I complete it, I'm only on the third island so far.
One of the new features is the Time Line, it's a series of historical events that will have an impact on your island. For example the Cuban Missile Crisis will force you to use the Conscription edict, and the Bird Flu Scare will increase the price of beef, and so on. You will also unlock the new buildings in the expansion at certain time intervals, so that you gradually get access to them and upgrade as new things are developed.
The new buildings are distinctly different from the Tropico 4 ones in that they lack the personality and the detail. Most of the new buildings are just gray pieces of concrete with windows that look uninspiring. Which is a shame because part of Tropico's charm is the little details added to the buildings that make them distinctly Tropican. The new buildings feel like they belong in a Sim City game and feel really out of place most of the time. Some of them are very useful and sadly some of them make the game a bit too easy. Tropico 4 was already a cakewalk compared to 3, and the Modern Times buildings such as the Bio Farm, the Organic Ranch and the Modern Apartment Building are a bit too good. I found myself just flying through the first two islands with a boat load of money and abundance of happy Tropicans. I wouldn't mind if Kalypso balanced some of these buildings out, maybe make them a bit more expensive or turn up their upkeep so that the game isn't too easy.
You also get 10 new edicts relevant to Modern Times. Some are good, some are bad, some seem a bit too good. I would have liked to see a few more interesting ones. I do think whoever put in the "Ban Social Media" edict deserves a pay raise, it's probably one of the funnier things of this expansion. The new edicts probably won't blow your mind or make you think, but at least they're somewhat useful.
Now on to my biggest complaints. First of all, it seems like there wasn't that much effort put into actually changing or adding gameplay. There is no learning curve, you can just win games the exact same way as before, the Time Line may add some extra grievances but not enough to actually change the flow of the game. The new buildings mostly function the same as the old ones. It's just trading the old charming buildings for the new, garish and soulless concrete skyscrapers and gigantic farms. Its charm and tongue-in-cheek humor are what sets Tropico apart from other building simulations and I feel like these modern Tropican islands are just dull. They could have added some flavor to the new buildings but most are eyesores and make me wish they weren't so damn good so that I wouldn't feel obliged to build them over the older ones. One thing I do really find irritating that is that you have to demolish old farms and ranches to make room for the new ones, which are gigantic I might add. Because you can't just demolish at your whim you will have to wait till all your goods are out, fire all your workers, wait for the demo guy, free up more space and then build your new things. This is bad design, you should either start with the majority of these buildings available or make them upgradeable somehow. It's not game breaking, but it's not very fun either.
One minor complaint is the voice acting. Several of the major characters, such as Sunny and Antonio Lopez, now have different voice actors, but instead of replacing all the dialogue they just added the new dialogue with the new actors to go along with the old dialogue from the old actors. It sounds weird, especially with the new Sunny having a completely different inflection and accent. I can live with it, I just found it rather odd to hear two different voices for the same character.
Still, I think the Steam version was decent value, you get some new, albeit ugly buildings, some new edicts, 12 new missions and new islands for $19.99. It's better value than the terrible DLCs they've been releasing at least. I don't think this expansion will offer much replay value, but you should be able to get a few hours out of each map at least.
It's not great, it's not terrible, it's alright. It's not a must-have unless you really love Tropico, but hardcore fans may not like the new buildings.
