Tropix Review

When imagining an island getaway, running around as a monkey and playing solitaire isn’t exactly what most people would think of. As an island inhabitant myself, I’ve never come across any of the situations in RealArcarde’s Tropix, but that’s what makes games such a good escape, isn’t it? In Tropix for the DS, you play a collection of minigames in order to gain sand dollars, which you use to deck out your island pad. It’s a simple, appealing premise and the execution is solid enough where Tropix earns a place as a fun, diversionary collection for short-burst gaming.

On PC, RealArcarde’s slate of games holds great appeal to casual gamers. They’ve built a large following by combining a simple premise with equally simple, yet addictive controls and gameplay mechanics. These mechanics translated well to Nintendo’s handheld, thanks in large part to the touch screen functionality, which somewhat mimics the mouse in certain games. It doesn’t always work, and certain games, especially the minigame where you swing through the jungle, are better controlled through the dpad and face buttons. This is because the touch screen controls are sometimes imprecise, though that’s more the exception than the rule, and having optional ways to control the action takes that concern away.

As you play through the different games, you earn the game’s currency, sand dollars. Sand dollars are extremely easy to earn, so customizing your little island is as easy as it is pointless. The main goal will be to see how you can deck out your small living space and buy other islands to decorate, since this affects your ability to unlock all eleven of the minigames on the cartridge.

Once you’ve unlocked all of the games, you’ll find that the collection of games in Tropix is actually pretty fun. As usual, some games are more fun than others, and of course it all depends on what types of games you personally enjoy, but overall gamers should find something to like here. Otherwise, there’s always solitaire.

Each game has increasingly difficult levels, and there are quite a few levels, but unless you spread out your time where you try a bit of each game at a time, you’ll find that each individual game will be too short. Some games have you para-sailing while avoiding obstacles, some games have you linking letters to form words, some games have you swinging through the jungle, etc. Each game is very easy to pick up and play, and are easy to enjoy in short gaming sessions. As I mentioned earlier, you may have to experiment to see how best to control some games, but for the most part, stylus control works just fine.

The visuals in Tropix are understandably simple, given the game’s flash roots. Still, the layout is done well on the bottom screen and you never struggle to figure out what’s going on or feel like the screen is too cluttered. This is important considering that some of the games have a fair amount of animation going on. The upper screen is used to show your progress and score, but otherwise is not utilized.

Tropix is ultimately a minigame collection with an island presentation, but like every other minigame collection, its true strength is determined by how good those minigames are. In Tropix, most of the games are fun and there is enough content to keep gamers busy for a while. The island decorating as a means to unlock some games seems silly and superfluous, but it may appeal to some casual gamers. As a game collection, Tropix is fairly complete and as a quick diversion (or getaway as the game puts it), it works fairly well. It’s up to gamers to decide if they are looking for yet another minigame collection in a device filled to the brim with options in that genre.