Tropico 6

Tropico 6 stands out as an in-depth city-builder with a strong personality, but its economic systems are unwieldy.

Tropico 6 builds on strong foundations, honing detail and offering expansive new sandboxes in which to craft your ideal island nation.

A new developer doesn't rock the boat in what's an enjoyable if only gently iterative outing for the construction and management sim.

An entertaining but unambitious sequel that collects up the best features of previous games and adds in some interesting new twists.

New missions and tasks come at a steady clip, so you're never at a loss for things to do. Even so, I had the most fun when I went off-script and created my own goals

There’s plenty of stuff I’d change, especially tonally and in terms of international relationships, but I played it happily until I couldn’t see straight.

It’s a confident game that plays it safe, offering simple iterations and smart tweaks to the already well-trodden and successful styling of the series to offer up an entry that, at the very least, is superior to its direct predecessor.

Tropico 6 is one of PlayStation 4's best strategy games, and also one of its most unique, putting you into the shoes of a dictator rather than the standard benevolent overseer that most of these titles offer. Taking your tropical island from shacks and farms to skyscrapers and space plans is a lot fun, and there's enough variety in map design and mission objectives to mean that you'll rarely feel like you're repeating the same beats. And honestly, the music really is pretty good.

It's the game's commitment to accessibility that makes Tropico 6 a refreshing example of an under-served genre on the Switch. Despite some irksome performance problems, occasionally inconsistent pacing and some rather rough visuals, the game is a lot of addictive fun to play and its cheerful ambience and compelling systems will keep you glued to your handheld. Paid DLC adds even more systems to the game, but there's plenty here to keep you occupied for hours and hours. We'd recommend this to genre newbies as well as veterans; a very impressive port with strong controls and a UI tailored brilliantly for handheld mode. It's a busy, demanding game but never feels stressful, and juggling your industry, faction relationships and the mood of your citizens can be thoroughly absorbing. If you can forgive the technical issues and an occasionally slack pace, Tropico 6 is an easy recommendation.

Tropico 6 is the best game I've played all year. It reminds me of all the classic strategy games I used to love, and yet it doesn't make me yearn for them. That's because Limbic Entertainment managed to nail just what makes strategy games so fun.