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Started with the original Tropico when it first came out, just downloaded Tropico 4 to play over the holidays based on some feedback that 4 had less complex and more fun gameplay than 6. Any perspective on which is the best in the series?

I've put a bunch of hours into 3 4 5 and 6. I'd rank them 4 > 6 > 5 > 3. 4 is clearly the best though, everything just seems to hit the perfect balance between simple fun and complexity, and the writing and character rpg elements made me want to play with different play styles. 6 is big, but I find myself getting bored in the middle game. 3 and 5 are just worse than 4 in essentially every way. All are fun though.

It is different than all the other city building games listed, in that you place all the buildings by hand.

That being said I would not really count Transport Tycoon as a city building game because transport is literally the name of the game.

Agreed with Tropico - great tongue in cheek setting and feel. For whatever reason though, which I can't quite put my finger on, the gameplay in T6 just feels worse to me than T4/5, as if its been dumbed down