SimTower

"SimTower is a classic, but is too simple and defunct at times"

SimTower is a well-known game among savvy computer nerds who can recall playing this game in the early 90's. Regardless of whether or not you've heard of it, it's not hard to figure out what you do in this game. The game's purpose is to build skyscrapers in yet another Maxis building simulation! However, there's a sort of charm that you get from this game unlike other Maxis games. Perhaps it is because this game was not designed by Will Wright and Co., but by Yoot Saito (five bucks if you can tell me where he is now). Or perhaps it is the game's presentation, complete with nicely-detailed 2-D tenants and repetitive sound effects. Read on to see the good that this game has to offer.

SimTower takes the standard sim approach and drops such pseudo-architects off with a blank canvas and a wad of cash. The "goal" of the game is to build the largest and most successful tower possible by providing structures as well as appropriate infrastructure in the form of elevators, escalators, and other utilities. To advance the prestige of a tower, one must earn stars. Ranking from one star to five star, towers gain access to more structures assuming they meet the existing prerequisites However, they are usually simple objectives revolving mainly around population, and don't limit creativity whatsoever, which is the main purpose of this game.

Some of the things the game allows include the brass tacks of any building. This include lobbies and sky lobbies; residences such as condos or hotel rooms; office spaces with accompanying parking spots; businesses such as fast food, stores, restaurants, party halls, and movie theatres; and the utilities, such as regular and express elevators, stairs, escalators, security, and recycling centers. Other more major structures become available after the star ranking reaches a certain level. There is a good variety to be found, and it is all portrayed in a utilitarian cut-out of the tower. There is no room to overlap businesses due to the 2-D view, but it makes for a good simulation experience. The variety allows a good mix of businesses, as each provides their own benefits. For instance, condos provide nice initial income at the lack of future income, offices trickle money in by the loads but place lots of strain on the tower's infrastructure, businesses can be a win or loss when it comes to sales, and hotel rooms provide a nice daily income, but require housekeeping to keep from getting dirty. What deserves a slight nod is that people from different tenants may patronize the tower's business, but it's not too apparent except for the office worker's unstoppable desire for fast food. A little interaction between the tower's citizens would've helped just a tad bit.

A large amount of this game will be dedicated to keeping the people happy from floor 100 to floor B9. Basically, as people travel from one floor to another, they follow basic algorithms--that is, they will only use two methods of transportation in each trip, can only change transportation methods at lobbies, and become upset if they wait too long to reach their destination. This plays a big role in keeping the transport system well-oiled. Standard elevators are basic tools which can only reach thirty floors and hold eight cars. People's waiting time depends on the amount of use this elevator gets, so keeping elevators shafts short and grouped together can help stem stress. Express elevators perform in the same manner, except they are larger, faster, and can only connect basement and lobby floors, enforcing the "two transports" rule, since a person riding an express elevator can ride as high as ninety floors and take a standard elevator to floor 100. Stairs and their more efficient counter-part, escalators, provide no waiting time and cost little stress, but they can only go so high from lobbies. All in all, it's a very basic system that's not really dependent on how they are adjusted but whether or not they can contain the people they are given.

Depending on stress, a tenant's evaluation is a sum of the people's stress. The little "cardboard cutouts" will turn from black to pink to red, and that's no good. Too much stress and the tenant will sell out, costing a bit of money. However, it's not so much of a threat as it is an annoyance. Making money is still not too hard in this game, given that it's too easy to make a profitable tower and leave it on for several hours. It is possible to tweak the rent of certain tenants so that they will be less prone to leave, but it's not too good for income, plus it can be time-consuming without the access to handy internet tools, such as the "SimTower Rent Wizard."

Dare I say that even if SimTower sounds like an innovative game, it suffers from being too predictable and mechanized. Throw up some offices, some businesses, and proper transport; voila, and the game runs fine. The only challenge comes in trying to expand on the tower and keep the evaluation high. In other words, businesses, offices, hotels, and whatnot don't change unless some outside stimuli effects them, particularly if it has to do with increase strain on elevators. Other negative occurrences in this game comes from the random rain which reduces businesses' sales for a day or from more serious disasters such as fire or terrorist bombs, but these mutinies don't do as much damage as they seem, plus they can be subverted by paying a moderate amount of cash. Probably the only thing challenging in this game is trying to expand as much as possible while adhering to the game's limits on the amount of elevators and escalators available, which is not too much to stop towers from reaching the highest rating, but it's still a bit of a heel for real achievers.

A few other flaws, such as the waste of the VIP guest, the abstractness of the movie theatres, and the slight desire for some variety, balance, and unity in the tenants beg for a few fixes in he game game. However, it's most likely not going to happen for a +10-year-old PC game.

The graphics, however, are not so bad; they look basic but get the job done. Tenants consists of little "boxes" in the tower which change depending on the condition; for instance, party halls will suddenly appear crowded once people enter them and stores and fast food close up at night. They are not lacking in colorfulness. One thing I certainly liked is the variety of businesses; there are five types of fast food and restaurants and eleven types of stores, though it is only cosmetic in nature. As for the people, they appear as single-color sprites, revealing their stress level and their class (man, woman, businessman, child, etc). Otherwise, they "warp" from floor to floor to their tenants which is a bit lacking if I say so. Sound effects are the same case. There is no music, but the sound effects are complete with basic dings, cash registers, office sounds; it depends on what tenants have been built. However, the game will repeat the same sounds effects a lot, which is not necessarily a bad thing until it gets old. Who doesn't like hearing phones ringing and ladies saying muffled things?

Anyway, SimTower is a game that offers some good building, but the real depth in this game lies in making "art," not necessarily a building that can withstand the elements. The game throws no curve balls, and the same basic layouts work every time. Still, it's a good game to pick up and play every once in a while. It's a nice, shallow game to have on your computer that will influence you for years to come.

Presentation: 7/10 -- Welcome to SimTower! No intro movie, no nothing, just a synthesized fanfare followed with a knocking sound. No flash is good for these kind of games. Menus are nice and simple, but it can be annoying when the window panes impede on each other.
Gameplay: 7/10 -- Building all sorts of utilities is fun, but it's too simple at times.
Graphics: 8/10 -- Everything consists of basic sprites. Colorful sprites, no doubt, and it's cool to look at.
Sound: 6/10 -- Repetitive sound effects, but they do contribute to the setting of the tower.
Replay Value: 6/10 -- Get old once you've done everything, but it's charm will keep it's alive for some time.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/27/06, Updated 07/09/09

Game Release: SimTower (US, 1994)