SimTower

"A good "Sim" game"

A good ''Sim'' game

If you've seen the game Yoot Tower, you probably think that SimTower, it's predecessor must have been a piece of junk. Yoot Tower certainly is. But surprisingly, SimTower is a much better game, probably because it was actually made by Maxis, which knows how to make Sim games, rather than Sega. SimTower isn't the best Sim game, but it is a mild diversion on a boring afternoon, and an all around good game. I'm not going to mention the awful Yoot Tower any more, if you want to see how horrible that game is, read my review on it. I'd be happier to not mention it again, and happiest if I had never heard of it!

Anyway, in SimCity, you build and manage a city, so it follows that in SimTower, you build and manage a building. You start out by building the lobby, then a few floors above it filled with offices, condos, hotels, apartments, or shops. To get people up and down the floors, you can build either stairs or an elevator, elevators being the better investment (although they can only go up so many floors before you need a new elevator). There are some other types of rooms for you to add to your tower, but there are the basics. Condos are sold (and if the tenant moves out, you have to rebuy the condo), Apartments and Offices are rented (with money coming in every week or so), and Hotels are daily money makers.

The challenge of SimTower isn't as tough as the SimCity games, as any time you need cash, you can just build some condos for a quick infusion, but the fun comes from trying to balance the tower out. Condos bring in money, but not a steady income, offices are noisy, and make bad neighbors, hotel rooms can be dirty and require more cleaning. The challenge is simple, but fun, and makes for a good game.

I liked the graphics and sounds, they did what they needed to do, no more, no less. In particular the sound effects of things such as doors opening, or offices working were well done.

SimTower rated a 7 as it is a fun game, but not as deep as the other Sim games.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/09/00, Updated 04/09/00