SimTower: The Vertical Empire (originally published in Japan as ) is a construction and management simulation video game developed by OPeNBooK and released in 1994 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh System 7. Outside Japan, the game was published by Maxis and branded as part of their Sim series. Ports for Sega Saturn and 3DO were released in 1996. A sequel titled The Tower II was released in 1998 and called Yoot Tower outside Japan.
The game allows players to build and manage a tower and decide what facilities to place in it, in order to ultimately build a five-star tower. Random events take place during play, such as terrorist acts that the player must respond to immediately.
Critical reception towards the game was generally positive. Reviews praised the game's formula, including its open-ended nature and its ability to immerse the player into the game. Criticism targeted the game's lack of documentation, which some reviewers found made it harder to learn how to play the game. The in-game speed was also criticized for being too slow, which was a crucial issue in the game because time must pass for the player to earn income to purchase new facilities.
Gameplay
thumb|left|The player views a cross-section of the building from the side.
SimTower allows the player to build and manage the operations of a modern, multi-use skyscraper. They must plan where to place facilities in the tower that include restaurants, condominiums, offices, hotel rooms, retail stores and elevators. To prevent tenants from vacating their properties, the player must keep their stress low by fulfilling their demands for medical centers, parking lots, recycling facilities, clean hotel rooms staffed with housekeepers, and an efficient transportation system, which involves managing elevator traffic.
The game begins with a one-star tower with limited building options. To increase the tower's star rating, it must attract more tenants by providing more living space (or office space, and later in the game, hotel and various types of commercial space). New facilities are made available while the tower progresses from a one-star rating to a five-star rating. The highest achievable rating is the designation of "Tower" which can only be awarded by building a cathedral at the very top of a five-star building with all possible tower levels above ground developed. The tower is limited to a maximum of 100 floors above ground and nine stories below ground. Standard elevators, which can span a maximum of 30 floors, and express elevators, which can span the entire height of the building, must be used efficiently to decrease tenant stress. It works on computers running the Microsoft Windows or Macintosh System 7 operating systems; the game will operate on 68k-based Macs at a minimum. It requires 8-bit colors and four megabytes of random-access memory. To research the gameplay, Saito contacted an elevator company to learn about elevator scheduling and management. However, the company declined to provide the information. Saito handled the graphic design, starting with a monochromatic scaled tower created in HyperCard. The designer added color to differentiate between office- and hotel-type buildings. As development neared completion, Saito noticed that the Mac's performance had improved and decided to increase the color palette size from 16 to 256 colors. Saito enlisted a second designer to produce animation for the graphics and improve the details for the color increase. In 1996, it was ported to the Sega Saturn and 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in Japan. Benjamin Svetkey of Entertainment Weekly praised the game and commented that it is "more fun than [the concept] sounds". However, he stated that the gameplay may be too much for fans of the series. A reviewer for Next Generation panned the game, saying it lacks the bustling interactivity of previous games in the Sim franchise: "There are bug infestations and the occasional fire with which to deal, but most of the time, SimTower sees you standing around waiting for cash reserves to grow in order to add more floors. Not much fun at all." Australia's The Age found SimTower a pleasing return to form for Maxis, after the release of the disappointing SimFarm. Lisa Karen Savignano of Allgame stated that the game had decent graphics and sound. However, she also felt that SimTower had good replay value due to the non-linear gameplay, giving the game four stars out of five.
The game was criticized by the South China Morning Post for lacking documentation, making it more difficult to learn how to play the game. They also predicted that players would be unhappy with the game's speed, as time plays an important role in earning money from tenants. Before the player can purchase new facilities, a long period of time must pass before income is earned from tenants. The newspaper was also unhappy with complaints from tenants; specific reasons for their dissatisfaction are never given. Writing for the San Diego Union-Tribune, Matt Miller felt that, when compared to SimCity 2000 (1993), gameplay in SimTower moved slowly. He also disliked the moments when he had to wait several minutes to pass by before he could make enough money to purchase new additions for his building. Dragon magazine's reviewers Jay and Dee praised the visuals and gameplay. However, the two commented that the game can feel slow because it lacks gameplay elements and options present in other strategy games.
The game was followed by Yoot Tower (called The Tower II in Japan), also designed by Yoot Saito, which was initially released on November 24, 1998, for the Macintosh. It was later made available for the Windows operating systems in January 1999. Yoot Towers gameplay is similar to that of SimTower—players build hotels, resorts, and office buildings, and work towards building a five-star tower. Vivarium launched a version of SimTower for the Game Boy Advance, called The Tower SP, published by Nintendo in Japan on April 28, 2005, and by Sega in the United States on March 15, 2006. A version of SimTower called The Tower DS was published by DigiToys in Japan on June 26, 2008. Yoot Tower was also released for iPad devices via the online iOS App Store.
See also
- Project Highrise