SimTower (1994)
Genres:Strategy, Simulator
Themes:Sandbox, Business
Game modes:Single player
Story:Welcome to the building simulation game SimTower, which offers the chance to build and manage all the complex, interconnected operations of a modern skycraper. You build your empire from nothing and become the engineer and general manager of your structure. You can provide offices, coffee shops or apartments to anyone who is willing to pay.Show more
Vote to bring this game to GOG and help preserve it.7 386
I enjoyed playing this game growing up. Frankly, I loved all of Maxis' stuff--Sim-everything was pretty great. Getting to the top to build a chapel, and to the lowest level of underground to connect to the metro was fun.
This game has become abandonware at this point, and attempts to run it on modern hardware have failed. I'd love to see it freshened up and running on a modern machine, and would gladly purchase it if someone made the effort.
I spent countless hours as an early teen playing this game on my brother's Gateway PC. He had password locked it but I managed to guess the code so I was able to play it whilst listening to the looped Sash! CD of Ecuador.
The game itself starts off fairly simple. Build a lobby and some escalators or lifts and then add spaces for offices, condos and restaurants making sure that everyone has easy access. Pretty soon after, you'll be managing hundred of hotel rooms, underground car parks and cinemas. As your tower's star rating improves, more and more facilities and choices will be opened up to you, on and on until the coveted 5 star rating, which, sadly, I don't think I ever achieved.
There's a lot of replayability about this, especially if you're a bit OCD. The rooms and floor planning will always go a bit wonky and unoptimised however the beauty of the game is that life just goes on in the background.
Once you're at a point when you're waiting for the funds to roll in, you can scroll about to try to spot problem areas of your tower or see what's showing at the movies (Waikiki Moon anyone?) or just try to map the lives of the occupants of your tower.
It's a very good game to play at your own pace and I don't think there's another game that's quite like this in it's approachability, simplicity and charm. Adding my nostaligia to the mix means it will be an instant purchase if it ever appears on GOG.
Still have my original cd of this game! Keep an xp machine running so that i can continue to play it. So many years and hours into this game. Starts off so easy, but gets so complex very quickly as you have to balance people's happiness with the hustle and bustle of making money and having business as well. One of the great sim games!
I played this game a lot when I was a little kid along with SimCopter and Streets of SimCity. Granted, I never did manage to get past two stars but I think I might have a chance of doing that now if this game were released.
Very nostalgic for this game, particularly the sound effects which are amazing at creating a bustling, vibrating atmosphere of a busy mixed use skyscraper!
I would pay more for this game than I would for a new release!
One of the first games I ever played in my childhood; super fun and challenging. I played some copycats out there, but none is like this one. Many other Maxis games are on, but this one not. I fell it deserves to be on the list, specially because it´s very unique on its type
I filled a 300 MB hard drive with Towers and SimCity2000 saves during the 90's on my family's first computer. Still have the disk (and book). Definitely worth several plays, and would love to see it on modern hardware (Fastest speed was linked to processor speed...and considering it was made to run a 20-30Mhz processor...)
This game is a hidden gem. It isn't well known, but the gameplay is simply addicting. I spent countless hours as a kid building towers and competing against friends for "Best Tower."
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