SimTower: The Vertical Empire

aka: SimTower: Das vertikale Imperium, SimTower: L'Empire Vertical, The Tower, The Tower: Bonus Edition
Moby ID: 312
Macintosh Specs
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Description official descriptions

Maxis takes their Sim-building line vertical with SimTower, an original concept from Japan (where vertical living is much more commonplace than in many parts of the world).

Your goal is to build a skyscraper that is both tall, aesthetically pleasing, popular, and, most importantly, economically profitable. To be successful, your building cannot just be endless levels of office space or purely an apartment sky-rise, but rather a multi-functional haven for humanity featuring everything from penthouses to theatres, restaurants to shopping malls. The centerpiece of your tower design is your elevators and proper management is key.

You can watch your Sims enter and leave your grand tower, getting impatient waiting for elevators, or having a hectic workday at the office. You can even train in on one or two, to serve as a metering stick for their compatriots, or just to peek into the average workday of the little people living in your building. Or watch the security and rescue crews race as disasters like bomb threats and fires rampage through your well-crafted skyscraper.

The PlayStation version adds an additional bonus map.

Spellings

  • ザ・タワー - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Macintosh version)

50 People (30 developers, 20 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 74% (based on 17 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 58 ratings with 2 reviews)

So simple...yet somehow addicting

The Good
I can't quite put a finger on it, but something keeps me playing this game. Perhaps it's Santa flying across the sky on December 25th. Perhaps it's my Security prowling the building for a bomb. Maybe it's even the incessant sound of construction while putting my building up and up. All together, it's a very simple, but amusing game with very simple gameplay.

The Bad
The fact that I can never get my elevators to go above a certain point (which I forget offhand) has been a real puzzler, but that may just be me. I wish the game had a few more 'quirks' and such.

The Bottom Line
A simple hotel empire game as you struggle to make your vertical tenancy a success!

Windows 3.x · by classicpoki (7) · 2004

Fun

The Good
The concept of building a tower. The many different things you could build, e.g pubs, fast food places, cinemas. The challenge of the game

The Bad
The damn elevator and stair system. It was confusing

The Bottom Line
A fun game which is probably the best Sim title excluding of course Sim City(also 2000 +3000) and the Sims. Tower building for all ages

Windows 3.x · by Big C (56) · 2001

Trivia

Inspiration

The game evolved out of a program to test elevator management software.

References

The bell sound at the end of a year is the same ring as a bell in the Charlie Chaplin movie City Lights. There it indicates the beginning of a new day.

WinG

SimTower was one of a scant few commercial games to use WinG, a game library developed by Microsoft during the brief period between the Windows game SDK and DirectX.

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  • MobyGames ID: 312
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Olivier Masse.

SEGA Saturn added by Lance Boyle. PlayStation added by gingerbeardman. 3DO added by Kabushi. Macintosh added by Iggi.

Additional contributors: Ye Olde Infocomme Shoppe, Ray Soderlund, Rebound Boy, Alaka, Iggi, formercontrib, ケヴィン, Indus.

Game added October 16, 1999. Last modified February 28, 2024.