10-03-2003, 06:02 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 222
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Build Straight Up: Tower Mogul 1.0 Reviewed
So, do you think you have the skills to run a skyscraper? Do you have the itch to make people's dreams come true? Well then, you need to read my review of Tower Mogul 1.0 by eSoft Interactive.
Tower Mogul 1.0 is a game full of high-stakes building management.
Basic Concept
Tower Mogul 1.0 by eSoft Interactive is all about building towers. If you've ever played Sim Tower, you'll feel right at home. It's a cross between Sim City, The Sims, and an elevator simulator. You start off with an empty lot to build your tower on. To begin, you build a lobby, stairs, elevators, and a few rooms. Different rooms bring in different revenues throughout the month. It's your job to find the right balance and keep your people (known as Virts) happy.
Figure 1: Your empty lot with a small lobby. Time to start building up.
Tower Mogul lets you build a ton of different units. These can be classified into five different categories:- Residential (Apartments, Condos)
- Office (Offices, Vending Machines)
- Hotel (Single, Double)
- Services (Housekeeping, Security, Maintenance, Trash)
- Retail Outlets (Restaurants, Stores, Cinemas)
To become a tower mogul, you must earn a five-star rating. You start off with a one-star rating. You can click on the stars on the bottom left of the screen and find out how to earn your next star. The objectives are pretty simple. All you need to do is have a certain population and some special units in your tower. These are easy to achieve with some patience. If you aren�t making money hand over fist, you may have to wait awhile to achieve your goals. I found myself leaving the game running for 20-30 minutes to earn more cash.
Figure 2: The goal of the game is to achieve a five-star rating. Each rating requires completing a different set of challenges.
As you work your way up (both in stars and tower height), you�ll get new units that you can construct. Instead of just a burger joint, you�ll get to build a pizza parlor, and even a Japanese restaurant later in the game. The new units as you progress are a nice reward. I had my fingers crossed that I�d be able to build a movie theater. Sure enough, I was able to build one after reaching the proper rating. I was bummed that you can�t change the movie like you could in Sim Tower.
History Lesson
OK, there is no way to review this game without a quick history lesson. In 1989 (wow, was it that long ago?), Maxis came out with Sim City. In 1995, the sequel, Sim City 2000 hit the shelves. Sim City 2000 set the standard by which all Sim/Tycoon games are judged. The Sim City franchise has been beefed up graphically but the basic gameplay is much the same as it was in 1995. Also in 1995, Maxis released Sim Tower. Unfortunately for Maxis, it was not as big a hit as Sim City. But, it introduced some great gameplay elements such as spying on people living out their day-to-day lives. Hmmm... that could make an interesting game... what to call it... how about The Sims?
So, what ever happened to Sim Tower? Not much. Sega put out a sequel in 1998 called Yoot Tower. It introduced some new elements such as locations and extra rewards. But, it didn't add enough to keep the franchise going. It's a shame this franchise disappeared, these two games were a lot of fun to play. That's why I'm glad to see Tower Mogul.
Figure 3: A decent sized tower. There are a lot of things to keep track of.
My only gripe with this being a clone of Sim Tower is that I�ve played this game before. I was a big fan of Sim Tower (in case you couldn�t already tell), but I mastered that game years ago. It�s fun to see a Pocket PC clone of Sim Tower. I just keep trying to remember what the secrets to success were in the original game. Your mileage may vary though.
Virt(ual) Feedback
To move ahead in the game, you�ll want to keep an eye on what your Virts think of your tower. To do this, you can click on the "magnifying glass" tool and get a better look at the mood of your Virts. In the info view, the rooms change color from green to red to show their occupants' happiness. You can view the info on a particular unit to see what those occupants think. You can also change the rent on people to try to make them happier (or to make more money). As with all games of this type, these are the real challenges. Making a pretty tower is fun; keeping that tower happy is the challenge.
Figure 4: In this view, you can see at a glance what the mood of your tower is. Looks like some of my Virts aren�t happy.
At the end of each month, you�re given a summary of what has gone on in your tower over the past month. You�ll be able to get suggestions from your advisers, review money charts, and inspect population graphs. These are nice but I didn�t find to be all that useful. As long as I kept building units, I made money.
Figure 5a: Your trusted advisers.
Figure 5b: Monthly Income report. Not one of my best months
Figure 5c: Population/Money chart.
Game Options
The game offers two difficult modes: Beginner and Hardcore. Beginner is very simple. As long as you don�t spend your money in the first few days of the month, you�ll do fine. For the experienced gamer, Hardcore should offer more of a challenge. It starts you with less money and gives you more disasters. You can also choose the music, game control, and some other options once the game has started. Personally, I play all Pocket PC games with the sound off. The sound in Tower Mogul is good but sparse. The music though, is not that great.
Figure 6: The in-game options you can set. The �Keep device turned on� is a nice feature.
To keep things interesting, the game will present you with disasters. So far, I�ve seen bomb threats and fires. You use your security and maintenance forces to handle these. For some strange reason, I had a fire that wouldn�t go out. It just kept burning for months. Luckily, my Virts didn�t seem to mind too much.
Figure 7: Disasters are all part of managing a tower. Check out the fire!
Gotchas- Hard to see what your Virts are doing;
- Game moves slow;
- Interface is a bit confusing;
- Help system is lacking, need to go online to find out how to play;
- Gameplay is nothing new.
Where to Buy
Tower Mogul 1.0 by eSoft Interactive can be downloaded as a trial or purchased for $11.95 from Handango. [Affiliate]
Specifications
Tower Mogul 1.0 for Pocket PC is compatible with a variety of Pocket PCs (check Handango for the complete list). It required 2578K of free space and 5MB of program memory.
Conclusions
I�m really torn about how to rate this game. It�s fun, but I�ve played this game before. Also, the interface is somewhat confusing. It�s hard to tell which icon to click to load, save, etc. If the help system were better, this would be easier. But, after playing for a week or so I was able to get around in the game without a problem.
Tower Mogul 1.0 is a good game - not great, just good. I highly recommend that you try out the demo before buying it. The pace is slow but if you can look past that, it's a good deal for $11.95. If you've ever played Sim Tower, you'll find this to be an almost exact clone for the Pocket PC.
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12-03-2006, 09:36 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 3
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Sim cityDL
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Linear Mode
