Yoot Tower (known in Japan as The Tower II) is a 1998 construction and management simulation computer game. It may be considered the spiritual successor to the 1994 game SimTower. The lead designer, Yoot Saito, who also worked on SimTower, produced this game as a sequel to SimTower, adding. Yoot tower mac Download Link = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =(There's no.
| Yoot Tower | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | OPeNBooK9003 |
| Publisher(s) |
|
| Designer(s) | Yoot Saito |
| Platform(s) | Mac OS, Windows 95 |
| Release | November 24, 1998 |
| Genre(s) | Construction and management simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Yoot Tower (known in Japan as The Tower II) is a 1998construction and management simulationcomputer game. It may be considered the spiritual successor to the 1994 game SimTower.
The lead designer, Yoot Saito, who also worked on SimTower, produced this game as a sequel to SimTower, adding several new features while retaining the same general interface and style. The game's premise is largely unchanged from its predecessor; players must build a profitable and unique tower block complete with various amenities and living accommodations, while balancing the needs of the occupants.
Gameplay[edit]
Using the provided starting funds, players must begin to build a tower from scratch. As in SimTower, offices and food courts can be built to generate income, as well as condos that can be sold to families. There are plenty of new facilities that can be placed such as rented apartments, vending machines and public restrooms for food court patrons. There are also many changes to existing items that featured in the original game, i.e. a notable difference between the shop item in Yoot Tower and the one originally in SimTower is that it no longer functions as a rented space where the player has no control over what the shop sells; rather the player is provided with different types of shop from the start from which the income they make is part of the player's earnings. Another interesting addition is the ability for players to build two or more towers next to each other and join them with sky bridges. Other income sources also exist, such as placing billboards outside and renting them out as advertisement space.
Also new to this game is the ability to choose where the building is built. What the player can do in these locations varies, such as how many stories high the building can be, what the player is actually allowed to build, and how much money the player starts off with. The variation gives each location its own difficulty level compared to the others.
Yoot Tower includes a non-invasive form of static in-game advertising. Users can place billboards for Apple Computer (in Mac version only) and Sega, whilst there are tenants featuring real-world stores like GameWorks, Orange Julius or Air Jamaica. Some updates include more real-world tenants and billboards. The Japanese version includes a Glico store.
The Tower II is a fully 32-bit program unlike SimTower which was 16-bit. It can even run on all 64-bit Windows operating systems. The Tower II also has a resizable window that can support very high resolutions (3200 x 2160).
Expansions[edit]
A new addition of the game is the ability to expand the game using plug-ins released for download which would add new features, such as new facilities (e.g. additional shops, restaurants, and services, ranging from a Glico store to a swimming pool), new events, billboards, and movies, as well as other aspects of gameplay. Inspection of the game's official website through web archives indicates that although the American version never got any true additions, the Japanese version got several updates, including new movies and locations. However, none of these appear to have survived when the official websites relating to the game and its developer OPeNBooK9003 went offline between the years 2001 and 2002. Through translations on the Japanese downloads page, an Austin Powers movie can be downloaded.
The original Tower II game came with Tokyo and Hawaii. The American version had Tokyo, Hawaii, and Kegon Falls. However, unlike in Japan, America did not get updates. In Japan, each expansion pack was sold under the Towerkit title.
Locations[edit]
Waikiki, Hawaii[edit]
The easiest of the three scenarios, Hawaii has users building a mixed-use structure featuring condominia and hotels. After building up those plus an underground shopping mall, users can place a cathedral on the top floor (the 45th).
Tokyo, Japan[edit]
The advanced Tokyo level has users building a fast-paced tower with primarily offices and eventually other uses as well. Users place a stadium on the top level.
Kegon Falls[edit]
In this scenario, the player is required to construct mostly underground, building a vast underground tourist attraction through hotels, shops, and a museum. This was initially sold in Japan as an expansion, but is included in Yoot Tower and later The Tower II releases.
Statue of Liberty[edit]
This expansion, was released in Japan in February 1999 under the name Towerkit CD-ROM: The Statue of Liberty. It was also originally meant to be available to download from the American official website, but the English version never materialized. The expansion is rare in Japan.
Tokyo Tower[edit]
In this game, player build below Tokyo Tower. Yoot Saito also indicated the Tower team was working on another location, 'Tokyo Tower'[1], but the addition was only released in Japan as Towerkit. This is not to be confused with the 'Tokyo' location.
Kyoto Station Bldg.[edit]
The Kyoto Station was launched as a product based on the Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys movie. This version was sold as Towerkit, or bundled with the base The Tower II game.
King Naniwa Building Legend[edit]
In this add-on, player built around Tsutenkaku.
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This version was sold as Towerkit, or bundled with the base The Tower II game.
Christmas Story[edit]
In this add-on, player builds a log building to collect Christmas-themed items. This version was sold as Towerkit and the rarest and most obscure of the released items.
Cancelled releases[edit]
- Lunar base
- Luxury cruise ship
Reception[edit]
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| GamePro | [1] |
| Computer Games Strategy Plus | [2] |
The game was dismissed by some game review websites and magazines as being too much a rehash of the original SimTower. Many wrote the game off as being basically identical to its predecessor. Due to the average reviews and spotty distribution, the game was largely ignored by the mainstream gaming public after release, possibly contributing to its poor sales.[citation needed] This in turn is the most likely reason why none of the new locations or expansion plug-ins were ever localized for the English version.[citation needed] It sold well in Japan, however, and received several new plug-ins. Another criticism was that some in-game text was not localized effectively.[citation needed] This resulted in some minor text errors and unfamiliar items to American audiences (such as placing cigarette machines commonly).
References[edit]
- ^Frankel, Josh. 'Yoot Tower'. GamePro. Archived from the original on October 11, 2004.
- ^Royal, Anne (June 1, 1999). 'Yoot Tower'. Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on January 30, 2003.
External links[edit]
- The Tower II homepage (Japanese)
- Archived support website, contains patches to the game. (Japanese)
- Yoot Tower at MobyGames
Anyone who played the original SimTower knows that the focus of gameplay was the building of the tower itself with little interactive bonding of the tenants, stores and structure. In Yoot Tower, the sequel, the emphasis is on the synergy between all the factors and factions contained within the game. You won't be constructing your dream building in a cold and impersonal vacuum but rather with an eye to developing a game story through the residents themselves.
The scope of Yoot Tower transcends that of the original in several important areas. The 'living' tower you create will feed off the tenants by upgrading the number and quality of stores, facilities and services. In this way, your structure gains recognition and builds to a star rating system much like the world's greatest hotels, resorts and shopping districts do in the late 1990s.
As the owner and Chief Executive Officer, your objectives and goals are clearly defined. First, you must provide for the needs of both commercial and residential tenants. To this end you are invited into the actual lives of your tenants and must work to ensure profitability on an individual basis. The population is rife for explosion and can number in the tens of thousands if your tower is a success. Secondly, you'll need to entice and invite residents and businesses to reside in your building through any number of means such as promotions, advertising, quality commitments and more.
Your final objective is to keep the population you gain through any means possible, such as expansion, upgrades, quality of life increases and the like. Fail to renovate and your customers will stampede the elevators and leave in droves. Neglect your priorities and increase your tenants' stress levels and they'll forget you like yesterday's bad lunch. Manage the noise levels, traffic flow and create balance throughout the structure and you'll be rewarded.
Yoot Tower expands gameplay over the original by allowing construction in three very diverse locations: Tokyo, Waikiki and the natural splendor of Kegon Falls with its changing seasons and exotic locale. Control issues, internal and external events, crises, critical management and juggling exigencies co-mingle with equal impact as you try to build your tower to the culminating 'final item' that triggers a small event, hopefully leading to designation as The Great Tower.
Think you're the next Donald Trump with a vision to build the most glorious high rise wonder in the world? If so, don your hardhat and get your best business clothes pressed -- you'll need both to mold Yoot Tower into a stratospheric success story.
Yoot Tower is a much-improved sequel to Maxis' tower-building classic SimTower. Similar to the first game, Yoot Tower was much more popular on the Mac than it was on the PC, probably due to the fact that both games were coded on a Mac and released for that platform first. Your goal is still the same as SimTower: build a high-rise that offers your residents a 'stress-free' environment. A happy Sim resident gets enough business to make a profit, has an easy route to get to work and not too many people clogging the hallways and elevators. Lots of parking and great shops and restaurants couldn't hurt either.
Yoot Tower (so named after its creator, Yoot Saito) sports numerous improvements over SimTower, making the game much more of a game than a toy that SimTower was. Just about the only thing that remains the same is the fact that you don't control who moves in. But Yoot Tower lets you name and add them to a 'favorites' list to locate them in an instant, to see what they're up to, how much money they've got, and how happy they are with their environment. The AI of residents is noticeably much better than SimTower: the effects of your actions are reflected much more realistically in the game. Similar to Bullfrog games (e.g. Theme Park), the residents now really seem to have minds of their own. You can stick a microphone in the face of people down in the lobby, for example, to find out what they think about the place. You can also alter menus in the many and various restaurant types, and even choose what kinds of movies are shown.
Not only is Yoot Tower addictive, it's also very difficult due to more complex AI, additional challenges, and hundreds of different kinds of rooms you can build and innumerable options for each. There are hundreds of variables you need to take into consideration. Should a Mexican Restaurant go here here, or maybe instead a Fashion Boutique? Perhaps a Book Store or a Barber Shop? At what floors should my large elevators stop? How many housekeeping units can I get away with? Where's the best place for a cigarette vending machine? If I have ten offices per floor, how many elevators do I need? How much should I be charging for rent on a deluxe apartment in the sky? Next thing you know, you've suddenly got a 120-floor madhouse, hundreds of picky residents - and only a few hours before dawn when the real-life you have to get ready for work.
There are numerous other improvements to the basic gameplay. You now have various seasons - which affect number and types of residents throughout the year. To add more flavor than tower building in a nondescript location, Yoot Tower includes 3 different real-world locations (Hawaii, Tokyo & Kegon Falls), each with different conditions for success, different costs and sources of revenue, and unique attractions. Kegon Falls, for example, attracts floods of tourists during the summer but is eerily quiet during the winter (that is when you will start worrying about whether your fixed costs are too high). As in SimTower, your tower will be rated every time you get a visit (always unannounced) from VIP's who will evaluate your facilities. If you make them happy, your tower gets bumped up a Star rating. The more stars you have, the more items you can build.
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Overall, Yoot Tower is an excellent game of business management that is not for the easily frustrated. It can get monotonous at times, and is a game that only devoted micro-managers will be successful at. However, if you're looking for a challenging business sim, you will likely become a Yoot addict like me.
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People who downloaded Yoot Tower have also downloaded:
SimTower, Zoo Tycoon, Sim Farm, Sim City 2000, Sim Ant, SimCity 4, Zoo Empire, Virtual Resort: Spring Break