@chikitychinaJanuary 29, 2025
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.