Even after the loss of building systems and hardware, the better portion of SEGA's recent ability, SEGA continued. Subsisting on sequels, continuations of franchises, sports games, and the occasional addition of ingenuity in gaming SEGA has made a rather strong comeback. True SEGA fans, and even fair weather friends, have held onto the occasional good games that appear. Unfortunately SEGA has now taken another downward step which could prove to be its undoing if left unchecked.

I've long held that SEGA holds a system more powerful than any yet released that will appear when the people are ready. Something that increases in technology as the years progress. Whether or not this is true is immaterial, it's just my belief; however, if what releases on March 27, 2006 is continued then this will surely never be true in any way. SEGA has announced the release of a game known as "The Tower" (also "The Tower SP" for GBA). An amazing game for people who enjoy this simulated business man style. One creates and manages a tower of sorts. Either a hotel, mall-tower, office building, condo, apartment, or assortment of all. Wielding different buildings to create and ways to design the tower one must face different problems which arise when constructing any building of magnitude. Using such things as theaters, restaurants and fast food locales you can cater to outsiders who merely wish to peruse your lines of shops or to the people who actually work in the offices. At the same time one needs to be cautious of the tenants in a building. Is it too noisy for some? Is a certain location too far away? How long is the wait for an elevator? Are the elevators close enough to the locales? Are stairs needed? Is that a fire? All these can lead to challenging dilemmas and skill-related tasks. In my opinion a rather good game.

Personally, I could give a few good tips on this game. For instance, do not try relying on condos unless you want a really hard game. They are quick money at first, but fail to pay off later as well as taking up valuable space with little population. Thus making it even harder to reach the full "Tower" rating. Offices are a rather good investment on the other hand. I could list, in detail, some rather interesting components and strategies for the game. Easter eggs and dilemmas that arise would be easy to describe. One would normally ask why I know what happens when one reaches the maximum rating possible. No I was not a BETA tester for the game nor do I bear any relationship with SEGA aside from fandom. The simple fact is that I have played and beaten the game. I beat the game around 5 to 6 years ago. This is merely a remake of the game "Sim Tower." "The Tower" differs slightly in that it includes certain extra things to build and a few different situations but most of the set-up is the same. From what screen shots I've seen most of the game even looks the same. Right down to one of the surprises received at the end of the game.

SEGA's downfall is that it is now moving to re-releasing older games. Re-releasing old games it had made was fine. Releasing remakes of games made by separate compaines is an entirely different matter. If one searches for the old Maxis game "Sim Tower" one will discover a game rather like SEGA's "new" "innovative" sim. This would not be such a mistake if one could find even a single reference to the original version of the game. Yet SEGA America, the supposed "creators" do not mention a single word from what I have seen. The game review sites that have rated the game either fail to recognize the obvious plagiarism or fail to care.

In summary, SEGA has moved from a massive company of technology and inventiveness to a game provider that is slowly succumbing to sequels and re-releases. This is indeed a sad fate. One that SEGA will hopefully pull out of before it is too late. It is still possible for SEGA to return to innovative games for systems. The other companies continue and on occasion SEGA pulls through with something amazing. For now though we are left with re-releases, remakes and bad games.

I doubt I will personally get this game. Even with the few extra features that have been added. For me it is too sad a thing. If I wish I can always play the old Maxis version. More than likely some day I will run across this game and end up playing either the DS or GBA version. For now it will remain a sad page in the History of SEGA.

--Wes