Flaregames brings us a skyscraper management game, Ocean Tower. The game comes from a unique approach that allows you to build floors above and below the water line. Yes, the tower floats on the ocean. Apart from building floors, you will also need to carefully manage space in order to balance apartment size with necessities. The game is entirely free, but like any other economic game it allows in app purchases to speed up construction or provide other benefits.
In some ways one would be tempted to compare Ocean Tower to a game we previously reviewed here, Tiny Tower. However, the differences are overwhelming. Flaregames’ title focuses on the layout of the building, which service is adjacent to another and how many services can be provided for tenants. A big plus goes to the small tutorial which guides the new players. It’s simple and short so you can go explore everything on your own quite quickly.
There are 5 types of services that can be provided for the tower’s residents: food, shopping, entertainment, recreation and education. Everything you build will require power, which is provided by the Waste-to-energy plant (the building with a yellow circle situated the the water’s edge) or by extension plants. The challenge is to find a good balance between residents and provided services (each shop you built sacrifices resident space).
Helping you plan the building layout is an overview that will show you exactly the area covered by any service. Here you can select a category and see who has and who hasn’t access.
Money is earned from the residents constantly. However, they seem to stop paying anything if nobody takes out their garbage. This is the system that prevents you from opening the game after a week and seeing millions in your account.
Under the tower there is a harbor that houses a small submarine for tourists. Taking the submarine out will allow you to take photos of marine life and get money from the paying tourists. This little game is not very entertaining.
Conclusion
Ocean Tower is a nice game, but somehow lacks the enjoyment found in others. We won’t be recommending this application to anybody.
Ocean Tower is also available on iOS devices, for free.
Summary
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| Reviewed Version | 1.3.1 |
| Device used for testing | HTC Nexus One |
| Price | Free |
| Size | 40 MB |
| Advertising | No |
| Developer | flaregames |