Tower

Unlike many titles of similar names, Tower is not a game of defence and war strategy. Instead, it is a nice little fact-based simulation involving the management of an entire airport. There are several airports from which to choose, including Washington National and O’Hare, and there are numerous aircrafts that correspond to those airports. Their comings and goings, boardings and departings are all in your hopefully capable hands.
The game starts out relatively easy. There is only one plane in your airspace to concern yourself with.

However, as the game progresses, more and more aircrafts will be vying for runways and therefore your attention. What’s more, aircrafts do not necessarily comply with your directives. Since you are in the Air Traffic Controller in charge of the Terminal Area (the buffer zone between landing and departing) you will be responsible for any ensuing disasters, so remain vigilant at all times. The lives of hundreds, even thousands, of innocent flight passengers depend upon you.
The realism of this game is admirable. Tower uses actual data from real FAA information and is actually based on FAA and Transport Canada’s training software for Air Traffic Controllers. Obstacles, ground movement, take off times and landing difficulties all simulate very real occurrences and issues. The game view is a 360 degree panoramic view spanning out from the Tower, from which the game’s name is derived. There are low-graphic cut scenes to depict various activities such as crashes or planes landing. There is a warning system to alert you if you make an error, and it will suggest you change your instructions or simply tell you that what you have ordered is impossible.
To make the game more playable and replayable, there is some degree of difficulty control. The user can customize the time of day, traffic rate, the pilots’ overall efficiency and so forth. The time of day directly affects the number of planes landing and taking off from any given air port, and if that is not enough, you can manually control the frequency of planes contacting you for clearance.
Mostly, this game is about timing and awareness, very similar to an actual air traffic control experience. A new user will also find him or her -self relying heavily on the manual for quite some time after beginning this game. There are many codes and commands and, while some are easy once you understand their meaning, others seem to have no logical basis. Overall, Tower is unique, though somewhat bland. The graphics are very basic, but the idea is very cool and interesting. It is definitely for a select audience, which you may actually be a part of.