One of the more obscure games from Japanese developer Artdink, HR2 is a unique and interesting tower building simulator that shares a similar goal as Maxis' SimTower, but with a completely different emphasis. While your goal is to build a highrise building as tall as possible, your concerns are not with floor designs or business strategies. Instead, in HR2 your role is that of a contractor/engineer commissioned to build the tower. Therefore, your goal is to build the tower with structurally sound design to guarantee that it will not come crashing down once you get to the 10th floor. The game is challenging not only for its realistic engineering concepts alone, but also for the importance of strategic planning and logistics. In order to build the tower, you must command a troop of robots. You can assign different programs to a robot to determine its role in the enterprise. For example, giving a robot the "PILLAR" program will make it build pillars. You can edit premade programs or create new ones using the game's built-in computer language (which looks like BASIC to me). You can place traffic signs and obstacles to confine the robots' area (and make sure they don't wander off to build the second tower), and switch control from automatic to manual if you prefer a hands-on approach. With emphasis on programming and engineering issues, HR2 will appeal more to engineering-minded than business-minded gamers, or anyone who enjoys a realistic simulation or a unique programming exercise. Recommended, but only to a niche audience. Note: In-game menus and text are in English, but text in the help section is all in Japanese. If you have the English manual or would like to help translate in-game help menu for the benefit of English-speaking gamers, please contact us. Reviewed by: Underdogs |