Wilco Tower Simulator now available for download
One of the most anticipated flight simulator releases - Wilco’s Tower Simulator - is now available for purchase via download.
Tower Simulator puts you in the controller’s chair high atop a major or complex airport to choreograph the movements of incoming and outgoing air traffic.
Tower Simulator takes you into a world of authority and responsibility in which the lives of thousands of passengers depend on your ability to make split-second decisions.
As a tower controller, you handle realistic aircraft take-offs and landings, as well as aircraft ground movements through breathtaking out-the-window and radar views.
Runways, taxiways, aprons, flight paths, obstructions and airport structures are all under your control!
Highlights
- Ground and Tower simulation
- Photorealistic renditions of several worldwide airports
- Multiple views, including out-the-window tower view, Air and Ground Radars
- Realistic aircraft take-off, landing and moving along airport grounds
- For beginners and experts, from free simulation to Career mode
- Digitized pilots communications
- Actively overlooked and supervised by licensed professionals
- Based on actual FAA and European regulations
- Advanced modern graphics and simulation technology
- User configurable traffic rate, time of day, weather, etc.
Tower Simulator meets the two most important training criteria for a high-fidelity ATC tower training environment:
- Highly realistic scenario generation
- Adjustable time of day, weather and seasonal conditions.
Tower Simulator is a stand alone program which does not require any other simulator to work.
Handle living airports
- 60+ airplanes models from general aviation up to the most recent airliner (including Airbus A380, cargo movement aircraft,…)
- 300+ airlines flying according to their actual timetables
- Advanced aircraft behaviors based on manufacturers’ flying characteristics and official aeronautical procedures
- Ground traffic to reflect daily activity level with service vehicles moving according to the traffic: pushback, fuel truck, luggage trucks,… before, during and after the aircraft arrival
- Multiple events to evaluate your ability to make split-second appropriate decision
- Gate assignments for airlines in order to match living world used gates
- Live road traffic in the airports vicinity
- Aircraft lights based on real circumstances.
Simulation suited to beginners and experts
- Adjustable complexity level
- Assigned path can be made visible on the ground
- Floating and resizable windows: air radar, ground radar, arrival & departure printable strips
- Reward calculated according to airport difficulty, number of aircraft handled, user’s level
- Score and salary depending on statistics, rewards, earnings, career, mistakes,…
- Implemented regulations based on FAA and European guidelines
- User-friendly interface
- Complete in-depth manual with detailed official procedures description and airport charts
- Multilingual installation : English, French, German, Spanish.
Customize Tower Simulator with controller’s name and picture, time schedule, callsign, airlines, gate assignments, repaintable airplanes…
Challenge yourself in a living environment
- Airports ranked by handling difficulty level, from the island airport to the world’s busiest airport
- User ruled airport lighting for runways, taxiways, parking areas
- Multiple views: tower, radar and ‘binocular’ to easily locate and control further aircraft, vehicles,…
- Male/female digitized pilots voices with various accents
- Dynamic sound experience featuring Doppler effects
- Realistic environment with beautiful sunset, sunrise, moonlight,…
- Challenging and adjustable conditions: rain, snow, thunderstorms, fog, and time of the day
- Realistic clouds movements
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
waste of money. It should not be for sale. Poor graphics and badly programmed
That’s quite a statement! Can you be more specific, e.g. what exactly you think is wrong with it, your system specs etc…
I agree with Pete - this is my review that I’m posting anywhere and everywhere, warning people not to waste their UNREFUNDABLE money:
I am a self-confessed geek. While other people buy the number one best seller game and kill dragons or infiltrate enemy HQs, I enjoy simulators and can play them for hours and hours. One of my favourites in the late 90s was Tower by BAO/Apollo. It was smooth, flowed and although it wasn’t necessarily visually pretty, kept me busy for ages flowing jets in and out of various airports.
So when I saw a banner ad for Tower Simulator I had a look and was impressed by the screen shots I saw and imagined it to be similar to Tower, but better, surely benefiting from 10yrs of technological advancement. The price tag also implied the developers rated it similar to something like Flight Sim X – EUR56 (£46) is significantly more pricey than all but the elite of software titles. Unfortunately, I was misled and have joined AVSIM Forum to warn others, especially as publishing house Wilco will not refund downloads.
Firstly, it would be fair to say that it is visually quite impressive to begin with. It can’t have been easy to render places like Chicago O Hare, let alone program in 100 or so aircraft at different parking stands. But the visuals aren’t the issue – nearly everything else is.
At the start of a new session the players view out of the tower is obstructed by different pop-ups; approach radar, ground radar, flight strip and command boxes, although I’m wrong to call them pop-ups because they don’t. Instead the user needs to clumsily drag them out of the way. Prior to reading the instructions (don’t we all), I presumed something like f-keys would be used to get the different sub-screens to disappear and reappear, but it turns out you’ve just got to put up with them. Not only that, but if you close any of these pop-ups – which it mysteriously allows you to do –you can NEVER re-open them again during the current controlling session. So in practical terms you are required to constantly drag and resize boxes in and out of view, because even with a 17” monitor, the remaining view out of the tower would be too small with all boxes fully on view. What is annoying is a relatively simple pop-up function would have totally negated this issue.
Once you start the game – and be careful what time you pick; John Wayne at 12pm actually has no traffic, so you just have to sit and wait for something to happen – the initial impression is quite good. Each airport looks visually like it should, although night scenes are less impressive, lacking basic stuff like blue/green taxiway lighting, while the jets have rougher, white-edged models. As the jets start-up they have basic anti-cols (but no flashing lights) and pushback is probably the most realistic part of the entire simulation. It just gets duller when they call for taxi.
One of the biggest unpolished errors is the awful AI voice. Ten years ago BAO’s Tower was already way better; in Tower Simulator the voice is slow and poorly synthesised, but the most annoying bit is the gap it insists on before adding the runway number to the end of the read back – very amateur. This is especially annoying when you have a lot of traffic taxying and the computer is taking its time to unnecessarily read back ‘runway 14 left’. I’m not a programmer, but speech synthesis has come on a long, long way since BAO’s version, so why has a £46 game not invested in it?
The command box – the text version of the terrible AI voice – doesn’t compensate either. I’ve tried to resize the box to catch-up on who called for taxi and it doesn’t (as far as I can make it) resize. The shortcut commands provided are unintuitive too, using CTRL and ALT – although luckily the set-up does allow the user to re-programme keys more sensibly. However, one bug I found was that in some situations the shortcuts stop working, requiring users to manually type ‘HOLD YOUR POSITION’ etc or quit the game and restart. Another example of a lack of polish is when you type, or click, an aircraft callsign, then use a short-cut for the instruction; if you leave a space after the callsign the instruction will be rejected, but if you want to add a runway on the end of the command and DON’T leave a space, you will also breach syntax. It’s just messy. Talking of commands, there are 39, of which you will actually need about 7 – even the developer couldn’t tell me how I benefited from asking an inbound aircraft its speed. It almost feels as if a list useful commands has never been reviewed for usefulness prior to the rush to get the game to the shops.
I have a background in ATC and the profession has lots of rules to follow, such as separation, avoiding having 2 aircraft on the runway etc and some mention is made of this in the instructions. However, the gameplay doesn’t seem to bother itself with these issues. Once you have more than about 10 aircraft taxying, the awkward interface (remember the dragging of windows?) makes it difficult to keep track of who is where, so to avoid missing ‘ready for departure’ calls that you’ll struggle to find again in the cumbersome command box, it’s often easier to just allow them to take-off when they first ask. This has led on a couple of tedious occasions to an inbound aircraft landing at the same time on the same runway, with the awful consequence of…well, nothing. I’m not sure if there is a points page somewhere else – to be honest, so far I’ve not managed to stay interested for more than 15mins at a time – but as far as I can see there are no consequences if you screw up.
If you don’t weld one jet into another on the runway it’s then necessary to hand it off to departure. Ordinarily this would require you to not forget about it and make sure it didn’t leave your radar screen without handover (although again, I’m not aware of any consequence from the couple of times I’ve done it). However, rather than have to drag the radar screen back into view for the callsign, one thing you can do is clear it for take-off, then immediately hand it to departures while still taxying onto the runway – hardly realistic, but a workaround that avoids the need to use the radar screen – one less fiddle.
Going back to the visuals, after the realistic pushback, jets then fall into line with the rest of the program and taxi jumpily and way too fast. ALL departing aircraft do a rolling take-off straight from the holding point, which is unrealistic, undermining yet another of the real heart-stopping moments of ATC when a jet on the runway might just not get away before another touches down – not a problem with Tower Simulator. As for the take-off of the sim jets, all I can presume by the balloon-like vertical departure profiles is the developers have never actually seen a real jet take-off. Again, FlightSim does so much better a job with its AI.
I mentioned inbounds and it seems little thought has gone into them either. They call-up on frequency and are either self-positioning, or on finals, so you either keep an eye on them using the radar pop up, or simply give them landing clearance straight away – there are commands for ‘go around’ but as departing traffic is never on the runway long enough to block it, and there are apparently no consequences if separation is reduced from real world minimas, you might as well take your chances rather than risk having to try and figure out what to do with an overshooting jet.
The crying shame about Tower Simulator is the basic ingredients are there to make it a reasonable piece of software. They’ve managed to design and program 5 airports with sim jets and vehicles and it really doesn’t look bad. But then they gave up. The other interfaces are truly awful, especially as most users won’t be able to afford to buy 3 TFT screens to link-up. I’m not sure even then if 3 screens would help with anything but the interface – the gameplay is still glaringly missing.
Within 2hrs of download I’d contacted the software house to ask for my money back, except this is contrary to their download policy. This is disappointing as Tower Simulator as it stands, especially for £45, undermines their reputation. Presumably their other products work a lot better. Sometimes a business has to accept they got it wrong, fix the problem and try again, otherwise they run the risk that people won’t trust their one-way sales policy in future. Until Wilco resolve the problem, I won’t buy anything from them again.
Ultimately, Tower Simulator is an expensive program that could do a lot better. Right now it is little more than a pretty, but dull piece of work that requires no skill whatsoever, other than an ability to work around the poor interfaces. There is little more to it than sequencing taxying aircraft to a runway of your choice and, even then, no consequence if you get it wrong. I challenge anyone to waste more than 15mins of their life without losing the will to live. The bones are there, but it needs a lot, lot more work on the interface, a total overhaul of the gameplay and more polish on the aircraft performance, if it is to justify the price. I suggest users avoid buying it until it is sorted out, and I would be very wary in future until Wilco post a demo version, enabling you to try before you buy.
Hi Jon,
Thanks for the detailed review.
Your comments, Wilco?
Not sure if my previous comment posted…if this is a dup, I apologize.
Does anyone have a manual they could email me or a link to one online? I would like to read through the manual first since there is no trial version of this software.
Thanks!
I’ll send you the pdf - it’s 2.15mb. Drop me a line at my.name@btinternet.com (<– read what I wrote). I’ll warn you that the manual makes it sound quite good. It’s got lots of air traffic type procedures and background, except the game doesn’t actually bother with 95% of it (I would compare it to releasing Space Invaders with the text of War of the Worlds included in the instructions). Also included towards the back are a few Jepessen parking charts for the respective airports - pretty, but they’ll be no use to you in the game.
If you can afford to take a £46 loss - maybe you’re a stockbroker? - give it a go, but please make a point of coming back here to endorse what I’ve written. It’s absolute rubbish and expensive too.
Hi guys,
I’m sure Wilco won’t mind the manual being sent (I’m surprised they don’t let people download it from their site), but if they do object, I’ll have to pull these messages.
Cheers,
Mark - FlightSimX
See, I object to spending £46 on poor quality software, but Wilco are sort of letting that one go. Grrr
Hi Jon. I know what you mean - I don’t like feeling like I’ve been ripped off, either (I hasten to add I’ve not tried Tower Sim yet), but if it’s copyright material (I don’t know if it is or not, as I haven’t seen it) then they might have something to say about it.
Yeah, I know - it’s a fair point. In fact, looking at it, the pages are footed with a Copyright, so sorry David, I’ll withdraw the offer.
Heed the advice though - I like my nerdy games, but not this one!!
Jon, Thanks for your review, I was going to jump straight in and buy this one as I too have a huge interest in simulators in particular. Very disappointed to hear that is so bad as the web site and assoicated blurb promised so much. Hopefully Wilco will reply and remedy the detailed points that you have noted. I had my suspicions when it was taking so long to release - pointed to them possibly having issues and also maybe forced to release it ealry with bugs.
Paul - no problem - glad I saved you and your bank balance the pain. Seemingly they’re working on a patch as we speak - looking at the list they’re fixing lots of cosmetic issues - what I’m still unsure about is whether this will result in better gameplay. But then, I suppose half the battle with a simulation is making it look and act like the real thing, which was sorely missing in Vers 1. I’ve not seen mention of the worst error - the AI voice - but we’ll see, and as I’ve posted elsewhere, I’m more than willing to update my review if Wilco make the effort to release a saleable product.
For anyone interested, I notice Wilco have put the Tower Simulator manual on line. Please note my post 6 above before you waste your money on the basis of a promising manual though. Happy to answer any questions too.
I have read the reviews of Tower Simulator, thanks for it, so I will not buy this sim. I have here London Control, http://www.londoncontrol.com/ and I can advise you this ATC system..!
Hans
We’ll be posting a full review soon, so watch this space!
Horrible software, you know your in trouble when the wheels on the aircraft on the loading screen arnt even round. What a waste of money and as for the patch I didnt pay for a program that will get to eventually be almost worth my money I paid for a program that IS worth my money now. I think this is why it was available for download only for now, so that they can avoid giving everyone a refund. Im fighting it and I suggest you do to. Please contact me at toddmel@msn.com if youve bought the software but have been refused a refund. Together I think we may be able to do somthing about it. Its not the money so much as the point they knew they were releasing a VERY substandard product and went ahead with it anyway.
Has anyone actually had any replies from Wilco about this? I’d be interested to hear what they have to say…
Mark - FlightSimX
Do not waste your money with this product. Just on detail: aircraft that normaly aproach with about 130 knots do this in this simulation with about 300 knots. Second detail: Customers screemed about this ( when not deleted in support forum) . Now patch 1.1 was released - but this tiny detail for an tower simulation could not be fixed. Stay away!
Werner
It certainly sounds like there’ll be at least a 1.2!
In the support forum the full text of actual topic “Latest Bugs x.x” is “Latest Bugs 1.1″. The speed of improvement from V1.0 to V1.1 let me approximate that version 5 will be one of the first version you can sim with. Thats bad, i think the product will not do it to version 2.0, otherwise an option would be to wait that time.
Werner
John, Todd & Werner. Thank you so much for putting me off! I was just about to get the credit card out. Thank heavens I came across your reviews first. If you are in the Bournemouth area, that’s a pint I owe you.
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