AZITO is a game released on the Playstation in Feb 97 by ASTEC 21.
The game is a "Sim City" type of game: the player builds and maintains an underground secret base. In the secret base, the player hires "(mad) scientists" to do research on monster humanoids and "heroes", giant robots and monsters, and fighter planes and airships. The scientists also research (crazy) commercial products to be sold in "camouflages" above the ground, the main source of income for the secret base. The objective of the game is to arm the base against periodic invasions by enemy forces.
This setting is based on Japanese special effect TV shows, similar to Power Ranger, one or two decades ago. The game includes many funny parodies and crazy ideas, and would appeal to players who feel nostalgia for those shows. I don't, personally, because I was adviced not to watch "violent" shows when I was small, but I still find the setting and parodies rather interesting.
The game engine is very similar to Tower, another Japanese "Sim City" type game. I have not played Tower, so would make no comparisions here. But I have played Settlers and Chaos Seed, both being very brilliant "Sim City" type games, and like AZITO, these games also have definite objectives.
When compared to Settlers and Chaos Seed, AZITO, sadly, clearly pales. In one sentence, AZITO is like Settlers without the transportation system flow capacity problem. In other words, the game system lacks a highlight. (There is a transportation system in AZITO, probably inherited from Tower, but due to the particulars of the game, it makes no difference as far as player strategy is concerned.) Base construciton in AZITO is very straightforward, with no strategic depth. Anybody can build a good base konwing just a few rules of thumb, and it doesn't look like one can do any better.
There are some minor problems too: the mouse-based control is far from having been optimized when playing with the keypad (the PS controller has so many buttons, why not a few more shortcuts), and there are slow-downs.
AZITO is a game with its highlight in its setting rather than in its game system. If you have been reading my other game reviews, you could have guessed what I'm going to say: I don't like this kind of games, even though I may like the setting. Though, for players who are not that much demanding of the game system and who feel nostalgia for the setting, AZITO might be enjoyable.