LGR - SimTower - PC Game Review

What if SimCity was more focused? Way more. Like, you only make one building instead of a city of buildings? Throw some Yoot into the mix and you've got Sim Tower, the excellent tower society simulation from Maxis and OPeNBooK Co.
● Please consider helping support LGR on Patreon! / lazygamereviews

[@Zombietrader]

The sounds from this game are burned in my brain. Played it so many hours as a kid.

[@local-teen]

+Zombietrader Haha, me too.

[@hazzyavery7152]

+Zombietrader The good kind of burn or the bad kind of burn?

[@nightshademagia]

+Alan421 Good kind

[@tehsma]

Shapaladoodah?

[@jmitterii2]

I would get dressed for school, and eat and think I'm just a little sim doing the same thing all those sims in the condos are doing.

[@pedrolucasmsc]

Here i am, 9 years later, playing fallout shelter and thinking "wow what a unique and new gameplay!" thanks for the review is very interesting to see the past!

[@neneboi]

Exactly the same haha

[@chompythebeast]

That game was really fun when it first released, but like all mobile games that want you to buy microtransactions, it got to the point where it stopped being fun. Also my Vault would be constantly decimated by multiple attacks in a row that just made it feel like the game was using them as a means to make me want to pay to rebuild what they destroyed, that was the killer

[@TheDexterFishbourne]

When I worked part time at Circuit City in the 90's we used to have this game and Command & Conquer on some of the computers for demo. I miss those days sometimes.

[@murraypcakes1250]

Elevators never made tenants happy, offices were never happy, there were never enough stairs or elevators, yet I played it for MONTHS straight. (I have Yoot Tower too).

[@sonicyouth788]

Murray P Cakes - I can reach 6 stars level without adjusting the rent rate and all the tenants are happy

[@razzlfraz]

There are certain tricks you can do, by identifying what hours are most popular for different kinds of buildings. Offices are 9 to 5, yet hotel and condos are not, so elevators can be patterned to be maximized during all hours, instead of bottle necked at some hours. imho a good trick is to have express elevators to stairs. Stairs do not have a bottle neck so they're great for offices.

[@101Volts]

@@razzlfraz You need to do a bit more than that for getting "Tower" Status, which requires a certain number of people within your tower on a Weekend (among a few other things) - therefore, Hotels and Offices are out for the populace number in those scenarios.

[@firstavina]

Omg, this video is 13 years old already? ~ Thanks for the video. Ah the nostalgia. I remember playing this a lot, in-between my class break in the university (1996-1999). Old-time games are memorable!

[@DW_69]

One of my best memories of this game was watching my cousins play and build up to maybe a 4-star tower then a fire broke out. Just seeing them panic as an inferno was blasting through everything was one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed.

[@renadavis3771]

😂😢😂

[@SLagonia]

Sim Tower is one of the most addictive games I have ever played. You go to sleep and dream of elevators...

[@serenemountain6769]

yes, bethesda copied its formula and created Fallout Shelter !

[@renosephiroth316]

SLagonia hahahha me too

[@Curbjaw]

I absolutely loved SimTower, I was always sad that it was never improved/revisited/sequeled

[@LGR]

But it was, and rather excellently! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoot_Tower

[@TennesseeChills]

Curbjaw There is a game called corporation incorporated which is kind of similar.. it is a free browser game so why not give it a shot

[@RielMailtaRoman]

Yeah I am liking this game I got it working with dosbox with installing windows 3.1

[@FaerieFire]

+Lazy Game Reviews Will you ever review Yoot Tower? I am curious as to your specific thoughts on it.

[@Okamatan]

+Curbjaw Sorry that this is nearly a year ago, but there was The Tower for GBA Handhelds

[@DrAnGeber]

"A Happy Sim is a productive Sim" This is a Quote written on a Factory in SimCity 3000

[@jiffygaming1822]

yes

[@101Volts]

"A clean sewer is a happy sewer!" - Commissioner Stenchler, from Sewer Shark.

[@fizalex6612]

Sim tower is now old enough to drink alcohol in the United States

[@ChaiKarl]

I caught my 6 year old son playing with sim tower???

[@vinegar4556]

Okay, Ash.

[@toogee1850]

No wonder I havent run out of LGR videos to watch. This man has been uploading for 10-11 years. I've only recently found this channel maybe a couple months ago, but since then have been watching hella gaming reviews on here. Love it too because he reviews all these great 90s gems. Still uploading to this day as well. Great content, man.

[@Andrew-zv4fm]

I remember playing this game as a kid. I loved getting up early in the morning to play it.

[@benjamindrewes6562]

I know that most people will agree with me when I say this; you NEED to do a Let's play of this game.

[@POKEMANZZ3]

I also remeber letting the game run fir like 15 minutes when i was low on cash

[@ModMINI]

Yeah but monitoring carefully in case something bad happens that drains your cash even faster.

[@_gerb0t]

The Bird noise is always like IISHII IISHII KOI KOI

[@kaylawilson4207]

After watching your Yoot Tower video this was recommended. This channel has really come a long way.

[@JGlass14]

Those sound effects are so classic and forever burned into my brain. The rent collection sound, the whir of the elevators, the ambient chatter... these are all small decisions that helped make this game a classic in a way that rarely ever gets recognition. I'm glad that you highlighted those sounds so much in this review.

[@gaugeth]

I remember playing the shit put of this as a kid! I do recall "beating" the game by getting the 5 star rating, filling every single usable space you could build on and making sure every single business/tenant in the building "happy". Like, literally every square inch of building space was used One of the most satisfying moments in my gaming career.

[@robertcarlson8867]

Great to see some love for SimTower! Most underrated Sim game.

[@Tsiikki]

This was on my frontpage today. 13 years later..

[@ashleighanne90]

Definitely going to go pick up this game if I can find it anywhere. Looks like an awesome Maxis classic.

[@serenemountain6769]

that or the new and improve Fallout Shelter !

[@grimthereaper4254]

Serene Mountain yeah fallout shelter is actually pretty great for a mobile game

[@larvaye4444]

I thought for the longest time I imagined this game. I remember I used to sit at the computer with my dad and watch him play. I only got a go at it a couple times but man was it good. I could spend hours just watching all the people moving around, like peeping into one of those tacky ant farms. Honestly it brings a tear to my eye

[@kuribojim3916]

Oh man. That intro screen and music takes me back. I adore this game.

[@Terp311]

This brings back a lot of memories. sim tower was my first PC game

[@Extrema22]

Nice to see a review on one of my alltime favs! I could play this for hours on end and just seeing the tower come alive. Only after reading through the strategy guide I realised how complex it was, timeless classic!

[@jrsx1129]

Great Review! Thanks for the nostalgia. One of my favorite PC games growing up in the late 90s.

[@FireAngelZero]

I think I finished this game every other week when I used to play this daily... I still play this from time to time when I decide I need a throwback to my teenage years...

[@777hobo777]

I loved this game back in the days...I can see it being reborn as a mobile device game.

[@MaddTheSane]

There is an iPad version out. It's called The Tower and can be found here: itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-tower/id379197311?mt=8

[@endmiee35816efqe]

hmmmmmm........fallout shelter before fallout shelter. i like it!

[@thatonezoey334]

+Aidan G. (Pray For Paris.) well you go up instead of down, but yeah mostly.

[@lizardtheguy]

Tiny tower before tiny tower

[@jackjacksoncv]

thanks for noticing that! no one else has. especially since bethesda is sueing WB for ripping off the game (fallout shelter) which they ripped off from sim tower. oh boy..

[@hypnos3632]

not even close.

[@ronaldalexander1957]

I, for one, was looking for someone else to draw parallels to Fallout Shelter. I'm years late, but thank you @End Miee and @LGR

[@OkraPlutonium]

I always loved the chorus of sound effects this game created. My mom was always like, "What is he doing over there, is that actually a game?"

[@RizzyKhaos]

It's like those blocks in the Judge Dredd universe.

[@Jenniferlwarm]

I loved this game as a kid, I remember the sound effects more than anything. Watching this video brought back so many memories

[@alexanderrahl7034]

This honestly had me imagining a large concrete structure with a garage and lobby on the 1st floor, followed by cinema's, pools, and casinos on the 2nd floor. cafe's gyms, and Stores on the 3rd floor. And then the next 3 floors are apartments, condo's and Suite's respectively. And i imagined how cool it would be to have a self contained town like that, stacked vertically. Then it hit me, thats sorta what Mall's were supposed to be.

[@TomDavidMcCauley]

And Marina City in Chicago

[@alexanderrahl7034]

3 years ago me just casually imagining the beauty of brutalist tiny city architecture lol.

[@hlf200]

I love this game so much, still play today. That elevator noise is therapeutic!

[@eddiexcore2]

One of my favorite games ever! Excellent taste in games! I love your reviews!

[@luiscanamarvega]

I remember playing this game a lot during summer camp at a planetarium in my city back in '97.. they had awesome compaq PCs with cool LCD monitors that had detachable speakers on the sides.. pretty effin rad :)

[@silenceofthehills]

There's a game just like this called love hotel, and it's also very fun. I was presently surprised it was actually inspired by this one, because I love how its gameplay works.

[@Tatkitten]

It’s been years since I’ve played this and I miss it so much. I know that’s another game that’s a lot like it but this will always be the OG for me.

[@madsli]

I wonder if LGR likes dwarf fortress. Seeing as how he likes games like this, sims and roller coaster tycoon, it would be right up his alley.

[@6StimuL84]

Loved the original and Yoot Tower.... Great review....

[@FloppyFormatFrenzy]

Such a great game. I used to play this along with Caesar II back in the mid 90s.

[@pileggitech]

I absolutely loved this game when it first came out. And thanks to you I heard about Yoot tower a while back when I first saw this video. And now I have Project Highrise to look forward to! Thanks LGR!

[@RuffyT1]

This game brings back so many good memories. Thanks for this video, LGR :)

[@exactspace]

I think this is the first review I saw of yours and still one of my favorites.

[@Vlad-1986]

There is a project called OpenskyScraper. It is still on developement, and the first goal is to mimic Sim Tower, but also to add plugin support so it will implement mods

[@jonathon8895]

I miss this game, I was wondering if it every got any reviews on youtube and just had to search for some. This was a nice dose of nostalgia.

[@ModMINI]

Wow, 9 years on, and still making great videos, and the quality has been there the entire time.

[@PeugeotRocket]

I loved this game back in the day! I'm sure I'd still love it today. I might have to pick up a copy on EBay. I remember playing this on my aging 75MHz machine when I was younger. I couldn't play newer titles like Sim City 3000 so low requirement games like this were my bread and butter. Games like this were low on system requirements and high on gameplay. Now that I'm an adult and not dependent on my parents to fund my gaming habit, I've got a machine that can run pretty much whatever I want. My gaming past feels like a much simpler time but one full of fun memories like Sim Tower.

[@TheRetroGamerGuy]

Another Excellent review here Phreak! I remember my dad playing this game years ago. I never got into it because I was playing a lot of the Classic Apogee games at that time on the pc. Watching this review though makes me want to try it out. Keep it up Phreak! ^_^

[@Cim]

Stopping by in 2024 just to hear the classic LGR Theme, Glad youre still making videos all these years later!

[@AnJah]

I loved this game a lot and I remember the day I got my new computer and installed this to play. I also remember that for some reason on the new computer the game play ran so fast you couldn't actually play the game. That was a bittersweet day indeed.

[@woha6]

From some natural reflex built into me in my youth the start up music from sim tower featured in this video warmed my heart and filled me with joy, excitement, and anticipation.

[@guy_chillin2406]

I remember playing this at my grandma's house in South Carolina. It was the early 2000's and I was a teenager. To avoid going out and working in the hot garage all day with my Grandpa in the 90+ degree heat. Compared to putting mulch around all the plants and mowing the lawn, this game was tight.

[@mikedouglas9863]

These early Sim games make me feel something

[@97marqedman]

Wooowwww man...9 years since you put this video out. Daaaang. My kids hadn’t even started school yet and they’re now in 8th grade.

[@holdtehmayo]

I loved this game so much. Just seeing the box reminds me of my childhood! Might be a weird suggestion but.... would be awesome to see an ASMR video going through your retro game collection big boxs? 👀

[@frogeezzz7964]

enjoyed this video A LOT! So many memories coming back to my mind! Thanks man for this video.

[@ericz0r]

Glad I found this video. So nostalgic. Surprised there hasn't been any remake of it!

[@Starlysh]

Aw yes, SimTower was my jam when I was a kid. This is a great review filled with nostalgia.

[@johnraymondt.domingo4105]

i wiah i collect bigbox pc game back then. love all your videos. i hope you wont stop making reviews with passion not just for income. like other youtubers. salute and respect from Philippines.

[@sohee88]

So this is where the flash game 'Theme Hotel' came from. It was my favorite flash game when I was little, along with Bloons td

[@sacripudding4586]

2010 lgr. Holy crap. Its been this long? I remember your first few videos. Jesus.

[@strtrcril87]

Wow, I forgot about this one! Talk about a grade school throwback...I loved this and a few other sim games.

[@rahjeel]

I was a kid around 9 when I first saw and played this game along with The Sims. I remember this and The Sims being the only games installed in my aunts faculty room and among the few personal computers from 50 miles around(shes the high school principal in the countryside) I'd play this game every chance I get, especially at summer. Aah the memories :) Sim Tower and The Sims blew me away those days cuz its not something I was used to playing. It had a certain strategy and serenity while playing it.

[@RileyRat]

***** Dat profile picture bro

[@AceStrife]

Omg, this was one of the games I played growing up in school all the time. Now I wanna try it again after learning what the game was all these years later.

[@DigiTalDeaD]

I loved this game when I was 13/14 and seeing it now makes me want to play again.

[@myhybrid09]

I can't believe SimTower is almost 20 years old.

[@cbscbs9090]

...er its 24

[@Daniel28021991]

Very cool game, also one of my Maxis favourits!

[@Broc13]

This game used to make me wish I lived in some kind of huge apartment tower where everything was contained within the tower/skyscraper. Like fast food places, stores, etc. It would be like a mall on the bottom level, restaurants/fast food on the top levels, and inbetween are all the housing blocks (I'm not saying that's a good layout I'm just talking). As a kid from a small town, I always fantasized about living in some huge self-contained skyscraper like that where everyone knew each other and it was a microcosm of the outside world.

[@WeirdWonderful]

The chaotic screen plus the sound of the elevator is strangely.....mesmerising.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

I remember reading, either in the manual or somewhere else, that this started out as an attempt at an elevator simulator, and I do think this game simulates elevator behaviour quite well. Now that Thyssen has invented 2-dimensional elevators (elevators that can go both sideways and up/down), I could be fun to get a three-dimensional version of SimTower

[@veggiet2009]

This seriously is the one sim game I wasn't even curious about... now watching this review I really want to play it!

[@serenemountain6769]

someone copied it's formula and created Fallout shelter !

[@Lorijenken]

no matter how much I played this game I could NEVER get ppl to even rent out the office, I even built exactly like you did and nadda, but still on my FAV old school games

[@SysLocal]

Sim Tower was the first video game I ever played. It was what got me into Maxis to begin with. Still one of my favorites :)

[@OldSchoolNYCGamer]

Cool review, I could never imagine a game like this advanced for the P.C. back in '95.

[@mikew7499]

love your vids.. you deserve way more subscribers then what you have...keep up the great work...cheers!!

[@Jadama0]

Ack you didn't use the secret crl/alt to make the lobby bigger!! :P

[@arkay238]

He clicked the lobby at the bottom left tile to double his starting money instead.

[@snetmotnosrorb3946]

It also makes the lobby cost 3 times more. If you only hold ctrl you get a 2 story lobby for "only" twice the price of a normal lobby.

[@lautaro3365]

Wayback maybe 15 years ago, I find this game in my grandma house. Played it one time and lost forever now I find it :D

[@christiangreen2070]

I never was around to play these old 90's games. I really wish they still made games like this.

[@Jodie842]

I'm amazed at just how good these games were given the tools that the developers had.

[@henrydamiani1507]

i' ve spent countless hours on this game, was 10 years old, i woke up at 5am to play. life coudnt be better. Love it

[@gpmt700]

Man your "Sim" maxis collection is impressive!

[@spiderjerusalem100]

This looks like it could be really addictive, i wish it were on Steam.

[@publicaccessandchill2542]

It's actually available on the web now!!! For free:)

[@Crimson9724]

I am a huge tower fanatic. I have both Sim and Yoot Towers, plus the Tower SP for my little Gameboy so I don't long it when I'm on the road. It's an exceptional gaming franchise.

[@rachelsmith3550]

i played this game a lot when i was really young although i had no idea what i was doing. those sound effects are really nostalgic.

[@chackalsjc]

I loved this game! Spend countless hours on it haha great review!

[@dinkledankle]

I know Yoot Tower works on modern hardware and software with compatibility mode enabled. I was playing it last night. But as far as SimTower goes, I have not tried it yet. The last computer I played SimTower on was an old laptop from 2007 running WinXP. My current laptop is running Windows 8, i7, and GTX 675M.

[@MrGhislain79]

The intro to this video is so cool! (especially pepsi can opening !)

[@Schmidt54]

I love that game! It's crazy, but for sure a great game. I also noticed you used the double-your-start-money-trick by clicking in the corner... ;-)

[@deusexaethera]

I loved SimTower. I played it more than I played any other Sim game.

[@ArtifiSir]

wonderful use of SimCity 3000's - Illumination in the background!

[@SeekerLancer]

Never played this game before, looks very cool.

[@CryptoChanakya]

I totally agree with this game giving me the perspective about closed environment as a kid.

[@ImSquiggs]

This is among the only older games I used to love that I have no ability to play anymore. I just cannot get it working in any form on modern PCs.

[@TheSchwarzKater]

I like how kairosoft somewhat picked that concept up with Mall Story in their games.

[@k6ka1]

i first played SimTower when i got bored of SimCity 2000, found it in the folder it was in, picked it up and fell in love with it. i still play both games today.

[@phar314]

1996! Wow in my feeling this game is so antique. I feel that I played this game like 30 years ago.

[@Gyzyn]

Another amazing review! Just awesome!

[@diamondgirl141]

love your reviews, only bad thing is that they make me feel old.. haha. I remember playing these games, it's funny though how you remember it, and how thats nothing like it actually is.

[@dmanaigre]

I used to play this game (and sometimes still do!). My current hex is OpenRCT2, the Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 update. I really wish some coder/programmer would "Open" SimTower. It would be awesome!