If we were to think of all the freemium farming/city
creation titles as a sort of time-restricted
version of Sim City, then Tiny Tower by NimbleBit
is a scaled down and time-restricted version
of Sim Tower. Some may balk at the comparison
to what is considered a classic, but if anyone
is going to pull this off it's the company
that brought us Pocket Frogs.
Tiny Tower places you in the middle of a vicious
cycle of trying to attract 'Bitizens' to live
in your tower in order to employ them at your
various stores and services, in order to attract
more 'Bitizens' - and so on. Each virtual
denizen features a series of skills that help
their performance at specific jobs, potentially
increasing the profit margin for correctly
placing them, though should you help them
to land their 'dream job' you'll be rewarded
with larger stock counts, making it easier
to take longer breaks from the game.
Being a 'freemium' title, your time in game
is restricted by the time it takes to 'restock'
the shelves within each store or by the time
it takes to build a new level of your tower.
'Bux' can be spent to speed up the process,
though they can only be earned via in-app
purchasing or as a random reward for various
additional objectives such as ferrying people
up the elevator or helping to deliver a letter.
Instead of having the bland choice of simply
waiting a long time between short bursts of
playing or spending money to have more to
do right now, players can supplement their
time by performing small chores to earn more
'Bux'. Further benefits such as VIPs can only
be earned this way, making it well worth spending
a bit of extra time each time you jump in.
The real kicker for Tiny Tower is the sheer
amount of charm that comes from the variety
of pixel-art designed and animated Bitizens
that wander the halls of your tower. From
the time they move in to the time they leave
they'll also contribute to 'Bitbook' - a stylized
version of Facebook that gives you an insight
to each character.
For a game that offers so very little in the
way of meaningful gameplay, Tiny Tower is
a powerfully addictive freemium title. Whether
you play for your own entertainment or to
play with friends via Game Center, it's free
and definitely worth checking out.
