Tiny Tower Review: Freemium Fun that Made it Apple’s Top iPhone Game of 2011

App Name:	Tiny Tower
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
Publisher(s):	NimbleBit LLC
Version Reviewed:	1.5.1
Genre(s):	freemium, task management, social
Release Date:	November 23, 2011
Price:	Free
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So, instead of a high-powered game like Real Racing 2, or a popular puzzler like Angry Birds Rio, Apple has chosen Tiny Tower as their 2011 iPhone Game of the Year.  This little, unassuming time and resource management game may seem like an unlikely winner. Its strengths lie in its deft application of the freemium model to produce a playable, continuous pocket experience.

Tiny Tower puts you in charge of a city high-rise, one that will get much higher under your care. As you play the game, you build a variety of retail and service oriented businesses, as well as private aprtments where “Bitizens” can live (and you need those Bitizens to run your stores). Your job is to assign the right Bitizens to the right jobs, to keep the stores stocked, and to keep building more and more spaces. You also get to tend to various visitors and tasks. As your stores grow, they make more money; which is good, since the building keeps getting more and more expensive to maintain and expand.

 Tiny Towers works as well as it does in part by balancing the demands of tending your tower with the realities of casual gaming. This isn’t like Farmville — evil, evil Farmville! — that requires constant attention to avoid spoilage and wasted resources. The game is built more on the concept of setting things in motion, then coming back when it’s convenient; if things “wind down” while you’re away, you’ll stop earning money, but you won’t be penalized for it. Thus, regular tending is rewarded, while inattention is not penalized; instead, if you leave the game alone for long enough, all of the stores will run out of stock and close, and you’ll just have to spend time restocking them all the next time you play.

Of course, as the game goes longer and the demand for resources increases, you can always buy your way to success.   The goal of the game is to generate both money and “bux,” the buyable currency of the game. Bux get you … well, everything. It costs bux to speed things up; it costs bux to move things; it costs bux to buy extra money. Luckily, you can buy bux in packages ranging from $0.99 to $29.99. Don’t worry, though; Tiny Tower is not one of those freemium games where you practically NEED to buy to play. The more you play actively, the more you’ll earn bux just through the course of play. It’s slower, but it works. For more hints and tips on getting more free bux in game, visit our Tiny Tower Walkthrough page.

One place where Tiny Tower falls flat, for me, is the graphics. The game is presented in a retro 8-bit style, and while I don’t mind retro at all, here it just comes off as flat and uninspired. Especially annoying are the Bitizens, who all look like Domos in costumes, and who have these flappy fish mouthes that make them look like brainless mouthbreathers. I just don’t get the look. The background music is likewise dismissible (and I quickly did).

Did Tiny Tower deserve to be App of the Year? That’s a discussion for a different column. But in terms of providing balanced freemium play that keeps you coming back, Tiny Tower is pretty good. If these sorts of games are a draw for you, and if you’re looking for a new way to waste five minutes on the bus, or in line at the theatre, or just before dinner, than try it out.

Our Score: 4 out of 5.

About the Author

Writer@Large Brian P. Hudson is an educator and freelance writer currently living in Dearborn, MI.

 

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