Tiny Tower is a fun sim game. You need to build a tower block and maintain a thriving community of inhabitants who will live and work it.

How to play Tiny Tower

You start Tiny Tower with just a lobby and an elevator and then must work your way up (literally) by building apartments, shops and other buildings one at a time, which your inhabitants (or 'Bitizens' as they're called) will move into. You can decorate and customize your floors and open lots of different kinds of businesses, which you must run by stocking, hiring staff and more.

Paying for floors, items and businesses in Tiny Tower is done using two types of virtual currency (coins and notes). You earn these by selling things and accomplishing certain tasks, but eventually you'll need to buy more through an in-app purchase, in the same way as most 'freemium' building games of this kind.

Pixel art perfection

Tiny Tower is beautifully presented. The game has been painstakingly designed with pixel art, right down to the in-game menus. There are some really creative touches here, such as the inclusion of 'Bitbook', a social network populated by Bitizens. There's also a real life social mode, through Tiny Tower's Game Center support, which lets you compare towers with your buddies.

One of the flaws of Tiny Tower is that it feels quite cumbersome to navigate. There are only two views - one up close and one far away - but no way to pinch to zoom in and out between the two.

Tiny Tower is a novel and fun freemium game which gets you hooked through its imaginative scenarios and gorgeous pixel art.