Star Wars: Tiny Death Star Review

The first thing you should know about me is that I have a Windows phone. I know we are a rare breed but honestly it's not that bad. Nokia made my phone and it has so far withstood a half dozen drops from a height of at least five foot, several toddler attacks and a large amount of drool (not mine, I hasten to add). The only truly bad thing is the app store and its dire selection of games, so when I saw Star Wars: Tiny Death Star sitting there under free games, I was so excited I almost dropped my phone… again.

The first thing I noticed when opening it was that, as suspected, it’s a Tiny Tower spin-off. However I liked Tiny Tower so this did not dampen my spirits, especially as I began to play and realised that it is much more than that.

Just like its predecessor the goal of Tiny Death Star is to build levels of differing categories and grow your Death Star. The Residential levels provide Bitizens which you can put to work in your other levels. Each level holds up to three employees and each employee provides one type of product. These products stock and sell over time to provide coins, which are used to buy more levels. You can also use the Death Star’s lift to send visitors to their destinations to earn even more money.

So far, so Tiny Tower. However, Tiny Death Star also adds another level, Imperial. These are placed below your main arrivals hall and, unlike regular levels, they are not staffed by Bitizens. Instead Supply Officers will randomly appear in your lift and sending these officers to the Imperial levels produces items which Darth Vader requires. Yes that's right, you are also doing Darth Vader's bidding. The tiny cartoon Sith Lord sits just below the arrivals lounge and clicking on him will show a task. These tasks all involve building Imperial levels and assembling the items they give. Emperor Palpatine is also hanging out in your Death Star, waiting to give you tasks, usually to build a specific type of level to earn even more coins.

As your tower grows you will also gain a range of VIPs in your lift to help you. As with Tiny Tower you can gain Celebrities, Workers and Big Spenders. You can also find VIPs who will fully fill a residential floor and some who will let you move a level for free. Careful use of these can enable you to progress at a decent pace without the need to buy the real money currency, Bux.

Earning these seemed slow at first but soon I had amassed quite a stash. Random tasks will appear at the bottom of the screen and finding friends and locating spies not only shows you some fun little animated scenes but also provides you with Bux as a reward. Using VIPs carefully can also mean you need to spend less on filling and moving floors and can save up for better lifts. Lifts can only be bought with Bux but an upgrade means more coin tips, more VIPs and more chance of getting extra cash.

For Star Wars fans this game has added value. Inspiration for levels is taken from the Star Wars universe and you can build such things as an Imperial Museum, a Cantina and Bounty Hunters. The Bitizens who appear are also unique, all being of races in the Star Wars universe. Even the Bitizens you get to find are themed as you scan your level for a Princess Leia clone or a guy who looks a lot like Boba Fett.

The graphics are very Tiny Tower-like and very fun. Sending certain characters to certain levels or finding and locating spies can trigger small cut scenes. These cut scenes are often quite random and involve such awesomeness as Storm Troopers failing to shoot straight. In short, Star Wars in cartoon form really works. The addition of Star Wars-esque lift type music and cheesy sci-fi sound effects adds to the retro feel.

Overall this is a neat little game and a nice way to kill a bit of time. It lends itself well to being played for a short while then left before being played again since you can stock up your shops, move a few VIPs then leave your products to sell and come back later. Controls are very simple since everything is done with a few taps yet it is very satisfying to see your Death Star grow and discover what weird level you will be building next.