Tiny Death Star Preview

A Disney collaboration with NimbleBit to create a Star Wars and Tiny Tower hybrid is a total no brainer, but unfortunately Tiny Death Star needs some help in its beta stage. Darth Vader is always a sight for sore eyes, but this time the Dark Force needs a bit of polishing.

Tiny Death Star follows the same script as most farm driven building games. You start off with a few gold pieces to help create your first floor. Whether you want to create a residence, retail space, or a restaurant is entirely based on your strategic tastes. I prefer having tenants rent out my property at the lower floors and have an eatery positioned right above their units. This way my previously unemployed tenants can now work at my Tatooine inspired hangout, the aptly named Mos Espa Cafe. A storm trooper is currently taking the elevator and is slated to order the Womp Rat Stew.

To build more levels, you'll need a ton of currency, which is earned by keeping your businesses stocked with customers and busy workers. The good news is that strangers are in constant supply, and you'll be tapping the up arrow buttons often to take them up to their selected floors. Even if they wind up on a floor that's filled with tenants, you'll still receive gold for whichever level they visit (for example, you'll get four gold pieces if someone hits the fourth floor).

To keep you focused on your mission, the Emperor will occasionally offer up financial rewards for completing certain chores. Creating a recreation level netted me 300 coins, which I promptly used to help build another floor. Although there are in-app purchases available, Tiny Death Star is an app which can simply be played for free. It may take several real time minutes to complete a dish or fulfill a delivery in Tiny Death Star, but there are enough activities to keep you preoccupied. On a purely game play level, the minutes do fly by, which is a good thing.

Tiny Death Star's initial promise dramatically faltered when I returned to playing the app. After diligently creating nine floors from my hard work, I put down my iPad for an hour just for a little break. It's great to return to a Tower title and realize that in your absence, business kept moving and, more importantly, money was still being made.

Upon my return, I opened the app only to discover four of my levels had since been erased! Believing the error was on my part, I worked my way back up to nine floors and then took another respite. When I returned with the same horrific result, I gave up.

I should have known something was amiss from the get go just exploring the green menu icon at the bottom of the screen. Want to know what happens when you try to touch on the Menu button while you're playing the game? Absolutely bleeping nothing!! But it's a beta, and those things can be expected.

In its early stages, NimbleBit needs to employ a gaming Yoda to breathe a little competence to Tiny Death Star. Let's hope Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader find much better landlords in a future fix.

Right now it's only available in the Australian App Store, and a worldwide launch will be happening soon. By then we're sure patches will be employed and the kinks and bugs will be worked out. Look for our full review when Tiny Death Star blows up your iPhone in the near future.