Tiny Tower Review

I had a bitch of a time downloading Tiny Towers, it had nothing to do with the Developers, Nimblebit, or the operating systems. I just lost my iPod cord, and password to my Apple account. After changing my account setting and getting an extra cable from a co-worker, I finally could get my hands on the manager simulation game I have heard so much about. Also being completely a pixelated game is always a plus in my book.

Tiny Tower is a extremely pointless and ridiculously addictive management simulation game developed by Nimblebit. Tiny Tower was first released for Apple's iOS June 23, 2001 and later on Android devices November 16th. The premise of the game is to builds a skyscraper one level at a time. Inside your tower, players can choose to build residential and commercial floors and fill them with "Bitizens". Building up additional stories on top of your tower costs coins and you need to properly manage the businesses and the Bitizens working and living in your tower to gain financial success.

Your tower is highly customizalbe, you can choose between five different business floors; Food, Service, Recreation, Retail, and Creative. Of course you also have to have Residential, Bitizens need somewhere to live. The rest of the customization includes the paint scheme, names of the businesses and paint the residential floors and the clothing of the Bitizens. You control what items are sold in the businesses, responsible for hiring the right Bitizen for the job and keeping the shelves stocked. The more staff the business has, better items can be sold. The better the item, the longer you have to wait to restock, but the stock sells at a better price.

Yes I said "wait" back there. This is still, what I like to call, a "facebook" game. Like FarmVille, you have to wait to do pretty much anything. Unlike other games like FarmVille, Tiny Towers' wait times are a lot shorter and the tower is operational 24/7, even if your device is off. In the beginning things go along quickly but as your tower becomes bigger, things start to cost more and the wait time is longer. If you want, you have the option to buy "Tower Bux" with your credit card. I was drunk last night and bought thirty dollars worth, stupid... You can also get "Tower Bux" by random elevator rides, building another floor or doing missions. This takes forever and buying them lets you play a lot more without waiting around.  The missions are a nice touch. Giving you something to strive for, but they are kind of pointless in the beginning of the game. I still have only completed one. Just don't have the right businesses for them right now.

All in all, this is a great game you can carry around and play for ten minutes, waiting for the bus or standing in line at the D.M.V. The fact that productivity never stop, even when your device is turned off, is crucial in making money for more levels on your tower.  The customization is just amazing. I love the fact that I can call my Tea Shop, The Teabagger and have the Bitizen working dressed as a biker. Just as too bad I can't change his name to Mr. Slave. As mush as I hate ":facebook" type games, the wait times are bearable and there is always something to do, customize, move floors and employees around and check out "Bitbook" and stats. Tiny Tower might not be a game you sit down and play for hours. It's not perfect but it's like smoking cigarettes, it fills the little voids in our daily, mundane lives.

And for that,
I give it a Tiny Eight out of Ten.

           

   

WTF Final Fantasy?

Really Square Enix...

What's the deal Square Enix? Why have you chosen to make the Final Fantasy series so complicated to follow? From Final Fantasy II up to Final Fantasy VII is a scrambled mess. Okay the original Final Fantasy came out in Japan in my birth year of 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It didn't drop in North America until 1990. Then Final Fantasy II rocked Japan in 1988 but never touched North American soil. In fact this is where the confusion starts, FF-II and Final Fantasy III (1990) never came out in North America. When Final Fantasy IV debuted in 1991 in Japan, we were already way behind. Since neither FF-II and FF-III were never released in North America, Final Fantasy IV was label as Final Fantasy II for us westerns. Confused yet? Well it doesn't stop there.

Final Fantasy V was released in Japan back in 1992 and two years later, 1994, came Final Fantasy VI. I have no fucking clue what happened to Final Fantasy V, but Final Fantasy VI was released here as Final Fantasy III. Now Even I am getting lost,... What Final Fantasy games have I played as a child? I guess the first one, FF-IV and FF-VI. Did we missed out on FF-II, FF-III and FF-V? I feel cheated! Actually I knew nothing about it until a few years ago when I was playing the remake of Final Fantasy IV for Nintendo DS. Considering it was my first time seeing, hearing or thinking about Final Fantasy IV, I was a surprised to see that it was just FF-II! My friend tried to explain how FF-II for Super Nintendo was just basically FF-IV for Super Famicom in Japan.

Once the Sony Playstation came out the Roman Numerals started to make more sense and we quit missing out on games. Final Fantasy VII (1997), FF-VIII (1999), FF-IX (2000), FF-X (2001), FF-XI (2002), FF-XII (2006), FF-XIII (2009) and even FF-XIV (2010) are all in order and are the same both in Japan and North America. The spin-offs though! My holy fucking science there is lots of Final Fantasy games. Then there is the remakes of a new of the new ones like Final Fantasy X-2 and the soon coming Final Fantasy XIII-2. Let's not to forget the spin-offs... the numerous spin-offs. Final Fantasy Tactics, Crystal Chronicles, Kingdom Hearts and the Chocobo Series, just to name a few.

Okay now my head is truly spinning. It might be all the mixed up Roman Numerals and spin-offs, or the mickey of rye I just drank. None the less, the Final Fantasy series is a truly a epic saga and has changed the face of video games forever. Good Luck remembering the order though...  

Fucking Pawn Shops!!!

I have to quit buying most of my gaming shit from fucking pawn shops. You have to think, someone brought them to the pawn shop for a reason. Sometimes it because they have moved on or upgraded, half the time they sell to pawn shops because it's a piece of shit that barely works. The other day I was shopping around for a external hard-drive but could find one I likes so I figured I could buy a PSP with the extra cash. Of course I went to the pawn shop to see what they had. From what I could remember they had few models of the PSP, earlier ones and newer ones including the PSP GO. Kind of had my heart set on the PSP GO, but they must of sold it.

The whole reason I wanted a Playstation Portable was that I accidentally downloaded a bunch of games for it, thinking they were for the Playstation 3. Since the PSP GO was sold, I bought a PSP-1000. Was pretty stoked got it for pretty cheap. I don't live far from the pawn shop, so it didn't take me long it get home and plug the thing in. Nothing happened... No lights, sounds, or video, just nothing. Within fifteen minutes of buying it I was back at the pawn shop complaining they sold me a bricked PSP. The owner plugged it in with the charger that I bought with it and it powered up right away. For a moment I felt like a fool, I should of tried a few other power outlets before I brought it back. Luckily for me I didn't look like a fool for long, none of the buttons would work.

We tried most of the PSPs that he had in the store and most of them didn't work. He was going on about how people bring them in when they have been having problems with them. Most of them are turned away but sometimes the game works long enough to be bought by the pawn shop. I really didn't care I just wanted a working PSP. Finally he pulled out a newer PSP-3000 from a drawer and tried it out. This one seemed to work perfect. Since I went through all this, he hooked me up with the PSP-3000 with a 2GB Sony Memory Stick Duo for the no extra charge. Also picked up Manhunt 2 for a discounted price.

This made me question buying from pawn shops, but this was a couple of weeks ago. The other night my Nintendo Wii wouldn't turn on at all, I tried unplugging it and tried different outlets but nothing. I bought it from the same pawn shop I got a the PSP from but a few weeks earlier. Everything was working fine with it, never would of thought it would just stop working. Thankfully it started working again this morning and everything seems fine again. Now I am really concerned about buying consoles at pawnshops, you never know what you are getting. I have had better luck with getting consoles from my friends then pawn shops.

Well this is life I guess, I think I would rather buy consoles, CIB, online now. For the games themselves I still will get the majority of them from pawn shops or used video game store. I still haven't bought a game that doesn't work.