Tiny Monsters Windows Phone

The fantasy arcade game has over 80 monster filled levels to conquer, abandoned mines to reclaim and an assortment of cannon and gear upgrades to purchase. The 16-bit graphics give the game a bit of a retro feel and game play will test your skills at cannon marksmanship. Tiny Empire isn't an overly complicated game and a fun way to pass the time.

Tiny Empire forgoes a traditional main menu and opens up to a map view of your gaming levels. Across the top of the map view, you will find a gear button to access the game's settings and your star, gem and diamond counts (all three earned during game play). In the bottom right corner is a shopping cart button to visit the game's store.

Settings for Tiny Empire are minimal with muting the sound being the only option. The gaming store has in-app purchase opportunities to build up your diamond count and additional gaming levels, as well as options to spend diamonds on helmet upgrades for your troops or cannon upgrades. Helmet upgrades help protect your troops better from friendly fire and cannon upgrades give you adds more punch to your attacks.

Game play is level based and starts off a little on the easy side to get you acclimated to the gaming controls. The King will appear throughout the game to offer a little guidance as new gaming features or enemies are introduced.

The game screen with Tiny Empire will have your ammunition count displayed in the upper left corner of the screen and your diamond count in the upper right. Your cannon will be positioned somewhere along the bottom of the screen with a collection of enemy and friendly troops scattered about the screen. As you might guess, the goal is to wipe out the enemy without causing harm to your troops.

Each level has an allotment of cannon balls, which will come in a variety of styles such as a basic round ball that simply smashes your enemy, flaming balls that burns them to a crisp and an exploding ball that blasts them into tiny little pieces.

To fire your cannon, tap and hold the screen to pull up a red trajectory line. Move your finger around the screen to set your aim just right and release your hold to fire the cannon. You also will need to plan your shots carefully, to make the most of your ammunition.

Again, the goal is to wipe out your enemy without harming your troops. Should you wipe out all of your troops or run out of cannon balls, you fail the level. At the completion of every fifth level or so, you'll gain bonuses such as finding diamond mines and often will see a change in the type of enemies you will face (or new enemies are added to the mix). This helps give the game a little variety and from growing stale too quick.

Overall Impressions

Tiny Empire is a fun Windows Phone game that is slightly addictive. It does start out slow but around the tenth level, game play becomes increasingly challenging - especially when you face moving targets.