Monopoly

Review from Cav - Tuesday, 09 December 2008 @ 11:49pm

I don’t know anyone who has never played Monopoly. On last count I think I have about eight different versions in my house, including one limited edition Star Wars board, a Toy Story kids version, the Aussie edition, Star Wars Monopoly on PC, a PS1 version and a set that probably dates back to the late 50’s that my mum owned. Hey, nostalgia for the win. The latest addition to my collection is Monopoly on the Wii from EA. So how does a company make Monopoly interesting and different enough to actually warrant its sale as a video game? Now I would have thought that would have been an extremely tough gig, but according to Wikipedia there have been over a dozen different versions of Monopoly for computers and consoles dating back as far as 1985. Fair effort, I say. But do all of them have that little something extra to ensure sales? Well this version actually does offer something new.

Here he is .... and he NEVER shuts up!

The name of the alternative game that is package with ‘Classic Monopoly’ is called Richest, which incorporates mini games into it’s game play… and what is a Wii game without Mimi games, right? Why have a WiiMote and not waggle it? There are three game lengths to choose from, so you know when this one is going to end, unlike it’s Classic counterpart. No money is distributed at the start of this game as wealth is earned through property ownership. Property ownership is decided by the roll and your skill at mini games. To start, the game the number of dice used for the duration of the game is decided by the number of players competing. The dice are rolled and players compete to use one of those dice in mini games. The mini games are rather generic and take no real effort to play. These mini games are also available to play on their own from the main menu. My kids love that. They do the same thing with Mario Party. I personally think it’s pointless, but hey, that just the opinion of one cranky, old, balding gamer. Once you have finished the game and claimed your dice, you are awarded the face value of the dice in tokens (your selected playing piece). These token are place on spots on the board to the value of your dice. Once all the tokens have been placed, the action kicks off in a clockwise direction from Go. If your token is placed on a property, it’s yours, although if it is owned you must pay one property in rent. Should you land on Go, you may claim any unowned property on the board. Just Visiting is a great space to land on as it stops you paying any further rent for that round! Free Parking lets you move one of your tokens to any available space on the board. Go to Jail sees you having to pay three properties back to the Bank. It’s the chance and Community Chest cards that make or break you in this game as they have a variety of effects; earthquakes destroy your buildings, special cards can let you build for free, some let you steal entire Monopolies from the richest player. I found these cards to get a little confusing, but I guess you’ve just gotta roll with the punches. .

Monopoly - teaching kids to bust out of Jail

So with the additional game variant out the way, what is left to say about Classic? Not much really. Monopoly is Monopoly no matter what type of board you play it on. It is good to be able to make changes to the rules like picking up the tax money when landing on Free Parking or getting double salary for landing directly on go The only rule that I usually play that can’t be changed is no buying on the first lap. The Monopoly Guy (I seem to recall his name is Mr Moneybags or something to that effect) is there in all of his annoying, delayed goodness … meaning he has to finish say whatever repetitive spiel he has started. So roll two doubles then land on a Community Chest which shows a Property Repair card, and you might have time to nick to the kitchen and fix yourself a sandwich before he finished! The only thing going for it that would stop you busting out the real board is if you are one of those 100% freaks who wants to unlock the array of playing boards that are available. The World Board makes an appearance among some really weird ones: Cardboard Board, Jungle Board and my favourite would have to be the Cheese Board. Ain’t it Gouda to be a winner? Yeah… Ouch.

If Green Player moves that X-Ray cursor down a little, we'll all find out what all the money is compensating for

Well I still really can’t say if this game is a keeper or not for you out there in gaming land, but for parents who hate having to replace playing tokens with buttons because you crushed the cannon into the carpet in your bare feet and now your three year old knows some ‘foreign words’ and loves to drop them at her day care centre, or having to head down to your local toy store to buy more money, you'll love this. To sum it all up: if all of this is you in a nutshell, this may be just what you have been looking for. My kids have been playing it every chance they get.

Random Crap Fact: Did you know there is more Monopoly Money than real money printed in the world each year?

Pros

Without Richest and boards to unlock, this one would be lost

Cons

Hey! Monopoly Guy! SHUT UP!