Monopoly Review

BY Soheil Sadeghi | POSTED: 08 January 2009

Get that old box out of the closet, we dont need this.



Video games are our time's  counterpart of board and card games which people played and are still playing up to the present time. The mere fact of their immortality lies in the pure nature and the replay value plus the sheer enjoyment and feeling of competition between family members and friends alike. Age does not have a meaning for them, they are easily accessible for majority of people and the learning curve is rather easy while mastering them requires practice and talent, factors which make the competitions serious still joyful. With the popularity of gaming consoles and pc platforms, it is of no surprise that many of those classic games would make their way onto our TV screens or computer monitors and after dozens of reproductions we have for the first time a Monopoly game for our next-gen consoles.



Monopoly and its rules need no explaining. This game features the classic rules and some new additions. The classic monopoly game is presented via an over the board's view and when the dices are getting rolled, the view comes to the board side presenting a beautiful movement animations on the properties of the game. Mr. Monopoly is always present and commenting on the game at hand. His lines will become repetitive not so long into the game but you wouldn't mind it much. Dice rolling is done by pressing a button and the pieces move automatically according to the value of the dices. All the other actions like paying the taxes are done automatically too and you are just presented with an option when your decision is required to strategize the game. So when your piece lands on a free property you will be given the option to buy or to auction or just pass or when you need to manage your properties, it's your decision to buy home or hotels or mortgage or trade the property to fulfill your immediate needs of money. This way it is easily accessible for new comers to the console adaptation of their favorite game.

There are different boards to play on. The usual classic is present alongside the new praised World Edition board; with those two; numerous other boards like Jungle board or Icy board or futuristic board are all adding more spice to the old game. Be advised that special boards like Lord of the rings, McDonald's, Spongebob's or Disney boards are not present among the collection and it's obvious due to the required licenses. The game's innovation doesn't end in some different boards to play on. There is a totally different mode of play called The Richest Edition available for your gaming needs. In Richest edition the rules are slightly different from the way you've played monopoly. For example in one mode, you will play with absolutely no money. This way trading is your only option in the form of giving and getting properties which matches your needs, though this kind of play feels odd on a monopoly game, when you give it a try you will like it more and more. You can also set your own rules for the game which by its own merits is a nice addition.

Now we come to the number of players and this is the weakest link of the whole game. The game can be played with 4 other players on the same console, and no online multiplayer mode is  available anywhere. Yes you heard me right, waiting so long for a true live experience of monopoly is not present here and yet again you should stick to your family members whom may not be as happy as you are to play a game of endless monopoly. I cannot find the reason behind not having an online mode when every other game is equipped with one. Monopoly would've been great coupled with it. So you are still left with the choice of playing with the same people whom you were already playing the actual board game with, or if you are alone or so desperate to find 3 others to play with, you can play with the computer AI which in this game plays fair and can be a formidable opponent in the later stages of the game.



Monopoly the video game is the same popular board game we are all used to like and adore. The graphics and animations are sharp and the game modes, boards and not so great mini-games are considered to be nice touches; But the lack of any online play while the box clearly has an Xbox Live logo printed on it is still a mystery to me and although it's priced almost 20$ less than the regular games, it could've been easily distributed via the Xbox Live arcade system like the way UNO game came along and proved to be very effective. If you have enough monopoly enthusiasts to play with, there is no reason to buy this.