Monopoly.

[Artlover]

So, Monopoly has been released again on the current generation consoles.

 

Now, I love Monopoly. But this is the worst most annoying version I've ever seen.

 

Nothing is configurable except for two things: Subtitles and Autosave.

 

Perspective is horrible. It is mostly limited to a top-down perspective. Only time the game changes to so a side-view is when a piece is moving.

 

Nothing is skipable. Moving the pieces, you have to watch the piece hop across every single square. Both you and NPC.

 

EVERYTIME anyone lands on a property, it gives a little narration that can sometimes be quite lenghty and different for each condition: if it's owned or not, who owns it, it if's mortgaged, if it has houses, how many houses, if it has a hotel, how much the property is worth, if you own any money, if you are owed money, etc... Again, none of this is skippable, you have to listen to the BS, every single move!

 

Controll. It defaults to accessing your account, not next turn. So be prepaired to do alot of waiting, and listening to a lot of BS while the account system pops up everytime you accidently hit A to continue the game without moving the pointer first.

 

I will give it this. They did improve the trade system. It's actually easy to use and effective now.

 

It's got minigames. Which are basicly just DDR type things. <yuck>

 

Also, while I felt every computer version of Monopoly cheats, this one really seems to lay it on thick. Set up custome rules, and you see. If you set free parking up to give out money, the NPC will always land on it, and you almost never will. If you set landing on Go is worth double, the NPC will always get the "go directly to go" chance card. If you build hotels, expect the NPC to always roll whatever number it takes to dodge every bullet you have waiting. Hell, in one game, I owned 2 and 1/2 sides of the board, with hotels on everything. The NPC made 3 complete laps of the board, never landing on anything I owned. Just Chance, Comunity Service, Free Parking, Go To Jail and Taxes. I could see it one lap. Maybe even 2. But 3 times in a row?

 

AI seems a little simplistic. Especialy in auctions and trades. Seems like an NPC won't pay more then a property is worth, even if it's the last one he needs for a monopoly. Which means you can pretty much always buy property for slightly less then it's worth. Trades seem to be based on the first property you own vs the first property he wants with real no logic. This also works out for you because you can develop some really unfair trades that the NPC will gladly accept. I've yet to loose a game. Not so much skill as brute force exploitation of the AI.

 

It's a battery killer as it vibrates the controller, hard, for 2 seconds every time it's your turn. Again, not a configurable option.

 

Graphics. Eh. Ok, nothing fancy, nothing that requires current generation technology. Not to mention they screwed up the board graphics by leaving the Chance and Community Service boxes off the board and have some of the property colors wrong.

 

Really, this was one of the bigger disappointments I've seen yet. EA made Monopoly NOT fun. But I guess that is the type of thing EA is best at.

[Seob]

used to love playing monopoly, but there better boardgame out now. Like catan.

[jhd]

Thanks for the review!

 

I was looking at this game in the store last week, but the Cdn$30 price seemed a bit too high for my gaming budget. I'm glad I did not spend the money.

[moycon]

but the Cdn$30 price seemed a bit too high for my gaming budget.

 

They were foolish to release this as a retail game IMO. This is the type of game online game shops are perfect for.

Make it $10 and throw it on Live or the Sony store. Short of throwing in about 6-12 board games on one disk, no way am I paying $40 for Monopoly by itself. I don't care how many crap mini games it includes.

[Artlover]

but the Cdn$30 price seemed a bit too high for my gaming budget.

 

They were foolish to release this as a retail game IMO. This is the type of game online game shops are perfect for.

Make it $10 and throw it on Live or the Sony store. Short of throwing in about 6-12 board games on one disk, no way am I paying $40 for Monopoly by itself. I don't care how many crap mini games it includes.

Yeah, $40 USD for this is absolutly outrageous. I mean, even ignoring that it's a horrible version, it still isn't deserving of such a price point. Signifigantly less when you do consider how horrible it is.

 

Addendum: Regarding the wrong colors of some of the properities. Well, it looks like "technicaly", they got them right. It seems that Parker Brothers actually changed the colors on the board game as of Sep 2008. Baltic & Mediterranean Ave are Brown now, not Dark Purple (like it has been for the last 80+ years).

Edited November 15, 2008 by Artlover

[Atarifever]

used to love playing monopoly, but there better boardgame out now. Like catan.

There are no better board games. (Please read that period back there to finish the sentence). Monopoly is the greatest boardgame of all time.

 

Me and my wife and our best couple friends used to play weekly, for a championship cup we had made. They're getting married this summer. Their wedding is Monopoly themed. Honestly. Cross my heart. I am almost 100% certain the groom will have a monocle to go with his top hat. I am part of the ceremony (but it's in a religious role, so I doubt I'll be dressed as the policeman or anything).

 

Me and the wife have Simpsons Monopoly, Normal Monopoly twice or three times, Here and Now Monopoly: Canadian Edition, and Here and Now Edition: Electronic bank. Our couple friends have NFL, normal, and Cat in the Hatopoly, and one I'm forgetting. And that's not taking our extended Monopoly friend list into consideration.

Edited November 17, 2008 by Atarifever

[7800Lover]

I presume you're talking about the recent Wii release.

 

The party game feature with all those mini-games is neat. However, like with the actual boardgame, the video game Monopoly takes a long time to play.

 

For now, I'll stick with the Monopoly card game. It's this neat rummy type game that is much shorter than the board or video version.

[Artlover]

I presume you're talking about the recent Wii release.

No, I'm talking about the 360 release. Which I'd assume is the same as the PS3 and Wii versions.

[7800Lover]

I presume you're talking about the recent Wii release.

No, I'm talking about the 360 release. Which I'd assume is the same as the PS3 and Wii versions.

 

Ah. Well, you're right. From what I've seen in screenshots and video footage, they look the same.

 

I wonder if Hasbro Family Game Night for Wii and PS2 are any better than Monopoly.

[PressureCooker2600]

Monopoly is the greatest boardgame of all time.

 

Ditto.

 

And well put.

[fdurso224]

Monopoly is the greatest boardgame of all time.

 

Ditto.

 

And well put.

 

 

Hi guys,

 

Chess is the worlds greatest boardgame of all time.

 

Anthony...

Edited December 21, 2008 by fdurso224

[Numan]

used to love playing monopoly, but there better boardgame out now. Like catan.

There are no better board games. (Please read that period back there to finish the sentence). Monopoly is the greatest boardgame of all time.

 

Me and my wife and our best couple friends used to play weekly, for a championship cup we had made. They're getting married this summer. Their wedding is Monopoly themed. Honestly. Cross my heart. I am almost 100% certain the groom will have a monocle to go with his top hat. I am part of the ceremony (but it's in a religious role, so I doubt I'll be dressed as the policeman or anything).

 

Me and the wife have Simpsons Monopoly, Normal Monopoly twice or three times, Here and Now Monopoly: Canadian Edition, and Here and Now Edition: Electronic bank. Our couple friends have NFL, normal, and Cat in the Hatopoly, and one I'm forgetting. And that's not taking our extended Monopoly friend list into consideration.

 

Please post photos of the Monopoly wedding when you take them.

[PressureCooker2600]

ditto on that request

[Atarifever]

used to love playing monopoly, but there better boardgame out now. Like catan.

There are no better board games. (Please read that period back there to finish the sentence). Monopoly is the greatest boardgame of all time.

 

Me and my wife and our best couple friends used to play weekly, for a championship cup we had made. They're getting married this summer. Their wedding is Monopoly themed. Honestly. Cross my heart. I am almost 100% certain the groom will have a monocle to go with his top hat. I am part of the ceremony (but it's in a religious role, so I doubt I'll be dressed as the policeman or anything).

 

Me and the wife have Simpsons Monopoly, Normal Monopoly twice or three times, Here and Now Monopoly: Canadian Edition, and Here and Now Edition: Electronic bank. Our couple friends have NFL, normal, and Cat in the Hatopoly, and one I'm forgetting. And that's not taking our extended Monopoly friend list into consideration.

 

Please post photos of the Monopoly wedding when you take them.

Most certainly will do.