Anyone reading this review should be in no two
minds about the subject matter. One of the most famous “board” games ever
marketed; along with Cluedo, Chess, Snakes
And Ladders, and Scrabble, Monopoly has been released in countless guises in a
variety of formats. With 2004 apparently being the 70th Anniversary of the
classic strategy game, ZOO Digital Publishing have taken it upon themselves to create a
Game Boy Advance rendition for the first time. Programmed by Full Fat, this is the first
3D version of Monopoly available.
The rules, quite obviously,
are an important part of the game’s equation and the default setting appears quite
bizarre. To those enthusiasts of the game it
seems as though the “school boy” rules are in play – money for landing on
Free Parking etc., but to the most it’ll seem like a half-baked attempt at Monopoly 2 (please… never…). It’s a
very good job then that the rules are completely customisable. From Starting Funds to
Mortgage Repayments to Turn-Limits, you have the option to select from (usually) four or
five different settings, making it very easy to set-up the original rules.
Playing against computer
opponents gives you the option to play when alone, but the AI is far from perfect. A
computer player may reject an offer for a trade of a Property for £1000 one turn, only to
accept £800 the next. Playing against multiple computer opponents can become tiring as
they seem to ponder over even the simplest of decisions.
The graphics are comfortable
for the Game Boy Advance, displaying some nice crisp polygons and, as you would expect
with the subject matter, rather bland textures. However the slow-down when pieces turn a
corner is inexcusable. Unfortunately, it seems that the developers, possibly
unintentionally, have tried to move this release of Monopoly
into the strategy videogame as opposed to strategy board-game conversion genre, and what
results is a rather messy in-game Menu system. Trading with opponents and buying houses is
an unnecessarily long-winded process especially when considering the frequency of such
transactions.
The title’s sound is
pleasant enough and easily ignorable – 2there are no off-putting high-pitched tones
when you earn money or any of the annoying little extras developers seem to think keep our
puny little minds entertained.
As a package which for some
reason DOES NOT even include multi-cart cable link-up, let alone wireless multiplayer, the
game becomes instantly more limited when you realise you have to start passing your Game
Boy Advance between each of the players. It’s not the worst version of Monopoly I’ve ever played; the first Game Boy
title had such poor clarity it rendered it practically unplayable, but unless you’re
a Monopoly addict who just can’t wait for
his/her friends to visit, you’re probably better off spending your money on the
original board game. The biggest of questions still remains… why bother?
Kev
J.
Reviews
Score Table Interpretation.
17/12/04
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Each of these articles has been written either
independently of Electronic Theatre or by an external viewer. The opinions
discussed in these articles in no way reflects the opinions of Electronic Theatre.
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