Thursday

Monopoly GameBoy Review

Parker Brothers long lasting board game revisited Gameboy last year after a ten year absense when it came out on the original Gameboy around launch.  The new game though is nothing but a colorization update to the game so should a fan of the game or someone new want to try and pick this title up over the original which you can get for almost nothing?  Read below and find out.

Graphics The graphics of this version of the classic board game of Monopoly are pretty decent, while not being anything spectacular either.  The board has been for the most part extremely well recreated except for a few minor drawbacks.  The most obvious of these are left out lettering and elements due to size limits on the small screen.  A good example is below in that you see no detail on the two type of cards with the game, and spaces with long names have abbreviated versions such as Oriental Ave which became Orntal Ave.  This aside the look of the board is very good.  There are many animations given to you on screen from the rolling of the dice, moving pieces, money transfers, and decently animated cards.  The Go To Jail card seen below is actually animated with the player squirming and the cop shaking him while whiggling his baton.
 
Rating: 3.5 Sound The sound for the game such as star wars galaxy heroes hack it is a very old black and white Gameboy  title are not all that entertaining, and in some cases can be downright annoying.  Some of the effects are pretty good such as the payoff at Go with a twinking down effect.  But other effects like the cash register sucking away rent sounds like an annoying crash like sound which can get on your nerves after awhile.  Over the grand scheme of it all the good and bad even it out which gives the game an average sound rating.
 
Rating: 3.0 Theme & FunThe theme of the game is to dominate the business world of Monopoly and try to build just that, a Monopoly, or more.  This game can be played by 1 to 4 players which can be human or the computer.  In the case of a single player game you have to play against the computer which as good AI.  In the games with up to four people you just swap the Gameboy back and forward between players which is good, and saves you money on multiple carts and link cables.
 
The game is pretty much as fun as the original Monopoly, though you do have to stick to the traditional rules of the game.  With that said you know now that you can not deviate and remove such annoyances as auctions which I like to do. A nice plus though is the fact you don't have to deal with the paper money or losing more of those stupid plastic houses to your pets teeth and bowls.
 
Rating: 3.5 Play Control The play control for Monopoly is pretty easy to handle with not quirks or
quibbles with the menus.  The only complexity of it all comes through trying to peddle through the menus if you want to offer trades for property with financial or property bribes.  The play control is a little tricky if you are playing with friends because during auctions for property you have to fight to
hit the buttons to one up him.  A friend could also be a jerk and run off with the Gameboy until the auction is over and get Boardwalk for like $10(on the record I have not done that).  Aside from the tricky management when tradeoff need to be made to deal or auction the control is pretty solid.
 

Rating: 3.5 ChallengeThe challenge of the game is pretty difficult because of a few factors that
come into play.  When playing the computer you can play up to 3 against you. There are 8 you can choose from which are 4 wimps and 4 killer pros.  Mode added difficulty comes from the fact you can limit the time to play.  The most challenge obviously is the luck of the draw factor on what the dice will roll and make you land on.
Rating: 4.0 Replay Value and Closing Notes:This game if you are a fan of the old board game has incredible replay value because of its accurate by the book port of the rules of Monopoly.  The look
and feel are pretty good, though are no replacement for the original.  Due to all the ways to alter the challenge, and with the multiplayer leaves the player with many options to do.

I used to play Monopoly when I was little quite often with friends and family and this game is nostalgic to me.  Trying it out I was skeptical that it would be as much fun on the small screen, but I was wrong as it's fun.  The only problem really is that it is a colorization of a decade old Gameboy title, so if you have the original still I'd pass on it if color doesn't matter to you.

Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

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