pansy4agirl's Full Review: Monopoly for PlayStation 1
I grew up, as did many of you, with memories of the cousins gathered around grandma's dining room table for hours, playing the game of Monopoly, trying to beat my brother or older cousin, usually unsuccessfully - but loving the hours of intense and exciting play. Saddened to hear the keys jingle in my dad's pocket, knowing that meant it was time to head home...
Well, sad to say, this game falls pretty short of the board game...yes, you get to pick a player piece from the wonderful original pewter pieces - like the tophat, dog, battleship, iron, etc....but then the game almost plays itself. All you do is push one button to shake the dice, and the game moves your piece around the board, automatically takes your money if you land on another's property, automatically rules against you if you don't have quite enough money - I mean, at least in the "real" game, if I used a "special" voice, I could get the bank to "borrow" me some sometimes....well, maybe....
One thing I learned in this game - if you want to buy a property, I found out that if you bid at auction, you can always buy it for just $1. I don't remember that being the way it was done on the board-game, but it works every time in the video game. Unfortunately, once you "say" you are going to bid, the game does everything automatically, and you can't change anything about it.
The book only gives an overview of how the game is played, but like I already said, I have known HOW to play Monopoly for many years. I was disappointed that the game didn't allow me to do more - just sitting and watching as my game piece floats around the board, automatically depositing $200. into my "account" for passing Go, automatically drawing and then automatically following the Chance or Community Chest cards, automatically paying rent to another....it left me kind of bored, to say the least.
I suppose the good news is that you only need one button on your hand-control - clicking it will start your turn with a shake of the dice. Then everything else just "happens" by itself. My grandson, who is usually pretty patient, got bored in about 5 minutes, and didn't want to play it again.
At first, until you become familiar with the different screens (not described very clearly in the book), you might have difficulty remembering the properties that you have bought, or that someone else owns. Since the game does everything automatically, you don't get a chance to see the complete layout of the board, or know if your opponent owns the other properties in the set, until you decide to buy it or not.
Since the player doesn't do very much, he may not remember what area of the board he is on, or if he might be surrounded by an opponent's properties, or even if HE owns the ones nearby. Even opening up the screen to have a complete overview of the board, just flashes the colors of the properties that belong to you- it is up to you to remember what those properties actually are, or how much they are worth.
I don't remember in the board game, that it was so difficult to acquire "sets" of properties - here, if you don't buy them immediately when you land on them, you can't get them. Also, the concept of adding houses or hotels isn't very interesting, since all the action is done automatically - and the game automatically bankrupts anyone who doesn't have enough money.
This game could NOT go on for hours, as the board game does, and not just because you can talk to the banker in the board game. The video game ended within 15 minutes every time we played it - and as I said, my grandson won't play it at all anymore - he was bored after the first half of the first game.
I have read other reviews of this game, and as another reviewer stated, there aren't too many games out there that are not violent, and suitable for either girls or boys. (See my other review for an example of one). It is unfortunate that the game creators haven't taken a hint yet, and realize that not everyone wants to fly through future space, and fight aliens with laser guns.
The concept of this game is wonderful, and I admit I was eager to try it - hoping it would be more like the real board game.
This game cost $22., but was a disappointment. After playing a couple other games, I hoped for more action, or even being able to move my own player piece around the board, or somehow having more "choice" in what would happen.
We shelved this game several months ago, and have not touched it since.
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