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Monopoly review

Game: Monopoly
Platform: NES
Genre: Casual (Board Game)
Developer: Sculptured Software

Reader review by sgreenwell

Date unavailable

Good old Monopoly. The board game that planted the seed of capitalism in many a young boy and girl. It is one of the most successful board games ever, selling an obscene amount of copies. Almost every home in America has a game of Monopoly somewhere. So how does it convert to a console? If you're looking just for Monopoly, and nothing substantially new, then pretty darn well.

Monopoly, at its roots, is a real estate game. You buy, sell, and trade property. You start out at with fifteen hundred dollars. You roll two dice, resulting in a movement from two to twelve squares. The board is made up of thirty-six squares, and each time you pass the starting point you gain two hundred extra dollars. Depending on where you land, you may buy property, pay out fines, or pick a card from Chance or Community Chest that will give you further instructions.

The main goal of Monopoly is to achieve one. If you buy all of a certain color group of property, you are then allowed to build houses and hotels on that property, and earn even more money. This money comes from your opponents, who you are trying to drive out of business. Monopoly is a game of skill, AND luck.

Monopoly loses very little in the translation from board game to console game. All the properties and game pieces are here, and you can play with one to eight players. Only one controller is needed. Also, the game can be played in single player mode, which can't be said for the board game. The computer controlled characters range from dumb to feisty. Everything is automated, such as money and moving pieces, so human error is eliminated.

However, some features are lost in the conversion. You can no longer make up your own rules in the game. The strict, official Monopoly rules are always in effect. That means no money on free parking and other house rules. There's also a couple wacky rules, such as auctioning, that would have been nice to be able to turn off.

If you've never liked Monopoly, then this game won't convert you. There aren't any new features from the board game. It's not horribly exciting either. The graphics are plain, and simple, relying on basic colors. There sounds are annoying for the most part. Thankfully though, you can turn them off.

All in all, Monopoly is a great port of the board game. Anybody looking for anything else will be severely disappointed though. Monopoly can be found at most Funcoland's, ranging from two to ten dollars. It's worth it if you enjoy the game of Monopoly.

Rating: 8/10

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