 |
| | Gameplay
Sound
 | | Graphics
Value
 |
| |
| | Publisher: GameHouse  Genre: Board & Card | | | Min OS X: 10.3 CPU: G4 RAM: 256 MB Hard Disk: 28 MB Graphics: 1024x768 @ 32-bit |
| |
|
Monopoly There & Then IMG published a review of Monopoly Here & Now a couple of months ago, and the only thing you need to know about this new, standard version of the game is that, in terms of its implementation, it's exactly the same as the Here & Now edition. The only differences are cosmetic: the properties on the board have different names, the currency amounts are different, and the wording varies on some of the cards and title deeds. Other than that, there's no discernible difference between the two.It would have been just as easy to provide the two games as a single edition, with a user preference to determine which version to play. Indeed, that would have been by far the better thing to do in terms of convenience, variety and value for the user. The only advantage to be gained from selling two editions that are identical apart from cosmetic differences is that the producers can charge the same for each one separately, and thus potentially make far more money. See what I mean about the cynical aspect? So anyway, we saw the Here & Now edition come out a few months ago, and now there's also the standard edition. If you've got one, you're very unlikely to want to buy the other (unless you're really a Monopoly addict and want to play it in as many guises as possible), so the choice boils down to whether you want your game to be traditional or modern; there is absolutely no difference between them at all in terms of rules or gameplay. Gameplay: Clueless Cashier or Merchant Banker? Monopoly is a surprisingly difficult game to implement well in terms of the computer AI. It may appear simple, but to get the computer to play cannily is quite a tall order, particularly with regard to trading, in which it's all too easy for the computer either to be so hostile as to make sensible trading all but impossible, or to be so clueless as to give away hugely advantageous properties for peanuts. This version of Monopoly seems to make a reasonable job of playing well; it's not so aggressive or defensive as to make trading virtually impossible, but neither is it so stupid as to be a pushover. Also, there are three skill levels, so you can determine to some degree how tough an opponent it will be. In fact, each computer player can have its skill level set independently, which is a nice touch, and you can have a total of four players (up to three of which can be the computer).From the point of view of the game's interface, things are also fairly good if not quite outstanding. The layout of the game window is clear and uncluttered, and all the information you're likely to want to be able to see is present and easily legible. There's also a scrolling game log to tell you what just happened if you weren't watching. Monopoly needs to put quite a few alert windows up on a regular basis, but they're pretty unobtrusive. Dialogues whizz on and off the screen very neatly, and don't waste too much time; and although the counters animate themselves around the board when they move, you can click the mouse to skip the animation if you don't want to wait for it to play through, so there aren't too many hold-ups as the game progresses. My biggest gripe about gameplay relates to the use of custom rules. Monopoly is an unusually flexible board game in terms of the rules that can be observed, and although there is a standard set of rules, there are also many minor variations that people may prefer. I, for example, like to use the rules that let you collect double money ($400) if you land on GO rather than merely passing it; and I also like to play with the option to collect the accrued tax when landing on Free Parking. Those are common enough rule variations, and the game supports both of them. Fine. What annoys me is that such custom rules have to be set up for every single game I play. Why? I always set up those rules (or nearly always), and I've got a saved player profile in the game, so why doesn't my saved profile remember my preferred game settings? All it appears to remember is my name, and as such it might as well not be there. This clearly isn't a bug because the behaviour is exactly the same in the Here & Now edition, but it's utterly stupid. The rule variations should be something you can set up once per profile and then not have to worry about, not something you have to tweak for every single game. It doesn't even remember your choices within a single session, if you play more than one game in a row before quitting the application. You have to fiddle with the rules for every new game you start, unless you simply accept the normal default rules.
|
|
