Customer Reviews

Monopoly

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I am a big fan of Monopoly and was very excited to get my hands on this game (I pre-ordered it from Amazon). The short version of my review is to say that the Wii version is inferior in almost all respects to the X-Box version (and I don't mean the 360, the X-Box from 7 years ago). Although it is pretty to look at, the playability is horrible. The game has almost no configurable options (e.g., skip animations) and requires you to arrow over everything you want to do, even when there are no options other than to continue. Some of the buttons even require you to arrow over them, arrow off of them, then try again (bug). The game set-up options are also very poor, not even allowing you to set the game to play like the board version (e.g., you can't set the pay space between Park Place and Boardwalk to the correct fee). So, good eye candy but I think I'll stick with my old X-Box version. <sad>

update - Well, I gave the game another chance and it got worse. I almost had the AI beat when it put me in a "trade" loop where the computer kept offering me the same three trades over and over endlessly. I had to turn the game off to escape eventually. Very frustrating.

Okay so let me give you background. I bought the Wii for my wife so she can use the Wiifit. I am a 43 year old weekend Dad with a 14 year old daughter. I decided it might be cool to bring the family together to play video games since we all love them but there is not much interaction on a PC (especially when we are playing different games). I saw an advertisement for this game and thought, hey I loved it as a kid maybe the new wii version will be cool for the family. My wife and I tried the game out last night. We played one whole game all the way through. As a two player selection you end up with two computer players and I left the "easy" default on. The game basically is intact and plays like the real rules of the board game. There are some special features like different ways to play Monopoly and I will speak to those in a moment. So we started off playing and the first thing I notice after 2 rolls of the dice that there isn't a way to stop the music. I tried the usual suspects and nothing. The only option this game has is to turn on captions. The music is bad, real bad, annoying and repetitive. You can't even turn it down because you kind of have to hear the dialog of the game. Why? Well that leads me to my second complaint and it's a doozy! Even with my 42" HDDLP TV the playing surface is really small. They have a cheesy zoom feature but the game mechanics for it are not aligned correctly it just zooms to the corners. This game could have rocked. It could have been and should have been a killer recreation with neat graphics of a timeless board game. The ONLY redeeming quality which did catch a glimmer of interest was in the "Richest Edition" section of the game. We played some sort of "Future version" of Monopoly where you don't roll at all. I didn't really figure out the rules but it was entertaining with it's graphics and sounds for the tokens. All in all I would unfortunately have to say that this game is a waste of money. I mean I am stuck with it so I will try to play it with my kid next week but I doubt it will hold her interest for very long.

The extra boards are nice, but you will never enjoy them, because in spite of those images you see in reviews, you will spend most of your time looking down at a 2-D board that is so poorly drawn you cannot read the names of the streets and have to go on color alone as a cue. It is even hard to tell which properties have houses on them from this view. It's painfully difficult to trade, build houses, etc. But worse of all, the man in the suit explains what you are doing as if you are in tutorial mode after and/or before every move you make. It is repetitive and annoying, and I would give it 3 stars if there were a mini-game that involved throwing tokens in his mouth until it was so full he finally shut up.

Assuming that you're a fan of the classic Monopooly board game, and that you are open-minded about making the digital transition, this game is a good product.

Setup is, as you would expect, instantaneous. There is a reasonably extensive "house rules" setup that allows you to adjust various game features -- the tax rates, the "go" salary, free parking, number of hotels, etc. During game play, money handling is generally automatic and done in a nice visual manner. The animation is well paced and gorgeous. Your pieces jump from space to space around the board, which gives a nice boardgame feel. You get to shake the wiimote when you roll dice, with audio feedback from the remote. It's a very clever touch that adds a lot of boardgame feel.

As mentioned by another reviewer, however, you are constantly being prompted with confirmation messages with a button. It gets a little tedious, especially since you have to point at them with your wiimote. There are also some noticeable pauses when you do certain things -- like manage your accounts. Managing your accounts (your properties) uses a miniature map which kinda sucks. It also uses too many confirmation buttons. It ends up being a little clumsy, a bit counter-intuitive, and a bit annoying, even though it is still very playable.

The classic game board is the default, but you also have the option of playing the "world edition" board when you first play Wii Monopoly. As you play games, you will unlock additional game boards, including a future board, a chocolate board, a cheese board, a jungle board, and others (that I've yet to unlock).

Several people have complained about the computer players; it's easy to turn them off and I recommend that you do so. My wife and I often enjoy playing without any. When you play against computer players, they seem to have incredible luck. So much so that I wonder whether they have a programmed advantage.

There are two main gameplay options. The first is standard play. I would have liked to see the "Speed Monopoly" option with the extra die from the "Here and Now" version, but it wasn't included in this product. The second gameplay type involved each player having multiple tokens (i.e. 4 dogs that are going around the board simultaneously), and I didn't really understand it. I blew it off pretty quickly.

Over all, we have enjoyed this Wii game pretty thoroughly and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a board game enthusiast.

If you and your friends and family like playing Monopoly together, then Monopoly Wii is for you. The visual presentation is surprisingly good for a budget title, and it takes all the "work" out of playing Monopoly so everyone can enjoy the game play.

If you're considering this game because everyone hates Monopoly and refuses to play with you, then the CPU will do its best to kill any enthusiasm you have for Monopoly. The CPU rolls double after double, often three times in a row and straight to jail. The CPU players also collude to create monopolies -- all three CPU players will make trades so one of them can gain a monopoly. The game essentially becomes a game of you vs. someone who gets three turns at a time.

This game makes a great substitute for the real thing if you enjoy Monopoly, and the mini-games and additional boards round out the package -- but only if there are other people willing to play with you. The CPU makes a poor and frustrating substitute.

I was so excited to try this game after loving it so much as a kid. My excitement quickly turned to frustration as we went along. I played with 2 other people and the last was the computers. Seems the computer spent most of it's time collecting money, rolling doubles turn after turn and landing in jail, avoiding landing on properties as much as possible. It felt like the computer player was cheating.
The worst thing about this game is the inability to see the board well. I had to constantly move up to the tv to try and read which things I had landed on. When you want to trade property, it is so tricky it makes you want to pull your hair out.
Was a nice try but I think they really missed the mark on this one. I am so glad I just rented it.

Have played and enjoyed the old xbox version for quite some time and the Wii version looked interesting. What a waste of time!
First: Takes longer to play the before
Second: Doesn't have all the rule options as before. Old version could have USA or UK rules or a custom setup.
Third: Damn hard to read. Board is to small on screen and view options aren't options, just A option.
Fourth: Minigames have to get unlocked. At the slow rate play goes, might just take awhile that most of us don't have the time or patience for.
Fifth: Slow play! No way to speed up play, turn off commentary, quick setup of favorite rules options.
Sixth: Too much pointing with the wiimote, can't just hit a button to speed through the choices.
7th: Inflation?!!! Property prices have changed, penalty prices are up, and interest has been added to mortgages. I know in these troubled financial times things are tough all over, but do they have to be in Monopoly as well?
I know I said it a few times, but play is really cludgy and slow. Why have the wii version take more time than the board version or a previous xbox version? Seems like a perfectly good porting (xbox) was ignored and someone who had hardly any knowledge of the board game wrote this version.

I was given this game as a Christmas gift from my kid sister and I definitely love it! The game is very basic, yet it remains entertaining and full of fun for the family and for the mates in my university dorm.

The game features the classic Monopoly board and tokens as well as several other unlockable boards. Up to four players can play, with computer players available with different difficulties if wanted. Game play is captivating and includes a pause menu and save option. Game play can also be changed according to preference to change tax charges or free parking amounts.

There is also another edition included, "Richest Edition" which is a faster, interesting spin on the classic game. In Richest Edition, up to four players roll die and play different Monopoly-themed mini-games. They then pick their choice of die based on game outcome. Rent is paid in properties and if no properties are owned, bankruptcy is not an option. Games can last from as little as twenty minutes to as much as an hour and provide hours of fun!

Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys party games or board games! Thanks, Hasbro!

My 8 year old quit halfway through the property buying stage. This game is boring and repetitive. The Wii version has too many items to click before the next person can take a turn. Since the money handling, game piece moving, and card reading are all automatic, there is nothing to do but click through the menus and roll the dice. My 13 year old made it to the house/hotel stage, but also got bored and decided to quit. My kids don't want to play this game ever again.

I was surprised at the number of people bashing this game.

First off handling the property and money for monopoly is one of the oldest and most time consuming parts of the game. This is completely eliminated and is all done automatically. It also prevents cheaters from grabbing properties and money out of the till.

I also love the fact that you can deal with not only other players, but the computer players. It makes the game really interesting. My boy and I literally played this for days and have unlocked not only the mini-games, but all of the boards.

I will agree that the board is hard to read, but I am near-sighted and thought that was just me, LOL!

All in all, if you dont want to monkey around with the money and properties then this game rocks and is good for a lot of fun. The best is when you have 3 or more players, but you can use the computers to you advantage. The computer will change all of their cash and all of there property for certain properties like Boardwalk. This really gives you an advantage. It is also fair because all players know it.

If you dont like the talking or music just click the button and it shuts off. Some reviewer stated it just goes on and on incessantly, not true. Good luck and have fun.