Monopoly

by Playstation

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001QHWM
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 1, 1997
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,195 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

How many times have you sat with your family after Thanksgiving dinner, digesting turkey over your hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place, thinking, "If only there were a PlayStation version of Monopoly, I could play by myself and at the end of the four hours, the AI wouldn't be nearly as drunk as Uncle Jim?" Okay, unless you're a true Monopoly fanatic (if there is such a thing), probably never. Nonetheless, Hasbro Interactive has ported the ancient game of ruthless real-estate wheeling-and-dealing from the board game world to the PlayStation. The result is successful as a novelty, though it poses little threat to bankrupt the board-game industry.

Anyone not already familiar with the original Parker Brothers game will probably not bother with the PlayStation version. Nonetheless, the gist of the game is as follows: roll the dice and circle the board, buying or trading properties, building houses and hotels, and charging rent when your opponents land on them, in an attempt to bankrupt them. The more expensive a property is to buy and to build on, the more rent you can charge (or be charged) for landing on it. Oddly, players are also trying to stay out of jail (for crimes unknown). Once there, they attempt to get out without paying their bail. It works just the same on the PlayStation.

Remember handling all those little, plastic roman numerals in Risk? As with so many classic board games, much of the pleasure in playing Monopoly is derived from the nostalgic familiarity of the game's physical components. Designers Gremlin Interactive imbued the PlayStation version with near-perfect simulations of those elements. From the look of the board itself; to the thimbles, top hats, and statues used as pieces; to the deeds' precise color and typeface, the utmost care has been taken to preserve the game's familiar image.

Unfortunately, the designers have omitted much critical information from the player's immediate view. For instance, you see neither your nor your opponents' properties unless you enter a special Trading Screen. As a result, you never know which numbers you must roll to avoid landing on enemy turf. In any game involving dice, half the fun is in trying to will the dice to land on the numbers you want, and the lack of an immediate visual reference puts a real crimp in any such telekinesis. It also severely reduces the potential for gloating over one's affluence, as the extremes of pride and avarice that make Monopoly worth playing are sadly exiled to the Trading Screen.

Many important dealings go on in the game without adequate mention, let alone the fanfare they really deserve. When houses go up, they just appear onscreen. When AI players are low on cash and forced to sell back houses or mortgage properties, all that appears onscreen is the anticlimactic message "AI Player has raised cash." For such a crushing blow, this is hardly the kind of squirming required for true robber-baron-style fun. You can't even tell which properties are mortgaged as you move across the board - a critical piece of information since mortgaged properties are "safe," that is, if you land on them, you aren't required to pay rent to the owner. That oversight, combined with no visual evidence of who owns which properties in the first place, removes any real sense of peril from the act of taking your turn. In the original version, by the end of the game, the board felt like a mine field of potential financial ruin.

The Gremlin Interactive designers managed to make the PlayStation version look and feel just like the original Monopoly. They even threw in some cute computer animations of thimbles and statues driving around the board. Had they managed to readily supply you with all the pertinent game information onscreen, the PlayStation version may have been more than a novelty item with little replay value. --Josh Smith
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great classic - updated and even better!, November 23, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Monopoly (Video Game)

you remember how much fun it was to play Monopoly when you were a kid? It's just as fun now- but better! You can stop the game at any time and save it to your memory card. That way you are able to come back and continue playing again later. The graphics are pretty good, But the music is a little annoying. All and all a fabulous update on a classic.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The fun of Monopoly -- none of the mess, November 30, 2000

By 

K. Radloff (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monopoly (Video Game)

Remember Monopoly? Remember setting up the Chance and Community Chest cards in the middle of the board? Remember handling all those tiny houses and hotels? Remember rolling the dice and knocking all the little houses and hotels and cards all over the table and floor? My family loves Monopoly -- until it comes time to set everything up. So this game was great for us. The game recognizes that everyone has their own Monopoly rules and allows you to customize the game to fit your traditions. (My family, for example, plays that you get double your money when you land on Go and that you collect all the fines from the game when you land on Free Parking.) I disagree with the statement in the "professional" review above about not being able to see what property your opponents' own -- there is a grid on each players' icon that lights up with the properties you own and if you want to see more details, you can just go into the trading area of the screen. Anyway, we find ourselves playing Monopoly WAY more than we did when we had to drag out the board, set it all up, etc. It IS Monopoly -- we find it takes about 2 hours to play a long game. The only complaint we have: it seems to get a little buggy when you play with the Thimble token. Maybe it's just our game, but whenever we play with that token, it makes errors like not paying people when they pass Go, paying too much rent and sometimes it says someone has won the game when they actually went Bankrupt. Overall, a good game, though if you're a Monopoly fan.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Game gets boring., December 5, 2000

By 

C. Hoff "chels_hoff" (Martinez, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monopoly (Video Game)

I loved the idea of being able to play it without all the set up and mess......but after playing it a few times it can get rather boring. If i would have rented this game first i probally would not have purchased it. I have not tryed playing it with more that 2 people... i could see where this would make it more fun.