Monopoly Star Wars Edition

by Hasbro

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00003IEIV
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,773 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #43 in Video Games > PC Games > Board Games
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

GameSpot

How appropriate that the Star Wars franchise should be adapted as a PC version of Monopoly. A trilogy of movies so successfully merchandised and made a part of the public consciousness deserves a spot on the original Monopoly's game board itself. (Perhaps Skywalker Ranch could replace Water Works.) Monopoly Star Wars differentiates itself from the classic board game by utilizing features available only through a computer game: the thrilling strategies of Monopoly accompanied by all the music, sounds, and scenes of the Star Wars movies. Though not an entirely bad idea, the actual combination of the two proves to be somewhat pointless.

The gameplay of Monopoly should be as familiar to most as tic-tac-toe or checkers. Each player has a marker, or in this case a Star Wars character, which moves over spaces that represent either properties to own, cards to draw, or money to collect or pay. You buy and maintain as many properties as possible without going bankrupt or having to mortgage too many properties, while seeking the financial destruction of your opponents. The droid C-3PO introduces the game and sets the scene, guiding you through the choosing of characters and rules. He also can provide narration throughout the game, explaining the scenario presented by each space on each move.

The familiar avenues like Park Place and St. James Place have been replaced by familiar Star Wars backdrops like Tatooine and Hoth. Houses and hotels have been replaced by X-Wings, TIE fighters, and starports. Oddly enough, the In Jail, Free Parking, and Go to Jail spaces are exactly the same as on the board game. (Why not replace the jail with the Death Star detention center?) There are no more problems to solve or strategies to engage than in the board game, and it's this familiarity that proves to be so dull.

Numerous nifty clips of the movies have been inserted to break up the monotony of the gameplay, though so much window dressing ultimately reveals the blandness of the game. There is simply not much else for you to do other than click the cursor on the screen's two dice when your turn comes around. Once the dice are rolled the screen quickly switches to animations of your character jumping and somersaulting around the board to the space rolled. There isn't even enough time to count out the spaces to see where you're going to land. You then have the choice either simply to buy the property or to obey whatever command comes from the computer, whether it concerns a card or paying rent to an opponent or the bank. A simpler version of the game can be played, one with a static gameboard in which stiffly posed characters slide from space to space. Even though this plays faster and a little more like the traditional Monopoly, it's no substitute for the hands-on rolling of dice in the board game.

With the more animated version of Star Wars Monopoly, a movie clip is played each time you land on a square, usually a scene with a close association with the location. Some of the clips are a little off base or simply wrong: A clip of Chewbacca in the Cloud City torture room to introduce the Cloud City Landing Platform? A clip of the Death Star throne room to introduce the Coruscant Throne Room? Nit-picking to be sure, but these clips are shown each time the gamespace comes into play, even if it's been shown numerous times already. And after a couple games these clips become a little too familiar. The clips also extend the length of your turn and add lots of needless waiting time. It's a cute feature during the first game but it quickly becomes old hat.

The most entertaining feature of the game is the voice work of Anthony Daniels, who gives life to an animated C-3PO. The credits even list Daniels as having written the witty repartee found throughout. The graphics are also quite nice, especially some of the character depictions (except for the potbellied Darth Vader), and the sound meets the standards expected from the folks that brought us THX. Despite some obviously good intentions, though, the replay value of this game is quickly exhausted. Star Wars Monopoly is more like a novelty item that can be played at most a couple of times and then passed among friends and family.--Walter Morbeck
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Darth Vader takes Park Place....er, Imperial Palace...., November 4, 2003

By 

Alex Diaz-Granados "fardreaming writer" (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monopoly Star Wars Edition (CD-ROM)

Hasbro Interactive's Star Wars Monopoly is a fully animated interactive PC version of Parker Brothers' 1997 Monopoly board game, albeit with the 20th Anniversary "Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition" twist. Although the rules remain the same as the classic Monopoly game and the goal still is to buy up as many properties as possible and not becoming bankrupt, the setting is no longer Earthbound (as in Atlantic City) but the Star Wars galaxy from the Classic trilogy.

In Star Wars Monopoly, one can either play solo against the computer's artificial intelligence (AI), other human players (the "hot seat" option), or on the Internet through such portals as the MSN Game Zone. (Players who install this game will notice it will later show up on their MSN or Windows Messenger as an additional option.) While it's always more fun to play against other people, the solo player game can be very tough, especially if one chooses to play against several AI opponents set on "Difficult" level.

Although the game does allow for "house rules" (such as getting money for landing on Free Parking), the default setting will set the rules as "set in stone" by Parker Brothers. In a non-house rules game, for instance, no player gets paid for landing on Free Parking or gets extra money for landing on Go, and in all games (house rules and standard), if a player lands on a space, he or she must either buy it or put it up for auction.

What makes Star Wars Monopoly truly fun is the change of setting from Atlantic City to the Star Wars galaxy. While the property colors and values are the same as "traditional" Monopoly, the names of places and currency have changed (from dollars to Galactic Credits). For instance, the highly coveted dark blue color group of the Board Walk and Park Place become Coruscant's Monument Square and the Imperial Palace. Even better, when a player's character lands on a property, a little snippet from a Star Wars film will pop up. Land on, say, Death Star Docking Bay and, voila, Darth Vader steps down from the hold of an Imperial shuttle.

Game play is easy, far easier than setting up the board version. Players choose their characters (instead of a shoe, car, or thimble one can choose a character -- Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker, for instance -- which at first is rendered like a tin game piece), then the Banker (C-3PO, voiced by Anthony Daniels, who also wrote some of his comments) distributes the initial money allowance. Then, with a mouse click, the dice are rolled and play begins. One can play this game for brief periods of time, save it with the File Droid, then resume at a more convenient time, or it can be played in one long marathon, provided there are no power outages. The game is not complicated to play; a single mouse click is all it takes to roll the dice and the computer does all the rest...moving the pieces, handing out the money or taking the payments, and even reading the Rebel and Imperial cards (the Chance and Community Chest cards with a Star Wars twist). Not only is it relatively easy to handle (it is not, however, easy to master), but it is quite fun, too.

The graphics and sound of this game are still excellent, considering the age of this game, which was released in 1997. Despite having been designed in the late 1990s for Windows 95, Star Wars Monopoly still runs well on all Windows versions, including XP. If patches are required, they are available at www.infogrames.com (the entity that handles old Hasbro Interactive software).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Graphics and A Fresh Approach, December 5, 2002

By 

Carol Bardelli and Jerry Bardelli (Silver Springs, NV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monopoly Star Wars Edition (CD-ROM)

I've had this game since 1998 and we still play it. It has
Great Graphics including Star Wars movie clips, better on Win 95, but runs on my XP. A Fresh Approach to a classic game is always welcome and this provides just that. Even my three years old loves the graphics. An overall nice addition to any family collection of PC games.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must have for all Star Wars Fans & those who like monopoly, April 15, 2003

By 

Lam (Malaysia, South East Asia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monopoly Star Wars Edition (CD-ROM)

A Must Have for all Star Wars Fans and those who like Monopoly game. I'm looking forward for the updated version or Monopoly Star Wars Episode I, II in PC(CD-ROM) version.