Monopoly: iPhone Game Review: Full Of Quality And Class

Monopoly iPhone Game Review

Monopoly Rating: ★★★★☆

EA and Hasbro are at it again with their porting of Monopoly to the ever growing list of board games for iPhone/iPod touch including Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Game of Life and Connect4 and again it’s full of quality and class.

I’m not going to educate any readers on how to play Monopoly, if you’re reading this then I’m pretty sure that you know how to play Monopoly and trying to teach you in this review will bore the people who want to know how good the game is. In short however Monopoly is a capitalists dream, buy and sell property and companies and climb the ladder of greed to see off your opponents and become the richest player in the game.

The Monopoly app is a perfect representation of the American version of the Monopoly Classic, in that it’s not the Simpsons, Star Wars or Nintendo version for example. It also uses the American street names such as Broadwalk & Park Place so if your hoping to own Mayfair and Park Lane from the British version then you will be sadly disappointed.

The graphics look great, from the board and the pieces, yes, the boot, shoe, dog and top hat are all there, to the animations of the game itself the game is pitched perfectly. Even the choice of locations inc. the lounges of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and beyond all look great. But as true as the graphics are, the sound effects are rather disappointing, the simple sounds certainly don’t add anything to the game and even if they don’t take anything away from the game they don’t add to it either.

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When playing the game for the first time novices are helped along with detailed instructions and even for those who have played the game before they can be helpful and also switched off via the options menu. Talking of options they are plentiful allowing you to customize the game to your own specific requirements. For example if you grew up playing Monopoly with the rule that landing on Free Parking earned you all the taxes that everyone had paid then you can turn that on, if not you can turn if off. Your starting cash can also be controlled as well as hotel settings, property settings and what happens when you pass go. The settings really enable you to play Monopoly the way you like it.

It’ll be no surprise to find out that playing the game is as realistic on the iPhone/iPod touch as it is to playing on it in real life, while this is great there are some downsides that I think EA Mobile have missed out on. The iPhone/iPod touch lends itself perfectly to quick games of pick up and play fun and just like playing the real game there is no such thing as a quick game of Monopoly, which while that may be OK for some, an opportunity was missed by not including some mini games or first player to double their money type scenarios to add some variety to the game.

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The game can be played against AI components or using local Wi-fi or Bluetooth to play against other real people and during my multi-player games I didn’t lose connection once which is a nice change compared to other multi-player games that I’ve played recently.

Overall if you want a perfect representation of Monopoly Classic shrunken down and placed into your iPhone/iPod touch then you need wait no longer, however if you were hoping for a Monopoly port that was going to add some extra’s too, much like the recently released version of Connect4, then you may feel a little short changed.

official-app-store-badge_touch_4Price: $4.99

The Good

  • Mini-me Monopoly
  • Play with your rules
  • Play on your own or with friends

The Not So Good

  • Just Monopoly, no added extras
  • Basic sound

Reviewed By: @CraigWillis

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