| Author | Review |
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CougarSlayer530
220,902
TA Score for this game: 1,454
Posted on 19 November 10 at 07:42, Edited on 07 February 11 at 22:53 |
This review has 19 positive votes and 1 negative vote. Please log in to vote. |
Monopoly Streets:
Overview:
Monopoly streets is the latest release in a series of board game to video game conversions. Monopoly streets is a modernized 3D version of the classic board game that we all know and love. Of course there is still the ability to play the classic board and all of the other flat boards introduced in the first monopoly (Cheese, Space etc.). The best part of this game however are all of the new spiced up game options available. In addition to the cool 3D environment, avatars for each token, and cinematic sequences Monopoly Streets gives you the ability to change the rules of the game. Although there are the classic rules everyone likes to add their own twists sometimes. Rules such as one that gives you the money collected from fees if you land on free parking, or collecting 2x the GO bonus if you land on it. Those are just two examples of the many rules that can be altered. There are also several different game modes some of which auction off all the properties at the beginning and others that add a speed die to the roll. But enough about that, pop the game in and explore all of the areas that Monopoly Streets has to offer. This game has XBL features and the ability to play up to 3 other players in all the game modes available in single player.
Achievements:
For the most part the achievements in this game are very straightforward and simple to get. I would estimate this game to take 15-20 hours to complete depending on if you have a boosting partner or not. There are some achievements that will prove more difficult that others just because they are based on luck. Notable difficult achievements include: "Glad it's not my bill", "Rolled a 15" and "Doesn't Hurt Much". I highly stress finding a boosting partner even if its just a friend you can casually play with. "Doesn't hurt much" is one of the more difficult achievements and it requires you to pay the smallest rent which essentially means that you need to land on either "Mediterranean Ave" or "Baltic Ave" before someone manages to own both of them and build a house. This would be pretty hard against 3 other people who all want to win. Fear not though, with a boosting partner and a little bit of luck the 1000/1000 is easily attainable.
Notes
1. After a game or two on the 3D board I would recommend going into the options (from the title screen) and turning off animations. This will speed up your game and reduce the slow moving animations in between each move.
2. Unless specifically stated in the description all achievements can be unlocked in an XBL player match.
3. The game is only $39.99! Great price for an xbox live enabled game with hours of entertainment while still being an easy 1000.
4. This is bar far the biggest drawback to the game but there are no central servers or host migration technology related to the game so if you are playing a 4 person game and the host leaves, its over for all of you. This proves to be a real annoyance when playing against 3 others and one goes bankrupt and wants to leave the game instead of sit around and watch the other play (BORING! and thanks to NotSoBraveDave for mentioning that)
4/5 stars!
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Xantiriad
137,564
TA Score for this game: 965
Posted on 02 February 11 at 16:21 |
This review has 12 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
“Five FAQs Review”
1. What type of game is it?
Monopoly Streets is a 3D world re-imagining of the classic board game. So as well as playing the game on the traditional board, you can enjoy it in a Sims-style city complete with roaming avatars, unique buildings and animated board pieces.
2. What are the best bits?
The actual Sims-style cities look great, and for a Monopoly game there is quite a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour. The music, graphics and voice work are all implemented well, but you will find some of it repeats and becomes tiresome.This version of Monopoly also introduces completely customisable rule-sets and bonus die to speed-up the game if you so wish.
3. What are the worst bits?
One of the most significant changes in Monopoly Streets is how the property auctions are handled. Auctions now take the form of an interactive spread-bet: where you try to time your bid increases and decreases to get the optimum price. It was a change that wasn’t really needed and removes some of the strategy away.
4. Does it offer good value?
Monopoly Streets is ideally enjoyed in local co-op with friends, but can be played online. Various collectables and well defined achievements will keep your interest going.
There is one small bitter pill however: some of the game’s content can only be unlocked by purchasing items from an in-game shop using Microsoft Points.
5. Should I buy it?
If you enjoy board games then Monopoly Streets is probably the best digital version to date: it offers different ways to play, a genuine video game makeover, and all the benefits of playing Monopoly without losing the pieces. Anyone looking for something completely different will be a little disappointed.
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Twinkling82
70,309
TA Score for this game: 913
Posted on 07 May 12 at 22:36 |
This review has 7 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
This review was originally posted on my website, http://gamingirl.com
Experience a well known board game from another angle. Monopoly Streets takes you down to ground level in a third person view of your chosen character.
A goodie but Oldie in a new environment
The vast majority of people today knows the rules and the progress of Monopoly. This is it, there isn’t much change of what you know. You can play against friends locally (you need separate controllers) or you can meet up with friends or strangers online – of course, if you just want to play, the game is offering quite challenging opponents with different difficulty levels of your choice. There’s a few different modes to play, and what the game offers is about right.
There’s the classic mode with the official rules as we all know them – everybody starts with an amount of money with no properties, and you buy the properties as you visit them on your way around the board, and if you do not wish to buy the property, or don’t have the assets to buy it, the property go up for auction, and the rest of the players are then encouraged to bid on the property. Collect sets to build on your properties, and make the opponents pay rent when they are visiting your property. When a player can’t pay the rent they are prompted to, even when mortgaging their properties, they’ll go bankrupt – a player can at all times declare bankruptcy, forfeiting/quitting the game. The last remaining player wins the game.
In Bullmarket mode, all the properties are auctioned off at the start of the game, and stops after 20 turns, declaring the winner with the highest total worth in assets (properties, buildings and cash).
Jackpot mode shows an interesting turn of events. You can build on properties, even if you don’t have the full set – the first player to double their total worth wins the game.
The Xbox 360 version of the game offers avatar support, so you are allowed to use your Xbox Live avatar, that you created to your account. I like this, since there isn’t many games out there who includes this, and many people – including me – has been using quite some time (and money) on the avatar, so I’m happy that my avatar doesn’t always collects dust in my dashboard.
Hitting the streets
Oh, the street thing. I almost forgot! The game contains a number of different boards, but those are a bit dull after you have tried the cities. This is what the games brilliance are at – instead of going around and around in a board, your characters (avatar or ingame characters) are going around in a lively city with driving cars and trucks, accompanied by random avatars of the games choice – I guess the game is using the avatars, that are cashed in your Xbox’ memory – including avatars on other accounts saved on the machine.
The graphics aren’t stunning, but for a fun board game it’s more than enough – there isn’t any lag, clipping, long loading times or other ugly small mistakes. The animation and sound effects from the characters are rather fun and entertaining, while the background music is acceptable, but a bit repetitive after some time.
What I would have loved to see in this game is more cities available. There’s only two different cities, whereof one is unlockable, and not available from scratch. I think I would have been satisfied with two from start and three unlockable cities – five in all. The game has “streets” as subtitle after all, but there’s more boards than cities, which makes it kind of a moot point.
The game is all about fun competition in making the best trades and decisions – with a good strike of luck too. If you keep end up on opponents properties, you will lose no matter on how good you are at making decisions and trades. The game is good at what it does – taking a board game into virtual fun with a bunch of good twists and ideas.
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