Sound effects and music are nicely implemented – and there’s an array of bizarre premium DLC boards that tie into the fact that UbiSoft have produced this version of the game – including Just Dance and Rabbids, along with a My Little Pony board too. The presentation is faultless too, with a lovely 3D representation of the board that makes it seem both alive and physical, with the throw of the dice affecting player tokens in a way that gives it a really satisfying and tangible feel. There’s the option to add or ignore a variety of house rules so you can play exactly how you choose to, as well as the option of playing in multiplayer or with bots in any combination required. Monopoly Plus then, is a game that does well to translate the basic feel of the game into the digital realm – and does an awful lot right too. Saying that, player elimination is the one overriding problem that can’t be overcome using this reasoning – as is the general lack of strategic control over the game – so while you can recognise that there’s a certain amount that can be ‘fixed’ in order to ensure that your Monopoly experience is as enjoyable as possible, the fact remains that there’s still lots about the game that remains problematic in this day and age, when so many thousands of other games exist that cater for gamers of different skill levels, ages and tastes, at bewilderingly different levels of complexity. So perhaps a combination of misunderstanding the rules and a lack of understanding of some of the strategies that can be employed (which also includes smart trading of properties) are to blame for the general malaise surrounding the game. On my last few points regarding randomness and the lack of strategy: if that’s the case, how could there be Monopoly World Championships with participants who consistently do well at the game? Or they ignore rules that would help to speed the game up, such as the auctions that should take place if a player decides not to buy a property. Yet you will find that games go on too long mostly due to house rules that players swear are the official rules (a number of times as a kid, I played with people from different households who were convinced that ‘tax money going on free parking’ was an actual rule – yet this keeps money in the game’s economy that should be taken out, thus extending play time significantly). There’s also that just-mentioned random nature of the game: your turns can often feel as if they’re dictated by the whim of the dice, rather than by any meaningful or strategic decisions you make during play. A clear winner can emerge relatively quickly, but due to the random nature of the game it can still take a really long time for them to actually win. It has a reputation for simply taking too long to play, for example, as well as featuring player elimination that can cause losing players to just sit around twiddling their thumbs, sometimes for hours, while the remainder of the game plays out. It’s a game that’s simultaneously hugely popular and synonymous with board gaming itself while being reviled by nearly everyone who ends up playing it. Which is weird, because Monopoly as a game is, by modern standards, full of absolutely terrible mechanics and design decisions. Several generations of players have been introduced to it throughout their childhoods – it shows no sign of going anywhere. It’s unbelievably ubiquitous even now, 86 years after it was first released. If you tell anyone outside of the gaming community that one of your hobbies is ‘board games’, the inevitable next question you’ll hear is “Oh, like Monopoly?”.
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