Publisher: Infogrames: www.infogrames.com
Ages: seven and up.
Parental
Advisory:
None
Can the PlayStation 2 improve the classic Monopoly experience? While Infograme's The MONOPOLY Party Game offers a fun, entertaining activity that lets up to four play against each other or virtual opponents, the presentation, while flashy, isn't necessarily better than gathering and playing around a real-life board.
The title offers a competent and familiar video version of the classic board game and dresses it with flashy graphics. There are four 3D themes: "Prehistoric," with wandering dinosaurs, cavemen and primitive creatures; "Fantasy," with knights, wizards, goblins and dragons; "Ancient Monuments," with wonders from the ancient world; and "Sci-Fi," a bustling space station that's complete with asteroid storms. Each theme offers its own animated tokens and themed board properties. If you prefer, you can also play on a classic Monopoly board.
On the PlayStation, games play faster. The innovation here is "same-time" play, which lets players roll their dice and move at the same time, as long as each has a controller. While kids may enjoy the considerable bells and whistles found in the game, the constant barrage of sights and sounds can become irritating after awhile.
We can't knock a game that promotes group play, but we're not convinced that the Monopoly experience from a game console, as provided by Infograme's The MONOPOLY Party Game, is better than that when played on a standard board. Perhaps the console version of Monopoly is simply one for those raised on a steady diet of Nickelodeon.
