Monopoly Streets (Wii) Review

I’ve always been pretty much into Monopoly, and remember playing it so much back when I was a child with both my family and friends. Unfortunately, thus far, I’ve found that all electronic renditions of the game lack a proper speed, and this creates a rather large element of boredom. Monopoly Streets is the newest version of the board game, following on from the original game, also released for the Wii. You would think that one of the greatest and most well recognised board games would translate well to a video game experience, and unfortunately it doesn’t so well, despite a few new gimmicks.

Monopoly Streets attempts to breathe a little bit of fresh life into the franchise by turning the boards from Monopoly into fully 3D proper cities. It’s a nice touch and I found this idea quite intriguing, but to find that only two of the included seven boards actually utilised this feature, was terribly disappointing. The other boards do mix things up a bit by utilising different styles, although these don’t provide any extra graphical flair since they don’t incorporate the “new” 3D look. Animations are also quite awkwardly drawn out, adding to the extra levels of disappointment graphically.

Despite utilising this great idea, the actual execution of these ideas is pretty lacklustre and the game is not very graphically interesting at all. In fact, it became just much easier to just play the classic, flat and 2D board as a result of the terrible graphics. To be fair, these cities are very colourful, although at times it just feels too rough to appreciate properly, lacking proper polish. This is especially disappointing when there is such little effort going into the cities while only two cities are provided overall.

Monopoly Streets is largely played in the same way as you’d play Monopoly. To mix things up a bit, each board has a different theme and there are several different rule sets that change the way the game is played, but only subtlety. These create a new and interesting way to play when combined together, but unfortunately this is still Monopoly. In the new and improved 3D mode, a “Corporate HQ” is included which grows and morphs as people in the game buy up property. It’s a nice touch but it’s ultimately quite superficial.

The game has a great multiplayer function and modes which are understandably much more enjoyable than playing the game by yourself, however there are also AI options to pad out a game should the players wish. The AI is largely fair and is never really cheap, like you’d expect – however we did notice during some segments we could manipulate the AI to spend all of its money during some of the auctions, which was quite hilarious but a bit of a glaring hole in the AI.

The game features a pretty dreary soundtrack designed to not be too irritating since it’s playing for most of the game, however there is voice work included for the new characters but it’s ultimately pretty terrible and you’ll be scrambling to disable any sound that the game emits within the first couple of hours. Such factors make you wonder why you would bother with a typically slower version of the game when in possession of a physical board rather than this game.

There are several unlockables that are available in exchange for Monopoly Money which is accrued through the playing of rounds in the game, as well as a new board as well. These are nice touches that encourage players to keep playing through however it really is dependent on how much you enjoy Monopoly and how much you perceive these unlockables to add value to the overall package. The game also allows you to play as your Mii’s, but I think we’re all over that now.

Monopoly Streets is largely similar to the previously released Monopoly on the Nintendo Wii, however a few new features have been integrated but still lack the major pulling factor that make it the perfect version of Monopoly. I honestly felt that it would’ve been much more enjoyable to just invest in a physical version and play that with friends. A disappointing outing.

Graphics 5.0

A bearable graphical presentation of the city is really let down by a general roughness and lack of polish.

Gameplay 5.0

This is a sound version of Monopoly, but the rather drawn out nature of the game coupled with the notably slower pace of gameplay makes it hard to recommend.

Sound 3.5

You will want to mute your audio following the first couple of hours, and thats if youve got strong ears. Voice work is annoying and sound effects are repetitive and eventually get on your nerves.

Tilt 5.5

Theres a few extra things to unlock but they dont add anything major to the tried and true Monopoly formula. The inclusion of the 3D boards are a nice touch but these are only available for two boards, which is also disappointing.

Value 3.0

Despite loving board game based video games, Monopoly Streets was pretty disappointing for me. It was just too slow to be majorly interesting. I liked the inclusion of the 3D modes, and with a bit of work these could be perfect.