The App Shelf for iPhone and iPod touch
Top Shelf Apps for week of July 27, 2010New apps added every Tuesday! |
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Reviews
Video Review: Monopoly Classic - All the Fun, None of the Math.
Price: $4.99
App Store Link: Full / No Lite Version
Verdict: Love it
Replay Value: Very High
Pros: Great graphics and gameplay.
Cons: A few small imperfections, but nothing to quibble about.
Bottom Line: EA’s Monopoly app is a strong & fun adaptation of the original board game. The most frustrating part for most Monopoly fans might be that they already spent $5 dollars on EA’s previously released Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition app.
Monopoly (classic) is EA’s digital version of Hasbro’s classic board game and second official Monopoly app to hit iTunes, the first being Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition.
The most notable difference between the two titles (and for many the deciding factor on which to purchase) is that Monopoly Classic returns to traditional property names and dollar values as opposed to World Edition’s redesigned board theme, featuring “famous world cities” along with drastically increased bill denominations (the $1 bill replaced by a $10,000 bill for example), making banker math more awkward if not overly complicated. Because of these differences, there’s been a large public demand for the classic version, and EA has finally delivered.
For the most part, Monopoly translates very well to the iPhone OS. The app plays just like the tabletop version (thankfully with less accessories to manage), it allows for single or multiplayer gameplay with up to four players, and even manages to accommodate many of the house rules some players have grown so accustomed to.
The app doesn’t have too many too many flaws, but there are a few such as the inability to look at the game board during trades, or the frustratingly small menu buttons. Some individuals have even speculated that the AI players cheat to avoid your properties. Possibly what gets me the most, however, is that EA released classic as an entirely new $5 app, when really they could have just made it available as downloadable content “skin” for World Edition owners for—one would assume—significantly cheaper.
Overall, EA’s Monopoly is a very fun and enjoyable adaptation of the original, obviously with added convenience and portability. If you’ve already purchased Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition, there’s probably no need to purchase the classic version unless you can’t stand World Edition or have been dying to own the classic version. If you held-off on purchasing World Edition, then Classic is the way to go in this reviewer’s humble opinion. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
