Reviewed by Tiffany Craig
Online games can be a mass of Flash confusion and bulky downloads. Everyone that has a good grasp of Flash can create games of varying degrees of quality, contrasting between embarrassing and computer crack. The crack led tends to flow with the Internet trend and be part of the amateur domain. When traditional companies make an attempt their efforts are frequently misguided and subject to much derision. In this hostile climate you can’t blame traditional companies for shunning the Internet game arena completely.
However, a brave Hasbro has dished out some money to create a web-based version of Monopoly as part of a marketing campaign commemorating the 70th anniversary of its release. This foray was only supposed to go through June but has been extended due to popularity. That’s right, you heard it, a popular marketing campaign and web game by a traditional company.
How do you play Monopoly? (If you’re the rare individual who has never heard of Monopoly before or doesn’t know how to play, you should seriously think about broadening your horizons…) You choose one of the 18 real-life Monopoly branded GPS fitted vehicles (plane, bus, automobile and more) and a cabbie (only one female available, unfortunately), which will be roaming around London making drops and pick-ups. You then choose your properties and place your housing on your parts of the board. Rent in and out is paid by where you and the 4 other cabbies per game go over 24 hours.
If you’re curious about where your cabbie is at any point during the game session, you can click the icon representing your playing piece and get a small map with a cute little car flashing back at you. If you’re unhappy with where your cabbie is going you can jump to another with a few clicks of the mouse. Too bad real London cabbies aren’t so easy. To be successful it helps to know what’s actually going in London. I had a fantastic set of takings when I bought Hyde Park during Live 8.
If the whole thing sounds a bit boring on paper, then you have to try it at least once. You’d be surprised at how addictive the 15-minute updates of how much you’ve won or lost can be. If you close the window for fear of losing your employment, you only really miss the chance to change your cabbie mid game or obsessively check your stats.
With your daily total, you also earn tokens that you can use to enter prize drawings (limited to UK residents only though). Your daily total and any prizes you may have won are delivered to your registration e-mail address every day.
My only real complaint is that the options for the game that make the board version so amusing, such as Chance and Community Chest cards, are restricted to text communication via mobile phones.
This minor issue is overshadowed by a fantastically innovative use of GPS and the Internet. Keep an eye out for further Monopoly offerings in the near future as well as the campaign rolls on.