Monopoly for Nintendo DS Reviews & Ratings by IGN

I'm a big fan of Monopoly. The love I have for the game stretches back to my early childhood, playing with neighborhood friends on the back porch during sunny summer days and with my father at the kitchen table rounding out some evenings. In fact, I was so obsessed with Monopoly that I would sometimes play the NES version of the game for days. I would even create fictional leagues complete with statistics, playing my own games against computer opponents and watching AI-controlled games do the rest. Needless to say, Monopoly strikes a chord with me. So it should come as no surprise that I was drawn to Monopoly DS as the game grew closer to release. Being able to play the classic board game on a current-generation handheld sounded like a nice way to waste some time during my commute or while watching television on the couch on a lazy Sunday.



Everyone knows how a basic game of Monopoly is played. Players roll two dice and work their piece around a board, buying properties as they go, in an attempt to create monopolies with like properties. Players who land on properties another player owns must pay rent, which varies depending on the value of the property and whether players have opted to build houses and/or hotels. As players begin to go bankrupt due to rent and fees they can't afford to pay to other players, the last player standing wins.



Monopoly on the Nintendo DS is the most recent example of the classic board game in video game form. Unfortunately for DS owners, what you'll end up finding in Monopoly on the DS is little more than the classic board game with very few bells and whistles to be had otherwise. That's not to say that this iteration of Monopoly doesn't pull off the classic board game successfully, because it does. It's just that, when taken as a whole package apart from the allure of the board game itself, this particular effort comes off as more watered-down and vanilla than you might have preferred.



For those looking for a standard Monopoly experience, it's here, and, thankfully, the game goes in the right direction in terms of its accessibility. Gamers can play by themselves with up to three computer-controlled opponents or up to four players can play on a single Nintendo DS unit, passing around the handheld for each player to take a turn (with the computer continuing to control any pieces it's designated to). And yes, there is play over a local network with multiple handhelds and copies of the game.



The game can be controlled by way of the directional pad, though most gamers will likely prefer the much more fluid controls offered by the stylus. What this particular version of Monopoly does right that its console counterpart (Monopoly Streets) does wrong is that by holding the stylus over the screen, you can speed through the play of your opponents, making the game extremely quick in terms of what you have to watch the computer do while giving you all the time necessary to carefully think about your own moves.



Unfortunately, beyond the multiple ways in which you can play the game, Monopoly simply lacks the bells, whistles, or options to make it interesting for long periods of time. And this is where the game really takes a hit. I like playing against the computer in Monopoly as much as the next fan of the board game, but when the title does very little beyond giving you the game itself and nothing else, it borders on laziness. Yes, the game has house rules, but it doesn't provide you with ways to change the regular pacing or play style of the game, so your options are more limited than they might originally seem. Heck, the game doesn't even save a player profile. One of the most interesting things about Monopoly Streets was following your own in-game progress from game to game by taking a peek at your own profile. So where is that in the Nintendo DS version of the game?

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