onopoly Star Wars is based on Parker Brothers' ubiquitous best-selling board game Monopoly, which centers around buying and selling real estate. The game is played with 2-6 players on a board made up of 40 spaces that are arranged in four lines of 10 each to form a hollow square (see image below). Twenty-eight of those spaces are properties that can be bought, sold or mortgaged.
As in regular Monopoly, the properties are divided into several different color groups: six groups composed of three land properties each; two groups of two land properties; one group of four railroads (or in this case starships); and two utilities. The object of the game is to become the player with the most wealth, which is achieved by buying, selling and renting property. A typical game starts with each player beginning on the Go square and rolling dice to see how far they must advance that turn.
As players move around the board, they will land on the various property squares. If no one already owns a square, players will have the opportunity to buy it. If someone else owns the property, players will have to pay that owner rent. Any player who buys a complete set of property (called a monopoly) can further improve the land by buying colonies and eventually starships to place on it, increasing the rent they'll collect when another player lands on the property.
The properties are all based on well known Star Wars locales, such as Tatooine, Cloud City and Endor. Similarly, the tokens that represent players on the board are based on Star Wars characters, such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Everything is depicted on screen in a 3-D isometric view that includes cut scenes from the Star Wars movies, as well as narration by C-3PO.
Even Darth Vader has to pay the rent
Hasbro has taken one of the most popular board games of all time, added in one of the most popular movie franchises of all time, turned everything into 3-D and put it on a computer. Although that sounds impressive as heck, the result is simply another version of a tried-and-true game that is essentially not much different from any other version already out there. Despite the addition of full-motion video clips from the Star Wars movies, and the ability to play online against other opponents, this game is still plain old Monopoly.
The major difference between this computer game and its cardboard counterpart--window dressing aside--is that it can be played against opponents over a LAN or on the Internet. These online games include a chat interface and the ability to form teams, which makes playing something of a social event even though gamers may be logging on from different parts of the world. Players can also square off against 2-5 computer opponents of varying skill, guaranteeing that there will always be somebody around who wants to play.
And the window dressing, while superfluous to game play, is nice for Star Wars fans, who will probably get a kick out of seeing Darth Vader charging Han Solo rent. For the most part, the graphics of Stormtroopers and X-Wing fighters are well done, and the game definitely has a quirky sense of humor. For instance, if players land on the Go Directly To Jail square, the giant foot of an Imperial AT-AT will come down and kick them across the board into the jail cell. Another fun touch is seeing the evil emperor come out onto the board to roll the dice with his Force lightning. And, of course, when players go bankrupt, the Death Star will cruise onto the screen and obliterate them.
Overall Monopoly Star Wars is a nice diversion for Stars Wars fans who also have a hankering to play Monopoly, even if it is the same old game underneath all the lightsabers.
