Ah, Monopoly. The amount of times I played you as a child, I do not know. Saying that, we rarely ever finished a game, thanks to the inherent problems that Monopoly brought with it - it takes ages, and normally someone would accuse someone else of cheating, they'd have a strop and the board would get flung across the room. I still haven't forgotten the time my brother (a toddler at the time) took a bite out of the corner of Piccadilly when we weren't looking, and my mom insisted it had been the cat when we discovered it some weeks later.
A few years later, we got a PC version, which had two distinct advantages - you could save your game halfway through, and there was no way to cheat, so no strops. We also discovered that some of the computer-controlled characters were a bit dense, and could be tricked into giving you specific amounts of money for nothing. After that we got a PC version of Monopoly Junior, where you bought rides in a theme park instead of property in London - and the best part was that you got to play a mini-game for each ride you landed on.
The sheer-awesomeness that was Monopoly Junior.
Monopoly games have evolved a bit since then though, and this newly announced Monopoly Collection for the Wii (no Xbox 360 version, I'm afraid) contains two of the most recent versions on one disc: Monopoly and Monopoly Streets. In Monopoly, you still have the usual wonder round the board trading properties that the series is famous for, but there's also a new 'Get Rich Quick' mode, where players complete mini-games to decide who gets the first pick of the properties on the board. Monopoly Streets has you playing at street level, with your Mii riding along in whatever-counter-they're-using down the streets of London - which change as people buy, sell and build on their properties. New for the Monopoly Collection are Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head as playable characters, and the Monopoly: World Edition and Stratosphere City boards.
Stratosphere City is set on a futuristic floating island metropolis.
So there you have it - when EA sent us a single press release detailing not one - but three awesome game collections - Family Game Night Fun Pack, Monopoly Collection and Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It, we knew it was going to be a good day. Each of these collections is due out this Christmas - perfect for the traditional post-Christmas dinner family board game.With not one, not two, but three awesome game collections on the way from EA - Family Game Night Fun Pack, the Monopoly Collection and Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It, we're starting to wonder if we'll ever have to buy a board game again. Each of these collections is due out in time for Christmas, making them perfect for the traditional post-Christmas dinner family board game.
