Monopoly Streets Review (Xbox 360)

I have fond memories of playing Monopoly with my siblings. We'd spend hours and hours on Sunday afternoons playing on the living room floor. My kids on the other hand will play a board game for about 10 minutes before they start fighting about who's turn it is, who cheated who, does the dice that roll on the carpet count?, ext.

I really get excited when I see these classic board games come to the consoles or the PC. For $39.99 Monopoly streets is worth every penny. No more messing around with counting play money, bumping the board and not knowing where the houses/hotels go, or keeping track of who's turn it is.


In total, there are about 8 different boards that you can unlock. You start with the classic 2D board and the 3D board you see in the previews. Now when I say 2D, it's just the board is flat like the real game although your characters, the game pieces, the die and Mr Monopoly are all 3D and animated. There is another 3D board that you can unlock where the properties are named after famous places from around the world. Then there are a half dozen or so flat themed boards. I've unlocked the Sweets board, (the properties are named after desserts) and the cheese board (named after cheeses). (I was hungry when I picked them.) There is also an ice board, a jungle board a card board and some kind of park board to unlock. Thank goodness each board has it's own music. I find in these types of games the same music over and over can get annoying. By playing you earn points to unlock these new boards and also some additional playing pieces.


The playing pieces are the same from the classic game. You've got the car, the boat, the hat, the wheel barrow, the dog, ext. You can unlock the money bag and the iron. (Hmm, I don't recall seeing the thimble. I wonder if I just missed it or if its coming in DLC.) Besides the playing piece, there is also a character to run around board with it. Each piece has it's own character or you can use your avatar as the character. The default characters get old after a while, so I imagine most people will use their avatars.


I haven't played around with rules much, but there are lots of options. Besides the classic rules, there are also some preset rules for speeding up the game, which are nice for playing online.


YES, in this version you can play online! And it's a lot of fun. As long as you are not the host, if you want to quit early you can declare bankruptcy and exit the game and the others will be able to continue. If you are the host and you quit, the game is over, which is frustrating after you've been playing for a while. I've mostly just played with my family so far. I love the fact that I can start one game with one of my kids, play for a while, save it for later and start a new game. That would be impossible with the physical board game.