I used to play Monopoly quite a bit as a kid. I loved the board game and the fun I had with friends. I haven't played the board game in years. However, when I saw that Electronic Arts had brought this classic out as an iPhone/iPod touch game I had to give it a try. The user interface for this game is just too good to describe in words. So instead check out this video review:
Play the computer or play up to 3 other humans
Monopoly is one of those games that allows you to combine strategy and pure luck to crush your competition. The fact that you can mix both computer (AI) players and friends/family members over Bluetooth or WiFi connections is even better.
Game Play
I found that on Level 2 I was able to beat the AI most of the time. It wasn't until I tried Level 3 that the game became a real challenge and felt more like the real thing. I've tried playing one AI and multiple AI's and each scenario has it's advantages and disadvantages. For example, I usually play 2 AI's. When I do this I find sometimes the AI's will appear to gang up on you by trading properties between themselves that you would probably never give up, just so that they can create monopolies to crush YOU! All is fair right?
My biggest pet peeve
My biggest pet peeve with this game is that the 4 action buttons at the bottom of the screen are SMALL! I'm constantly tapping the light blue properties when I'm actually trying to either roll the dice or end my turn. Although you can turn on the "shake to roll the dice" feature, I would either like the buttons to be bigger or moved to the sides of the board where there is plenty of room at times. A smaller pet peeve is that the game doesn't remember your options. For example, I would like to have the default be 3 players on level 3. However, it always starts out on level 2 with 2 players.
The Bottom Line
Electronic Arts did a great job on this game! If you like Monopoly it's hard to go wrong here. You can get Monopoly here from the App Store:
Monopoly
Electronic Arts brings the classic Monopoly game into the 21st century in style. This 3D game looks great and offers multi-player play over Bluetooth and WiFi.
- Electronic Arts
- Get on App Store
- $4.99
All info was collected on 24th December, 2009 when the app was reviewed.
About Terry White
Terry is the co-author of The Best Selling "The iPhone Book" 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions. He has been active in the industry for over 25 years and is the founder and president of MacGroup-Detroit, Inc., Michigan's largest Macintosh Users Group, host of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and a technology writer - Terry White Tech Blog.
Did you notice that a lot of the reviews on the App Store are claiming that the game cheats with the dice rolls at the higher skill levels? Covering that concern (perhaps asking EA about it) would really improve your article.
Thanks.
I guess you’d have to define “cheat”? I’ve found that the higher levels are more challenging as they should be, but I’ve been able to win at the higher levels too. There are games that I feel like I’m just landing on every bad square you can imagine, and there are games where the computer is. So from what I can see, it’s not cheating.
Thanks to your review I purchased this app and I'm loving it. When I want to play with people no one ever wants to play. With this I can play anytime, anywhere.
Thanks Terry.
Glad you like it too! I just got my butt kicked twice in a row. Oh it’s on now! LOL
T
LOL I've won both of mine. Level 2, too!
For being such a small screen I was totally shocked about the play and the effects. Though some of the deals the computer troes to give me is like … are you kidding me?
How do you set up this or other games to play via wi-fi or bluetooth?
Zac, all you have to do is start a launch the game and tap Wireless Game. Then you choose Wi-fi Game. Then you choose to Host a Game or Join one that someone else on your network is hosting.
Thanks for all your hard work Terry, this could could be eventually bad for my wallet…
How do you set up this or other games to play multiple players via wi-fi or bluetooth?
Thanks Zac. See my other reply.