iAppLover

Everyone’s probably played Monopoly at some point and for people who haven’t, the iPhone iteration of the game -Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition- is here to make sure they don’t miss out. While Monopoly has always been a fun game, the real question for veterans of the game is “How many times should they buy the same game?”

In fairness, Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition features some very notable updates, from changing the numbers involved in the game to reflect a more modern economy and changing the buying areas from mere blocks or areas into entire cities from around the world. It has been fine tuned into a slickly presented game that makes it unique from the boardgame. It makes no bones about it – it never tries to be the boardgame, instead recognizing and embracing the fact that it’s on the iPhone, a completely different medium. Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition features some options, such as changing the starting money and so forth. You could even manipulate the intelligence of your computer opponents.

The change in named areas might be jarring but it gives it a very different feel. To an international audience, it means that they could be buying their own city and that is pretty cool. This lets it touch upon a much wider audience than ever before. It does feel weird to purchase a city as that kind of transaction tends to not happen at all in real life.

If there is a flaw to the modernization presented in Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition it’s that it gets very strange when you realize one perfectly fine first world city is somehow more expensive than another. There seems to be little point in comparing most of the cities in the game to each other, which does drastically affect the immersion of the game. Due to this break in reality, it becomes harder to imagine yourself purchasing cities and it instead becomes a game of numbers. Flavor can add a lot of enjoyment to any game.

Of course that’s not the case for everyone, whether it comes to the flavor or the numbers. Some people like the numbers more while others like to think that they really are buying New York for a very cheap price. As a game, it brings nothing new to the table: Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition plays exactly as you’d expect a game of Monopoly to play. If you like that, this is a fantastic buy – otherwise, you may be better off investing in another game.