Monopoly Go! Review (Android & iOS)

Monopoly Go! might remove the relentless pursuit for obtaining the most properties on the board, but that isn’t to say that it abolishes the relentless quest for eternal riches and social status. If this were any other case, it would be about undercutting the market. It would be about splurging whatever cash you have in your back pocket to invest, build, and ultimately capitalize on a portfolio of architectural projects. But in Monopoly Go, everything is more or less handed to you on a silver platter. The only thing that costs you money, sadly, is playing the actual game.

See, while the mobile spin-off does provide you with a quick fix for your undying desire to monopolize, it also comes with a lofty caveat that can make the act of juggling the high roller lifestyle a lot tougher to truly enjoy. The fact that you can only make so many rolls of the die per day (unless you spend more cash to roll again) says it all. It isn’t about winning; it’s about spending whatever pennies you can afford to lose at any given moment to scrape whatever joy you can out of what can only be described as a shameless imitation of an otherwise beloved board game. And the worst part is, you can’t even flip the board when you run out of cash. Annoyingly, smartphones are a lot more expensive to replace.

While the basic rules of play are still alive and kicking here, Monopoly Go does make a snide attempt to put you out of pocket at any given crossroad. Sadly, in order to progress through the game and elevate your properties (as well as participate in various mini-games and seasonal events and what have you), you must abide by the rule that only so many die rolls can be used a day. In other words, if you don’t unload your wallet from time to time, then your chances of finding a foothold on the board are astonishingly slim. This isn’t a bad thing. However, unless you have the time and patience to commit to grueling renovation work, you probably won’t have what it takes to afford a life of luxury here.

Although several of the core social aspects remain a common theme in Monopoly Go, the game itself leans more towards a single-player experience. With that in tow, you don’t have a classic imitation of Monopoly; you have a lonely property ladder that requires you to manually travel the board, fabricate the die, and use whatever assets you have left to spare to invest in various projects, perks, and mini-games before moving on to a higher-level board. And I suppose that’s all that Monopoly Go is: a relentless quest to evolve, even if it means going out of pocket to climb “just one more” step up the ever-expanding ladder.

The idea is simple: tap the die, travel across spaces on the board, and use various multipliers, community chests and other perks to upgrade landmarks and unlock stickers for your album. As you progress along the path (or land on a railroad tile), you earn a chance to battle another player in a short mini-game—Bank Heist or Shutdown—with the payout either involving a simple cash reward or an opportunity to steal from the rival player. It doesn’t add a lot to the overall experience, though the adoption of the frequent mini-game does provide an additional layer of complexity to the monopolization process. The goal is still the same: flesh out your landmarks and complete enough tiles in order to progress through to the next area. It isn’t quite as competitive as the original board game, though it has some level of strategic value to it. The only problem is that you need to put your money where your mouth is in order to enjoy the full weight of the monopolization process. It’s either that, or you have to wait idly by for the die casts to replenish.

Don’t get me wrong, Monopoly Go is still an excellent game for curing boredom. While it doesn’t offer you the chance to play for extended periods of time due to its tight-fisted restrictions on the die-rolling system, it does provide a generous amount of options to unlock, including community chests, themed boards, seasonal events, and a lofty collection of landmarks and perks to obtain, to list just a handful of its keystone features. It might not wax that timeless feel that ties in with the original, and its social aspects might not hit quite as hard as the traditional board game. That said, for a pocket-sized iteration that touches on all of the basics and finds a way to squeeze its most beloved aspects into the palm of your hand, it does make for a good time-wasting application. It might be a tad pricey, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy it for the short bouts of cash-less gameplay that it does offer when the stocks replenish.

Verdict

If not for the frequent paywalls and irritating pay-to-pass GO roadblocks, Monopoly Go! would make for a brilliant pocket-sized iteration of the beloved classic board game. But it’s the little things that dampen the mood—the restrictions on the die; the lack of social interaction; and the simple fact that every move you make is made to feel like a costly gamble that you can barely afford to entertain. I’d love to say that it works, but the forced incentives and the lack of transparency for casual players make it so darn difficult to enjoy for longer periods of time. And that’s a shame, truly, because there could be a rewarding mobile game here.

While several of the kingmaker components remain a common fixture in Monopoly Go, it’s difficult to think of it as an ode to Hasbro and not a shameless cash grab that disguises itself as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s still Monopoly, but with a concerning amount of intrusive ads and paywall schemes. Like Monopoly, then, but with real cash on the line and not the fake bank notes that you would typically find in the classic board game.