It wasn’t that long ago where I was hopelessly addicted to Ubisoft’s UNO game, and just about the time I shake one game addiction here they are again with Monopoly. I don’t know if it’s pure nostalgia or just having the luxury of playing one of the “messiest” board games out there with no pre-game setup or post-game clean-up, but I am loving this latest version of Monopoly on the PS5. It only takes a few button taps to start your own private game or head online to test your real estate skills against the world in cross-platform play. If you are playing locally, you can pass the controller or everyone can use their own, but each controller needs to sign-in, so it’s easier just to share.
All of your favorite tokens are back, many of which need to be unlocked and even a few specialty pieces that can be “purchased” from the Ubisoft Store. There are two versions of the board; the Classic design and the Living City design that turns the center of the board into this really interesting city model with all sorts of features and landmarks and plenty of secrets to discover in the Explore mode. Monopoly is loaded with all of these side challenges, and several of them require some fun interactions between rolling the dice and where they land on the board.
I was impressed that the game managed to not only include the original rules but also numerous House Rule options – you know, all those rules and conditions your friends and family would make up on the fly in an attempt to make the game more fun or at least faster. There were a few eye-openers like still being able to collect rent and conduct business while in jail. I was always taught that if you are in jail, you can’t do anything but try and get out; it turns out that is a house rule. I was also taught that after three tries to get out of jail you don’t have to pay $50. This game still charges you. There are plenty of fun house rule cards you can activate that will significantly change the flow of the game, and you can even pick from several Fast game modes and Speed Dice if you don’t have time to commit to a full game.
This leads into my first of only a few minor complaints. The online section of this game is worthless to me and probably most everyone else. Nobody I know owns the game and there is no way I am going to play with strangers who are 99.9% likely to flip the board and disconnect the first time they land on my hotel on Marvin Gardens. Most of my other issues are small quality of life items like having to hit the button multiple times to pay out cash sums using different denominations. If you’re paying rent that requires $20’s, 10’s, and 5’s you’ll need to hit the X three times or push and hold the stick to mimic handing over the money. Even after a few games, moving the piece becomes a laborious task, but thankfully you can just tap a button to zip to your landing spot, or if you wait long enough the board will force your piece forward.
My only other complaint (and this is probably my most annoying design choice) are what the designers chose for default answers in several situations. Why is flipping the board the default action whenever you have to pay out money? It’s a time-consuming animation that is only fun the first two times you do it, plus its poor sportsmanship. Perhaps even more egregious is that every trade offer defaults to Accept when you most often want to either make a counteroffer or decline the trade entirely. Those with twitchy thumbs can inadvertently make some bad deals.
I was suitably impressed with the AI of the computer players, and while they are playing mostly to the Monopoly rule set, they do seem to make some almost-human like decisions at times. In one game I owned all the red and two of the yellow properties and the AI owned the other yellow. I offered 2x the normal asking price, plus the computer already had it mortgaged, but the AI would not sell to me because it “knew” I would control that entire side of the board. If anything, the AI might be overly aggressive in the early stages of the game, buying up everything it lands on until broke, then it tends to mortgage everything to pay bills and forgets to unmortgage it later, so rent is almost never due. Once you learn how to manipulate the computer it’s nearly impossible to lose playing against just one AI opponent, but if you add a third (or more – up to six can play) the AI almost seems to conspire against the human players.
While the PlayStation would seem an unlikely place to play Monopoly, I do have to admit there is something about the ease of setup and having the computer handle all the messy bits like houses and hotels and all that colorful cash. You still get that hands-on flavor when moving the pieces and rolling the dice; you can even use motion controls, and there is always some charming music playing and the narrator is full of fun commentary. All sorts of fun challenges like trying to hit a player token with your dice or make the dice land in the stadium of the living city board offer great distractions to the core loop of the game.
The presentation is really good, with casual jazz tunes playing in the background and all of the sound effects you would expect to hear while playing a real board game and a few you wouldn’t. The living city board has a day/night cycle and changing weather. Player pieces look great and there is matching iconography on the board, so you instantly know who owns what while moving around the board or using the clever Board View to get the big picture. As mentioned, Monopoly games can go on for hours, and the game continually saves your progress so you can return to finish at a later time if you need a break.
A physical Monopoly board game costs around $20 and this is $30, but again; no mess, no arguing with the banker about proper change, and no clean-up (even after a virtual board flip). If you already have a PlayStation and a group of friends who have been bugging you to break out the Monopoly board, this would be a fantastic alternative. It’s also great for loners like me who just want to relive some childhood Monopoly memories and crush some AI opponents using tried and true tactics my dad taught me fifty years ago.
