Monopoly Party

It’s High Stakes Fun

NA release: 20th November 2002
EU release: 27th February 2003
JP release: 31st July 2003
Developer: Runecraft
Publisher: Infogrames (NA/EU), Tomy (JP)
NGC Magazine Score: N/A
Mods Used: Widescreen Hack

Monopoly is a terrible board game, and while this might look like a minigame collection from the name and box, it’s just the board game. That said, I do have to give compliments to the main mode of Monopoly Party: it makes Monopoly mercifully shorter. In the Party mode, everyone now rolls and moves at the same time. Events that cause interaction are still done in order (as well as when someone rolls a double and has extra turns), but it means that a set of four players’ turns can be done in a matter of seconds.

That said, this way of playing also makes it feel even more random than before, as its easy to miss people buying properties, and you pretty much just mash A until you can do something. I also found that a couple of times, events like a Community Chest didn’t trigger. Trading is extremely confusing and now a single trade can take up more time than it does for everyone to get round the board, making it feel even more cumbersome.

There are a bunch of boards, such as the main board in a bunch of different regions, and some generic boards (like sci-fi, fantast) which have 3D backgrounds. The boards never change the game, though. You can also play by taking turns if you really want to, and apply some awful house rules. Monopoly is a terrible game in its core, but the speed of this version makes it a bit more bearable to put up with if everyone else wants you to play it with them.

Poor

If you’re not a fan, Monopoly Party will likely not make a convert out of you. But that shouldn’t prevent you from giving it a rent, just in case. Personally, I think Monopoly Party is a better game than Mario Party 4, with its overly complicated boards and tired mini-games. The stakes in Monopoly Party are much higher, and the opportunities to pull screw jobs are greater. Which should lead to some deliciously evil put downs between friends, as it has in my case.
Levi Buchanan, IGN

Remake or remaster?

The “Party” mode should be in every digital version of Monopoly.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Monopoly Party.