Does anyone not know this game? You and quite a few other players make a mad dash around the Monopoly board, snatching up properties, railroads, and utilities, hazarding the fickle fortunes of the Chance and Community Chest spaces, and trying to avoid taxes and jail - not to mention bankruptcy - while building an empire that will make you rich. (Hasbro Interactive, 1997)

If Phosphor Dot Fossils is going to cover Retro Revivals, then they don't get much more retro than this. The idea of a computerized version of Monopoly is nothing new - in fact, Parker Brothers created its own Electronic Monopoly gadget in the early 1980s, which perched rather awkwardly atop a traditional Monopoly board, acting as a dice-roller, place-keeper, and so on. But Westwood Studios' new version of Monopoly brings a whole new dimension to the game. The question most people, including myself, initially ask about this is: does Monopoly need a new dimension?

In some places, the computer enhanced version scores major points. You get to keep track of your properties, and there's no more shuffling of paper money. It's Monopoly for the MasterCard generation.

In other areas, I tend to shut off the modern bells and whistles. I can do without the computer treating me to a well-rendered, but plodding, animation of my token stepping across each square of the board until it reaches its destination. And depending on the speed of the computer involved, this process can also slow things down intensely while each animation loads.

However, perhaps surprisingly, my favorite version of Monopoly - aside from the original board game, of course - has to be the incredible port for Game Boy Color. Sitting around a computer or a video game console/TV combo playing Monopoly, rather than pulling out the game board itself, is a little silly, but the Game Boy Color version is great for getting in a little bit of solo practice - and it doesn't take six weeks to show an animation that doesn't really give you any useful information anyway.

By the way, if you've got kids, friends, or some motley combination of both, I heartily recommend playing Monopoly the old-fashioned way with the original board game. It's still more fun.

Rating:  One dollar - trade it in for more quarters, you'll want to play this game several times.

Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster