Genre(s) Strategy, board game Developer Westwood Studios | Series Monopoly Publisher Hasbro Interactive | |
Platforms Microsoft Windows, Macintosh operating systems | ||
Monopoly is a 1995 video game based on the board game Monopoly. Developed by Westwood Studios and published by Hasbro Interactive, this title was one of many inspired by the property.
Contents
Gameplay
The game is an adaption of the board game of the same game, with the components of physical gameplay given automation and digital representations. 3D animations are provided for player movement across the board. Up to six human players can play either on the same computer or over LAN. The game's music was in a MIDI format and had a ragtime theme, while the sound effects were in WAV. Like the board game, players roll the dice, travel around the board to collect properties, and aim to bankrupt their opponents.
Development
The game was developed by Las Vegas software development company Westwood Studios, on behalf of publisher Hasbro Interactive. The division was created by Hasbro in 1995 to create video game adaptions of their most popular titles. In a May 1995 edition of Bangor Daily News, it was reported that Hasbro Interactive was currently testing the game, which the company claimed would be the first to have a multiplayer feature allowing players to verse each other over the Internet. While Hasbro stockholders expected to see the game during the company's annual New York City meeting on May 12, 1995, the game was officially previewed at the 1995 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. Monopoly was released in September 1995 to coincide with the board game's 60th anniversary, allowing over 23 million players to players in a variety of languages; the game offered immediate translations of currency exchange and properties, allowing international players to view regional versions of the game when playing.
Critical reception
Trent Ward of GameSpot wrote that while the notion of making a video game adaption of Monopoly was a "simple concept", the version that the developers came up with was "brilliant" because they "set their minds to it". The Jerusalem Post wrote that the "wonderful" adaption "loses nothing" from its source material, and added that its only disadvantage was that observant Jews couldn't play the game during Shabbat. The Washington Times thought the developer brought the board game "to a new level", and noted that the digital version takes away the intrusive issue of "Who's going to be the banker?".
According to Media Matrix Inc., Monopoly was the 20th top game played by U.S. Home PC users across March 2000, with 454 unique persons, 0.52% share across PC users, and 0.94% share across PC game users.