Monopoly Star Wars: Heroes Vs Villains Review - A New Hope
For nearly a hundred years, the modern interpretation of the timeless classic board game Monopoly has been a household staple for families and friends. Eventually expanding from the normal location based boards, into the realm of popular IP. But as technology progressed, Monopoly carried over to the world of video games with releases on many console generations.
Bringing us to today as Hasbro and Ubisoft have tasked Dead By Daylight studio, Behaviour Interactive to meld Monopoly with Star Wars. They do this by putting a unique team based spin on a Monopoly game set in a galaxy far far away, where you compete in 2v2 or 3v3 matches that replace the traditional free-for-all. Either single-player against AI, offline with friends, or online.
The game opens with the strange decision to exclude the main Star Wars theme or any memorable tracks, in favour of compositions that mimic familiar motifs - a decision that continues throughout the game. But you soon forget about this when you are immediately transported into the distinct cantina environment made famous by George Lucas all those years ago. It's an immersive backdrop with aliens that you can imagine are bounty hunters or unscrupulous types up to no good in the Outer Rim.
This sets the stage as you're auto walked through the stylised 3D environment to a game station where the Monopoly board is eventually projected like a game of holochess aboard the Millennium Falcon. Instantly, a simple but clear to read menu occupies the screen. From the beginning, every mode is accessible: an in-depth interactive tutorial teaches you how to play the game, a player profile shows your accomplishments and objectives left to do to unlock new characters to use on the board, the option to either create a 2v2 or 3v3 offline or online game for up to six players or AI competitors that can be controlled by one or multiple controllers.
I would recommend checking out the robust tutorials to familiarise yourself with how the new gameplay mechanics work. Whether you choose to set up a game where you must go past up to eight GO events, the goal is always the same: to be the team with the most influence points.
But for anyone familiar with Monopoly, the game will be a pick up and play experience. There's just a few differences, such as no game ending bankruptcy, no trading properties, and a strategic use of teamwork. However, the developers have made sure that every action lives and breathes Star Wars. Like landing on the same property tile as your opponent. This triggers a battle where you roll dice to see who can get the biggest amount. If the opposition wins, a cutscene plays to show you using your selected spaceship to blow them to smithereens; giving you both the glory and the property.
Everything exudes a cinematic audiovisual flair. After selecting how long your game will be, you choose from a cast of over twenty heroes and villains from the extended Star Wars universe. Everyone from Han Solo, Emperor Palpatine, Bo Katan and Aura Sing are rendered in a cartoon style similar to the older seasons of the Clone Wars show meets Disney Infinity toys. Most of these character tokens are unlocked from the start, but the list of objectives offers incentive to replay by rewarding extra character tokens, costumes, dice, and spaceships.
Once you've chosen your playing piece, renderings of C-3PO and R2-D2 appear on the table, as typically C-3PO begins to regale about the upcoming match before the playing table transforms into an animated Monopoly board.
The music bursts into life with similar enough tracks and voice acting that imitates their TV and live-action counterparts. Immersed in the match, you can zoom out or in around the board to familiarise yourself with the new and old tiles. Traditional train stations have been replaced by hyperdrive warps, the jail can turn players into carbonite, Canto Bight offers the chance to gamble and multiply your credits, 20 Star Wars locations can be purchased and upgraded to outposts or bases, chance tiles are replaced by Destiny cards to influence the game, and you can hire help for your team at the cantina.
But it's passing GO where you get the opportunity to win influence points and further your lead. You play a dice game where any active player gets a chance to win. Generally this means rolling a particular number to succeed and see a recreation of an iconic hero or villain scene from the Star Wars universe. But if you succeed twice, you gain additional influence points to further turn the tide of battle in your favour.
Despite the differences, the core fundamentals are the same: players take turns rolling a dice to slowly purchase properties and gain influence over the galaxy. These locations are presented by nicely animated dioramas that help immerse you in the sci-fi universe. But once you've gained enough influence, your team will gain planet monopoly. Unless you lose a property battle in the later stages of the game.
But what makes Monopoly Star Wars: Heroes Vs Villains unique is its team focused mechanics. Each team shares currency, and each player can use a passive or active skill. It's imperative to choose carefully when to spend credits on properties or upgrades for influence points, and balance the need to keep credits in reserve to escape prison or buy back a property tile.
Although it's the skills that can turn a game around. Characters can use a passive or active skill once a prerequisite is met. Some characters can advance directly to an opponent and fight, steal credits, directly access the cantina, and many more. But my personal favourite allowed me to use additional dice during one-on-one battles. This creates countless team compositions, and a level of strategy that differentiates the board from the traditional version.
Away from the core mechanics, I did run into one big bug when playing with an AI teammate. I ended up restarting the whole game as the AI got stuck in a loop selecting and deselecting their ability. Apart from this, the experience playing with AI and people was incredibly smooth. It just felt like opening up a new Monopoly board with a few nice tweaks to the gameplay systems.
After countless games of Monopoly Star Wars: Heroes Vs Villains, it feels like a worthy edition in the large library of Monopoly boards and video games. While it could've included a couple more environments, board designs and modes, I thought of the game like getting a new individual board from the toy store rather than a revolutionary take on the game. As it needs to thread the needle between being undeniably a Monopoly game whilst infusing enough unique elements from the Star Wars IP.
Monopoly Star Wars: Heroes Vs Villains does enough to make it a solid team based take on the classic game, to appeal to both Monopoly and Star Wars fans. But if you're looking for something beyond an easy way to play a themed board online or offline with friends, a subset of players will leave wanting more. But for those that view the game as a new board to play set in the Star Wars universe, with a fresh strategic take on Monopoly mechanics, it won't disappoint.
*Review Code Provided By Publisher
