Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains
Review
A Monopoly game that should be thrown into a galaxy far, far away...
by Dan Lenois
reviewed on PC
I find your lack of luck disturbing...
Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains brings a certain galaxy far far away suddenly a lot closer to home. Players can freely select popular heroes and villains from all current film eras of the Star Wars franchise. Whether you're a fan of the originals, prequels, or sequels, there's something for you to enjoy here.
Aesthetically, the character designs are fairly accurate, and the voicework for each character is generally passable, although there are a few humorously ill-fitting performances. As a Star Wars fan myself, as well as a longtime supporter of developer Behavior Interactive, I was quite excited to see what they would bring to this galaxy of blasters, lightsabers, and mayhem. Being introduced to the gameplay mechanics by the ever-pretentious and yet endearing C3P0, and the presumably-sassy R2D2, certainly set things off on a high note.
So this is how hope dies, with thunderous applause...
After getting a copy of this game, I bought two additional copies for my friends to play, both being Star Wars fans as well. The problem is, despite Monopoly inherently being a multiplayer party game, setting up a multiplayer party is anything but easy. We were initially confused and frustrated, as the multiplayer mode appears to redirect players only to local multiplayer. After some experimenting, we found that the only way to access online multiplayer is to click past the local multiplayer screen, selecting singleplayer, and then the game will finally bring you to a pre-match screen with an online multiplayer host code that other players can type in to join. The game does not support Steam or Uplay game invite features. You cannot directly invite friends to your game.
While the focus of this game is obviously on team battles, my friends and I were greatly disappointed to find that there is no traditional free-for-all PVP mode, resembling the original Monopoly board game. Team battles can be fun, but they shouldn't come at the cost of traditional board game mechanics.
Never tell me the odds...
The interactive nature of the digital board is quite visually satisfying. Dozens of Star Wars locations are visually represented. Whenever you land on a space, you'll see a visual representation of a well-known location, usually along with accompanying thematic music and sound effects. It's quite cool to see Naboo, Tatooine, Hoth, and many other classic locations faithfully recreated in this colorful, slightly exaggerated art style.
The problem is that, unlike traditional Monopoly, where once you claim a territory, you own it, here in Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains, it can be taken from you again in a single dice roll. Any enemy that lands on it will automatically roll to claim it as their own, and if their dice roll beats yours, they steal your territory. And as each character has their own hero or villain ability, this completely destroys any semblance of balance. We faced one villain whose ability granted them a permanent additional dice to use in any role, so while we were capped at a max roll of 12, the enemy AI could roll up to 18.
The purpose of Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains isn't to bankrupt the enemy team by claiming and monopolizing on high-value properties and combinations of properties. It is to play virtual tug-of-war over the same territories again and again, interrupted only by random chance QTE-inspired events every time you pass goal. No one can earn cash, only team points. Your goal is to, by the end of the game, have more total team points than the enemy team. There is no incentive or reward for individual participation.
A Certain Point of View...
I went into this really wanting to love Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains. I love Monopoly, and I love Star Wars. But the complete absence of traditional Monopoly gameplay mechanics, as well as a lack of any gameplay balancing, make this game an incredibly hard sell. I asked both of my friends, who played with me, their verdicts. One gave it a 3 out of 10, the other a 7. For me, I was definitely let down by what I experienced. That said, I don't regret the experience. The game may be unbalanced to the point of almost being broken, but there is still a charm to it. If you're a diehard Star Wars fan, this might be worth a few matches, but its long-term replay value is anything but certain.
6.0
fun score
Pros
Customizable match length, some hero abilities can be fun.
Cons
No higher-resolution support, confusing menu, unbalanced mechanics, frustrating gameplay.