The classic board game that causes many a family upset has moved from the dining table to the living room TV, but has any of the family feuding been lost in translation?

Monopoly is the game that allows wheelers and dealers to trade and build property empires that can all be lost over the roll of a dice. On the console version there are two modes on offer which are the classic mode that we all know and love and the all new richest mode.

Classic mode is how you remember it, 4 players take turns to roll the dice and then move around the board accordingly, buying or auction the properties that you land on, once you have a coloured set (Monopoly) you are then able to build houses and later hotels on your land. After each roll you are able to go into your accounts screen and offer trades with other players and also purchase and mortgage properties. If any other player lands on these they will owe you rent, and later in the game this will cost you millions of pounds rather than a few quid. The last player standing is the winner. These games take a while to play through, especially with 4 human players but they are just as fun as on the board versions. The board game rules are represented as should be, plus you are able to tweak a few of them. I have always had a problem with the ability to earn and trade properties whilst in jail and that is still here in this version, you can’t do it under UK law so why here? That Mr Monopoly is a dodgy character.

When beginning the game for the first time you start with the classic board with the usual London addresses and also a World Board. A cool little addition is the passport. The player that is signed on earns a passport stamp when they purchase a property, get all of these and you can then open a new board to play on. There are few extra boards to open including a cheese board, Deco board and an Aztec board.

The classic game can easily take over an hour to play through but for the console generation there is now the richest mode which offers the same boards but very different rules. Here, 4 dice are rolled and then you play a mini game to find out the order of play. Each player will then select a dice and they will be handed the amount of property cards shown on the dice. The first few rounds is all about getting as many properties as possible, however if you start to land on someone else’s property you will owe them one of yours, land on a monopoly or on a area with houses and hotels and you will owe loads of properties. The chance and community chest cards play a large part in this mode, land on these and you may be able to steal loads of cards or even a monopoly, changing the whole game in one play.

The aim of the richest mode is to have the highest real estate earnings by the end of the game, each game can be 6,9 or 12 stages. There are plenty of mini games to play on each stage, each one is monopoly themed like breaking out of jail, throwing money bags into a safe and running to catch an ambulance. These are quite basic looking games and mostly require you to waggle the LS up and down or back and forth. Richest mode is a great idea and allows for quick 30 minute bursts of game play.

Monopoly is definitely a game which should be played by 2 or more players on the same console, there is no online mode which is a shocking shame as this would have made it a great game, but it is still an enjoyable experience and yes, the arguments are still there.