JadeDragon's
reviews and playing tips: Palm OS games
MiniPolis & Casino
MiniPolis, by ICOM
Consulting, $12.95 Reviewed August 2002
How would you like to own the Park Avenue
in New York or take rent money for your properties on Sunset
Boulevard in Los Angeles? How about buy Heathrow Airport
in London while auctioning off Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne?
If you work hard enough, you might just achieve that, in
MiniPolis! Developed by ICOM, MiniPolis puts a new twist
on the popular board game Monopoly in the Palm of your hand.
The game play is similar to the board game,
but MiniPolis offers multiple city-specific game packs including
New York, Los Angeles, London, Melbourne, Chicago and Denver,
to give you local color. You only need to purchase the MiniPolis
default packs and you will get other add-on levels for free.
MiniPolis
MiniPolis has a unique way to display the
game board. Instead of having the property slots on the edge
of the board, MiniPolis stacks the property squares in a
snake-like layout, so that you will see every square with
its property name and sometimes a little cute icon along
with the neighborhood’s color. The game takes advantage
of pop-up windows, which show all the attributes of the property
on which you’ve just landed. If it’s still on
the market, you can click on the Buy button and the property
is yours. If you need to pay rent, the game will deduct the
money from your total and tell you whom you need to pay and
how much. Up to four players can play MiniPolis.
The dice are in the middle of the screen.
You can click on them to spin the sides when it’s your
turn. The square you land in will turn from white to gray,
and you can see a little animation of square jumping. The
pop up windows look very similar to the playing cards in
the board game. The street property cards will list almost
identical information as the real Monopoly property cards,
such as how much the rent is, property price, and mortgage
rates. The special cards such as Parking, Airports, Fly Cage
(like jail), and etc. feature some cute cartoon pictures
with instructions. Mortgaging, dealing and auction properties
are also done through the pop up windows. This set up allows
the main board to look clean and not cluttered, and provides
very detailed information when you get the pop up cards.
MiniPolis comes with a rulebook and a virtual
board help, which will teach you how to play the game step
by step. In Preferences, you can pick the city you want to
play. If you have installed the add-on packs, they will show
up on this list. You can also change the animation speed
and turn on or off the Auto Play, Flash Tracks, Jokes and
Sound. You can also choose to play at one of the three difficulty
levels, though you can’t change the levels in the middle
of a game. The game keeps high score as well.
The Hi-Res 320x320 for the Clie and multi-human
players via IR version are slated to be the next enhancement
of MiniPolis.
Casino MiniPolis
The dynamic design of MiniPolis allows
more features to be added. The game developer has just released
Casino MiniPolis, which implemented some Casino betting rules
and actions into the game. You can play any city including
the add-on cities with Casino MiniPolis where there is a
Casino square in the midst of all properties. If you land
on that square, you get to gamble for bigger bucks. Everything
lost by the players in the game is accumulated in the Jackpot.
The Bank and you throw the dice in turn and the bigger number
wins the round. You can bet up to $3,000 each round in 3
rounds. You should always try to get on this square. I have
not lost a bet so far! While the add-on cities are free,
Casino MiniPolis is a new game, sold at $12.95.
If you are bored with your board
game and its missing cards and play money, why not pick
up this dynamic and uniquely designed Monopoly remake.
With the add-on cities, you will gain free new games instantly.
Playing Hints and Tips
If you like to gamble, try the Casino
MiniPolis. If you are a traditional Monopoly fan, download
the MiniPolis. Regardless of which one you play, don’t
forget the add-on packs!
Casino MiniPolis
MiniPolis
Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):
Graphics
Very creative way to set up the game board,
keeping it full of information without clutter.
Sound
N/A
Other than the dice spinning, there is
not sound.
Fun Meter
If you are a Monopoly fan, you can’t
resist a good game of MiniPolis, not to mention so many cities
to choose from. Up to 3 of your friends can join you, or you
can play against the computer players.
Addictivity
Depends on whom you ask. If you ask a Monopoly
fan, you'll love this game which plays just like the board game
but offers you a choice of cities, plus gambling action. I will
bet my money that Monopoly fans will addicted to owning properties
around the globe!
