Boom Street Wii

Released on 28-Dec-2011

• Boom Street - Review

  Board game

  Boom Street is one of the best attempts to bring the fun, strategy and luck of a board game experience to video games. While it stars Mario and his Mushroom Kingdom pals, as well as characters from Square Enix's popular Dragon Quest series, it most closely resembles Monopoly, and requires little in the way of traditional gaming ability, meaning anyone who's played a board game will feel right at home. Beginner and advanced settings also mean family members of all ages can get involved.

  The game features 27 characters to choose from - 13 from Mario games, 13 from Dragon Quest and your Mii - and over 15 boards based on memorable areas from each series, with different shapes and layouts providing plenty of replay value. The basic game mode challenges players to race around the board buying, selling and trading shops in a bid to reach a target value and be the first to cash out, while the more advanced setting allows players to play the stock market too.

  Property tycoon

  There are a number of ways to make cash in the game. Once you've bought a shop, you can invest in it, much like you would with houses and hotels in Monopoly, which increases the penalty others will have to pay you if they land on the square. Your takings will also be increased if someone lands on your shop and you own ones next to it.

  Passing the bank square, like passing Go on a Monopoly board, also earns you a payout from the bank, but only if you've already passed over the four suit squares (diamond, heart, spade and club) first on your way round the board. Each time you complete this sequence you gain a level, earning a promotion that boosts your salary.

  Play the market

  Playing the more advanced game mode adds a stock market element to proceedings, which allows players to further increase their value through strategic, risk-based play. Each time you pass the bank you get the option to buy and sell stocks in various colour-coded sections of the board called districts, whether you own the buildings that exist there or not.

  This will earn you a pay cheque each time someone invests in that district or has to pay money after landing on a square in it. Of course, you can also lose money on stocks - if one player sells off a bunch of stock at once, the stock price plummets and all other stock owners take a hit. The mix of risk and educated guessing goes a long way to making the game more exciting.

  Bored game?

  While it's a great party game, Boom Street isn't without a few shortcomings. All game modes require four players, so if you're short on friends Boom Street makes up the numbers with computer controlled ones, meaning real players have to sit and wait while the computer takes its turns, which slows down the pace at times.

  For a game that's best suited to playing with friends, it's also rather bizarre that only your progress in the single player campaign goes toward unlocking extra content, like new characters, boards and costumes for your Mii, meaning those who want to open everything up are required to spend hours playing against computer characters.

  King of the board

  While there's always an element of luck in board games, collecting suits, and buying and investing in property and stocks means players have a fair bit to juggle if they're to win, making Boom Street a satisfying, strategic and competitive title to play.

  Perhaps best described as a more varied, strategic version of Monopoly with Mario and Dragon Quest themes, if you're a fan of the classic property board game or the popular Nintendo and Square Enix series, Boom Street is the new party game you've been waiting for.

  Game's Verdict

  + Perfect for players of all ages.
  + Great four player multiplayer fun.
  + More strategic than most party games.

  - Waiting for computer players to take their turns.
  - Having to play alone to unlock everything.
  - Board game haters will likely get bored.

  Published: 10/01/2012

• Editor's Choice Boom Street

  Boom Street
  While the real world economies wobble and worry over their lack of wonga, Boom Street on the Wii shows that the virtual economy at least is alive and kicking thanks to this characterful spin on a classic board game...

  It's Monopoly at heart; but Boom Street with its Mario and Dragon Quest roster of critters makes its own (Deutsch)mark. Like the age-old perennial family favourite/that bane of family get-togethers, you choose your playing piece (in this case iconic characters from either gaming series) and bound your way round the board, which floats above key locations from the games; playing against the CPU or other local/online players.

  Hotel- or home-buying are out though this game is all about shopping for, well, shops. Buy them, increase their value through investment and fleece other players when they land on them. Passing 'Go' (or the 'Bank' in this case) can see you rewarded with moola and a promotion. So far, so Park Lane then; but Boom Street offers a sweet tactical twist to its gameplay thanks to the ability to take a punt on the stock market. For instance, buy stock in a rival's shop empire and then at a key moment, sell them off, leaving your ruined competitor with devalued stock, and feeling more like Lehman Brothers than Mario Bros.

  While some will no doubt wring their hands at outbursts of such 'predatory capitalism', the rest of us will simply enjoy this fresh take on a well-worn genre that lets you focus on becoming the Queen (or King) of Shops; and to hell with the consequences.

  
  

  

  Published: 05/01/2012

• Boom Street set to receive early release on Wii

  Nintendo has announced that its new Wii board game experience Boom Street is set to receive an earlier-than-expected launch at the end of the month. The family-friendly title was originally due to be released at the start of next year, but will now be hitting stores on December 28th 2011 instead, allowing players to make an early start on its addictive finance-themed gameplay. Similar to the classic Monopoly, Boom Street sees players manoeuvring around the board to purchase properties and develop their portfolio, but ups the ante with stock market and investment options. Multiple players can compete using the same console by sharing one Wii Remote as they seek to improve their net worth the fastest, while full online play is also supported. The new game also features the stars of the Super Mario and Dragon Quest franchises, allowing fans to select their favourite characters and explore boards based on locations such as Starship Mario and Alltrades Abbey. Mario will soon be starring in another board game experience in Mario Party 9, which is also scheduled for release on Wii next year.

  Published: 23/12/2011

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