Monopoly Star Wars

• 1. Introduction

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  In 1997, at the E3 trade show, Hasbro Interactive announced a PlayStation edition of Monopoly Star Wars that never arrived. Players would have moved their pieces freely around the board, but the version was canceled soon after for reasons that were never made public. The Windows edition released instead, developed by Artech Studios and published by Hasbro Interactive, one of many Monopoly video game adaptations. It kept traditional Monopoly's basic rules, but replaced the standard tokens and properties with Star Wars characters and locations. What actually happens once the dice roll on this galactic board, and why did a rushed production leave some features unfinished? The answers stretch from a hurried finish date to reviewers who could not agree on what they had played.

• 2. Playing The Galaxy

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  Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Boba Fett and Stormtrooper are the eight pieces players pick before a match starts. During selection these pieces look like cast metal figurines, but once play starts they become fully animated and textured to resemble their film counterparts. Up to four people can join a single game, and anyone playing alone can fill the empty seats with as many as three AI-controlled opponents. Several options let each player adjust the game to personal preference. C-3PO narrates the proceedings, voiced by Anthony Daniels, the actor who plays the droid on screen.

  Free Parking and the other corner spaces stay the same, even though every property between them becomes a Star Wars locale. Once characters are chosen, the board appears in a perspective view, with a starship representing each player positioned along the sides. Each starship displays its owner's current funds and properties, and carries a matching character figure mounted on its hull. Instead of building houses and hotels, players construct starports on the spaces they own. When a player rolls the dice, the camera cuts to a side-view perspective. Animated clips drawn from the films then play out for whichever space the roll lands on.

  Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone let spectators watch multiplayer matches unfold, part of agreements Hasbro struck with Microsoft and Sony Online Entertainment. The game also supported matches over a local network beyond a single sitting at one keyboard. Zone support for CD-ROM titles like this one ended on the 19th of June 2006, cutting off that avenue for online play. GameRanger has since stepped in to restore the game's multiplayer connections, so matches over the internet remain possible today.

• 3. A Rushed Production

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  A board game version of Star Wars Monopoly had already sold very well before Hasbro considered a computer edition. 1997 was also the year a Special Edition version of the original Star Wars trilogy appeared, and Hasbro decided a video game adaptation could build on the board game's popularity in time for the Christmas shopping season. Programmer Alexander G. M. Smith took charge of the software design for the game's rules engine. A small crew built a sizzle reel of the 3D visuals to pitch the concept to Hasbro. The project won approval on the strength of that reel.

  Anthony Daniels also contributed his writing skills to the project, beyond his voice work as the game's narrator. Over the course of development, the project moved away from simple, functional dialog boxes and a bare 2D board. Fancy animations, sound effects, and voice work took their place. The schedule tightened toward the end, and the team cut a planned interface for trading immunities and futures. A Japanese-language version of the game was postponed as well. The finished game was completed on the 18th of October 1997.

  Jack Sorensen, president of LucasArts, said the crossover would reach a broader audience now able to experience two cultural icons together. Hasbro Interactive President Tom Dusenberry called the pairing of two culturally ingrained properties an even bigger, more thrilling entertainment experience. The game was previewed at the 1997 Children's Interactive Expo. Hasbro Interactive also launched a companion website for the game in October and November of 1997.

• 4. Mixed Verdicts

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  The Software Publishers Association gave the game its 1998 award for Best Use of Visual Arts in Multimedia, honoring its full-motion video and 3D animation. Eurogamer placed the game on a December 2016 list of notable Star Wars spinoffs.

  Nick Smith of AllGame liked that the developers did more than stamp the Star Wars name onto a Monopoly board. He praised how thoroughly the design incorporated authentic details from that universe. The Adrenaline Vault's Jim Brambaugh likewise pointed to the game's "authenticity," while noting the built-in appeal of merging two already popular franchises. GameSpot's Walter Morbeck agreed the pairing was a good idea, but he called the resulting game "somewhat pointless." The Boston Globe's Kathy McCabe wrote that the effort "married tradition and pop culture." Robin Ray of the Boston Herald deemed the game "marvelous," and Pam Gleichman of the Cincinnati Post called parts of it "classic" and "stunning."

  PC Gamer's Cody Williamson praised the game's full-motion video and 3D animation, describing players who "jump, duck, and somersault from space to space." He noted, however, that the multimedia slowed the pace of the game, and he eventually turned most of the features off. With those features disabled, Williamson felt he was left with little different from a standard Monopoly game. He suspected most players would rather be "gathering around the dining room table for a good, old-fashioned board game."