Fortune Street (Wii)
Developer: Armor Street, Square Enix
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: December 23, 2011
MSRP: $49.99

This game can be compared to Monopoly however do not expect another simple game where you travel around a board buying property and attempt to bankrupt other players as this game is far more complicated than that. The game basically works like this: you start at the bank which lies at the center of the board. From there, you roll the dice and decide what direction you should head down (usually left or right, but some of the bigger boards may give you more options). Then you purchase property in the Monopoly style, roll more dice, choose the direction of your path again when you hit a fork in the road, and make your way around the board as you see fit. The four corners of the board contain special blocks that represent the four suits (Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, and Spades). Hit them all and head back to the bank and you level up, which scores you some dough and better stats.

I would like to mention that it is quite clear that the series designer of the Dragon Quest series Yuji Horii is behind the game from the gameplay to the obvious inclusion of Dragon Quests characters and monsters.

While at the bank, you can also buy and sell stocks, which is where a lot of the advanced strategy comes in. Buy stock in someone else’s property and you’ll increase how much profit they make off of said property while skimming a bit off the top for yourself. You can also invest in your own property, bolstering its profit potential at a cost, buy and sell property with other players, and partake in a variety of other financial strategies. Factor in different strategies around where you buy property and which property is geographically more likely to turn a profit (for instance, properties near the bank have a higher chance of being hit by other players, etc.) and you have a lot to think about, definitely more than in your standard game of Monopoly.

There is an easy mode that streamlines the entire game by eliminating the stock option and while the game is still more complicated than the average board game it is still a lot easier than the game on normal difficulty. Easy mode is perfect for beginner players that need to get the hang of things or for people who just don’t have the time or energy to be bogged down by all the additional rules that the stock option gives you. To keep things fun the game also has fun squares that are some what random and have players do multiple things such as go to a carnival and play Mario Party style mini games, which do not last very long for those that do not enjoy that kind of thing. There are other squares that let you play a Super Mario Bros 3 card game of chance, transportation squares and other odd things and while that can be a lot to take in or simply makes no sense in a board game it proves that Fortune street could be nothing other than a video game.

The online game play is rather smooth and really has no issues, which is a nice change of pace and while there is no way to chat with the people you play against it really does not matter all that much. One main draw back to the game aside from the complicated rules is that it can take a long time to play an average game (roughly 2-3 hours) with the odd game lasting upwards of 5 hours or more as it can be very difficult to win or lose in the game. The game itself has a rather dry personality and in order to unlock all the boards and Mario based content you have to play through the campaign mode which can take a lot of time to complete and while it adds a little to the game it does not add that much over all. The average player will no doubt not like this game too much but the more hard core player will no doubt enjoy a Monopoly on steroids game that really makes you think about each move you want to take in order to cash in the most.

All in all this is still a great game and I do recommend it for those that really enjoy a board game that is not just lengthy but really makes you think and focus. I give it a 7/10.

Nova out!

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