Monopoly Streets

3 cert, EA/Hasbro, PS3 (also Xbox 360, Wii)

As we've said before on these pages, board games translate pretty well to videogames. No losing pieces, sifting through rule books or unfurling a big board and paraphernalia. In Monopoly, the roll of the dice and business nous will determine your economic fate. The static original game is nicely expanded, imagining the board as an animated city: characters frolic from one location to the next, metaphorical buildings rise or fall to reflect your net worth, and the auctions are fast-paced. With its glossy layout and quirky, innocent sense of humour, the videogame version is more convenient, though it's hard not to miss the centrality of the board on a table, or the tangibility of mounds of cash. An appropriate videogame for our property-obsessed nation, Monopoly Streetstranslates most of the enjoyment rather seamlessly from table to screen.