Game of Life

I have my Life cereal ready, so let’s play!

Information:

  • Review Date: July 15, 2021
  • Release Date: September 30, 1998
  • Platform: PlayStation
  • Publisher: Hasbro
  • Developer: Hasbro
  • Genre: Board Game

Anecdotes: Back in my Monopoly writeup, I had talked about playing family board games and the age old tradition of the brother cheating and game ending board flips. This is Life, though, which doesn’t produce anywhere near the levels of anger that Monopoly does. My brother couldn’t even cheat at it. We always caught his “accidental” space skips. There’s no advantage to hiding money under the table. The rules are clearer and made up “house rules” are uncommon.

Description: Life is a game that simulates the adult portion of people’s lives. To streamline it, though, every player goes through a similar trajectory. They have the option to go to college, but they must get a job, followed by getting married. Being single isn’t an option. A few kids may appear later on, but with or without kids, the game ends upon retirement.

Positives:

  • It’s quite faithful to the board game, even including the small things like stock buys. All of the games traditional elements were left in place.

Negatives:

  • The gameplay is SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!! Turns take forever and it starts to feel like my turn is never coming back around.

Screenshots:

Yeah, this could take a while.
Ah, yes, the spinner! Half the time, we’d either get it stuck or we would fling the thing off the table. We would also try oiling it, which led to oil flying around, too.
I’m a true Picasso.
Why do I need a full graphic for Pay Day? Let’s get a move on this!
Get married? Well, this isn’t my life playing out, then. I do appreciate the HUGE stop sign, though.
I make $90,000 per whatever, but I still got the $40,000 “split level.”

My Progress: Got bored about halfway though

Final Opinion: Don’t bother with this. Buy the board game instead.

Grade: C

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