Monopoly Tycoon 2007

How much money would it take for you to sit back and think to yourself, "I've got enough"? Would it be a million or a lottery winner's seventeen? Maybe, just maybe, it would be less. After all, the more level-headed of us realise that money isn't everything.

This isn't a philosophy espoused by Monopoly Tycoon 2007, the sequel to one of our favourite games of 2005, as it encourages you to make money hand-over-fist like some kind of Donald Trump figure, only with nicer hair.

As opposed to a straight-up conversion of the boardgame, Monopoly Tycoon 2007 plays more like Sim City, albeit on a smaller scale. You compete with between one to three computer-controlled opponents to buy city blocks and then build and manage profitable enterprises on them.

The action is turn-based in a nod to the game's heritage and you're restricted to carrying out a limited number of actions per turn. Your profits and property assets gauge your success, and there are a host of ways in which you can grow or reduce your finances.

For a start, each of the coloured Monopoly streets have been transferred to the game, and their relative values have made the jump intact, too. So the Mayfair block will accept only the best services and utilities, while Old Kent Road residents are happy with less.

You can, for example, specify the number of floors to include in your new department store, hire a manager, conduct resident surveys to determine the demand for a particular service, or adjust your prices.

It's this kind of careful management that Monopoly Tycoon 2007 requires. It's not micro-management, where you need to be involved in every last decision, but it's interesting enough to enable you to effectively oversee your business empire.

However, this relative lack of depth means that now, more than a year since the original Monopoly Tycoon came out, the game can't compete with more recent additions to the management game genre. Certainly there's a niche for a 'lite' management sim, and Monopoly Tycoon 2007 fills it admirably, but there's a problem.

If you've played the original, the 2007 edition will seem very similar to you, as it does little to change or build upon the initial concept. It was a massive disappointment to us that this is the case, as we wanted something that showed us something fresh, that took our prior excitement and entertained us anew.

Sadly, even with two modes of play on offer, Monopoly Tycoon 2007 is a low-key experience. The Free Play mode enables you to compete in an open-ended game against a number of computer opponents of your choosing, while the Scenario modes provide more structure in the form of an objective that must be met, but each fails to stimulate.

This means that there's no reason to upgrade if you've played and finished the 2005 game, despite the new visuals that improve on the originals by adding more detail.

If you haven't played the first edition, though, there's still enough good points to Monopoly Tycoon 2007 to recommend it to anyone looking for a simple management game.