Fortune Street

Boom Street is a pleasant and surprisingly enjoyable board game for those who have the time and patience to actually be able to sit through a few games.

Boom Street is the first chapter of the long-running Itadaki series coming on western shores. If you like Monopoly-style games, this is the stuff you were waiting for.

Fortune Street may look cute from the outside, but it could become a complex game, if you so desire. Because of the several game modes, young golddiggers among us will find as much fun in Fortune Street as the more experienced player. Unfortunately you'll be listening to the same dreadful music during the entire game. Add to that a pretty boring singleplayer experience, and what you get is a slightly above average game.

Quotation forthcoming.

Fortune Street is so dense, complicated, and time consuming that it's hard to imagine that your average mini-game fan will be able to get into it, especially if they were expecting a short and shallow series of 30-second competitions.

Don´t be fooled by its colourful and shiny looks. Fortune Street is definitely not one of those cheap swing-the-mote partygame-collections. (...) A challenging virtual boardgame.

An obscure yet engrossing multiplayer game that makes a nice change from Mario Party and Monopoly. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but for the strategic Mario fan, this makes for quite a fun evening.

Complex and complete, interesting mix of financial strategy and luck with the characters of Super Mario and Dragon Quest sieges. It's very slow, but deep for those who love board games.

A handful of minor niggles, like the inability to pause outside the start of your own turn, and the rather cautious approach of CPU competitors, detract little from an uncommonly smart and genuinely tactical game. It might have fared even better without its primary-coloured fripperies but Boom Street remains good enough to turn a blind eye to its rather untimely celebration of capitalism.

A very original title with remarkable character. It is worth playing and can turn out to be addictive, although some might find its pace too slow.

Fortune Street is one of those games that isn't going to appeal to everyone, but those it does appeal to will be totally enthralled with it despite its handful of annoyances. If you like Monopoly but wish the strategy were a little more robust, Fortune Street is game you've been waiting for.

It's a clever take on the Monopoly formula, and playing online offers a great option for people who can't find a buddy to play with at home.

The classic property-stealing nature of this board game may appeal to some, but when it all comes down to it, there's not quite enough here that gives reason to put away Monopoly on family game night.

There's a lot of strategy to explore in Fortune Street, but it can drag on with games averaging two hours long, and it's a bit dull even if you like this sort of thing. In the right circumstances, it can be rewarding, but you really need a group of like-minded friends to make it worth your while.

Monopoly is a great game, and Fortune Street does nothing to improve it, or to add something that only a videogame can do. There is an online mode, but sadly it's hard to find other players. A great board game, but just a decent videogame.

Fortune street is a good board game back in its digital version. If you are a fan of this kind will be enthralled by its extreme flexibility, provided if you have a large number of friends to play with.

Intelligently redesigned but isn't punchy enough to be laughing all the way to the bank. [March 2012, p.96]

Interesting and quite complex desk game suffers from tediousness and not-so-attractive visuals. Boom Street is actually a kind of Monopoly game with more complicated rules. [Feb 2012]

A game that combines Monopoly, Hotel (the board game) and characters from Nintendo and Square in a unique and obscure way. Although not bad, it can only be recommended to a specific and small audience.

Boom Street is surely peculiar, with its strict but entertaining gameplay. It has some faults, the major being quite anonymous, but still it can be enjoyable, assuming you have three friends hanging at your pad.

Boom Street's left, then, to capitalise only on the love and appreciation we all feel towards our global banking overlords.

Mario turns property tycoon in a relatively successful alternative to Monopoly, but a very disappointing crossover.

Fortune Street is a decent strategy board game, but the slow pace siphons away much of the fun.

Despite plenty of colour and 'cheeky' dialogue it's as uplifting as a Wilfred Owen poem. It also lacks the personal touch that a physical board game provides. [Jan 2012, p.104]

A monopoly style boardgame that does very little to make use of the interactive possibilites of the medium. The presentation is somewhat uninspired and although the basic formula is entertaining, the game never takes it to the next level.

Boom Street plays like a digital version of Monopoly, starring Mario and his friends as well as Dragon Quest characters. But there is not much interaction in the game and you'd expect more from a full price retail game.

Boom Street would have worked well as a board game, but as a videogame it does never seem to find its place.

Fortune Street is a good board game in terms of premise but as a videogame, it suffers in many areas that we would expect would be enhanced by being a virtual experience.