However, the animations can be extremely slow. In addition, there are animations or cartoons for each of the spaces on which one can land, and some of them are even mildly amusing. Hasbro Interactive have tried to spice the game up visually by giving you a first-person perspective as you travel across the board. Obviously, this can become a bit tedious, and the fact that - unlike the boardgame - you don't even have to pick up and move your piece or count the spaces means that you are really not much more than a spectator once you hit the "spinner" button.
"Playing" the game simply requires hitting the button that says "spinner," and watching what happens next. The game can be played with up to six players, with any combination of humans and computer opponents (exception: no computer opponents are available for network play). Some people might consider this a questionable goal in light of the fact that it might encourage children to be more materialistic, but I would suggest that these people lighten up. Players will either collect or pay money on each space, or they will collect a "LIFE tile." LIFE tiles consist of cards with random dollar values that the player reveals only upon traversing the entire game board and "retiring." The object of the game is not to be the one to traverse the board first (or even last - you don't win if you live the longest!) but to have the most money after everyone has finished (retired). Landing on a given space causes some "life-related" event to occur, such as having to pay taxes, or going on vacation, or some such. Gameplay consists of advancing across the board, which is divided into a number of spaces. If I really wanted to play a game of this sort (again, as a child), I would be far more inclined to play the boardgame and interact with the other players directly and move the pieces myself rather than focus on the computer screen. If I were a child and old enough to play a game of this sort, there would probably be far more interesting things for me to do on the computer than play The Game of LIFE. For this reason, I'm not sure how useful a computer version of this game is. As a result, this is a game that children will play with their friends or that the whole family will play together. Consequently, everyone has about an equal chance of winning any given playing. Thus, players don't get punished for making bad decisions: they simply get punished for bad luck. You simply spin the spinner and move as many spaces as it tells you. The Game of LIFE is an excellent children's game because there are a minimal number of decisions to make during play. Hasbro Interactive are releasing quite a few of their boardgame titles on computer (such as the aforementioned Sorry! as well as Axis & Allies), and as a result we're now able to play The Game of LIFE without having to clean off the dining room table. Of course, this is 1998, so it seems almost natural that a version would be released for the computer.
While the fact was that the only thing you might learn was a bizarre caricature of life according to stereotypes formed during the 1950's, The Game of LIFE was certainly one of the children's/family games that most people of my generation will remember having played on at least a few occasions, along with such games as Sorry! and Clue. "You can learn about life when you play The Game of LIFE!" Many (American) readers will instantly recognize this catchy television jingle of some twenty years ago promoting the old boardgame by this name.
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