The Game of Life 2 is a game ported over from mobile to console – and despite good intentions, it shows. Based around the board-game of the same name, Game of Life 2 centres around you progressing around a virtual …
The Game of Life 2 is a game ported over from mobile to console – and despite good intentions, it shows.
Based around the board-game of the same name, Game of Life 2 centres around you progressing around a virtual board – you get a career, find love, and so on.
You compete against three other players, and whoever is left with the most money wins. Just like in real life.
Making money is a case of choosing the best job, but you also get rewarded for doing the best out of everyone in three categories – knowledge, happiness, and wealth.
Different squares on the board give you chances to get points in these categories, but also help you make more money via your career.
There are squares where every player is stopped at too, and these are where you select significant life choices. Such as whether you choose to remain single, have a child, and adopt a pet.
Other squares see you pay other players, choose whether to take up a hobby, or spin a wheel – the latter gives you the chance to get points for the three aforementioned categories or stone cold cash.
Each players ‘dice roll’ is actually performed on a wheel, with each participant being allotted a number – if someone lands on yours you get a bit more cash.
Despite the sentences above taking up quite a bit of room – sorry about that – there really isn’t a lot to The Game of Life 2. Although you make a lot of decisions they’re all 50/50, and even though games are short we still saw a fair bit of repetition in the options offered.Â
What you choose and when definitely has an impact on proceedings, but due to the brief nature of matches there’s never really enough time to think up a long term strategy. Â
For the hefty price tag we’d expect a bit more from The Game of Life 2, especially as the presentation is charming but occasionally a bit shonky. Models look very basic despite their colourful nature, and the animation on characters is perfunctory.Â
For the price being asked we’d expect a bit more polish, especially as it could have helped to mask the slight gameplay. Online play is welcome, but the fact only three worlds are available from the off – with eight more you have to pay more for – is massively disappointing.
Ultimately The Game of Life 2 isn’t a bad game – and should appeal to families looking for the occasional brief piece of entertainment – but doesn’t offer a slick enough package to justify its price-tag.
