Developer: The Unknown Machine
Publisher: The Unknown Machine
Platform: PC
Tested On: PC
The MoneyMakers Rallye – Review
The MoneyMakers Rallye is a fun lighthearted board game similar to popular titles like The Game Of Life and Monopoly. While it’s not very entertaining to play solo, having a group of friends join in on the action is the best way to play. That being said, we were lured in by the game’s visuals and were quite amused with how this one turned out.
Story
The game starts off by introducing the player to the board you will travel on, which is the whole continent of Europe. While competing with other players, the main goal is to accumulate as much money as possible while traveling to their designated area. That’s pretty much it, since the game is based on tabletop mechanics, the story aspect isn’t necessarily lacking, but is simply not really needed.
Graphics
For a tabletop game, the graphic design is vibrant and colorful. The game does a good job of adding some sort of realism to the map, player pieces, and buildings, while also adding an arcade-like and cartoony aesthetic.
Other than the overworld map players will spend the majority of their time viewing, there are plenty of events that take place in different areas, such as the Lottery and Casino areas, that each look and feel completely unique from the overall map.
The playable pieces on the board are modeled after different cars, which makes sense since traveling around the continent is the main goal of the game. Rather than them being unique, they are all standard fare, consisting of sports cars, vintage cars, trucks, vans, etc. The only other difference between them is each one is a different color, aside from the special cars like the Delorean and The A-Team van. Considering how colorful the map is, it was slightly disappointing for the cars to not have a similar trait.
Sound
There is not much to mention for sound sadly. Pretty much everything sounds the same for each character and the spaces players will travel to. The overall theme of being a lighthearted title is further attributed by the song that plays while players travel. Since there’s only one song that plays during the whole game, it can get pretty bland after playing longer games.
Gameplay
The MoneyMakers Rallye is a tabletop board game, being a spiritual successor to Dr. Drago’s Madcap Chase, a game released in 1995 by Ubisoft. As mentioned earlier, the main goal of the game is to travel the board, which is the whole continent of Europe, to reach the random designated area; while also having the largest amount of money. Players who are experienced with similar games such as Monopoly will understand the mechanics quickly, since the overall rules of the game are somewhat the same.
From the start, players will move using the dice, collecting money and buying property, to increase their overall revenue. From there, players will be able to collect a number of cards that greatly level the playing field.
The aforementioned cards can either be helpful or harmful, ranging from buying property at cheaper prices, adding extra dice for more turns, and even being a nuisance to other players by skipping their turns and stealing property. Much like the chance and community cards in Monopoly, these cards add plenty of enjoyable moments and a perfect way of keeping the game fresh.
To add even more to the chaos, the game adds a completely separate AI to the mix. Sir Clepton is a character that pops up at the most inconvenient times, which adds to the game’s enjoyment. The main gimmick is that near the end of the round mostly, he will target the player who is furthest from the goal and take a large chunk of money. Players looking to stall the game and take as much property as they can are at a huge risk of losing everything to Sir Clepton, making the game faster-paced than other tabletop titles.
Needless to say, there are a few issues. For some random reason, during the end screen when the game is completely over, the volume is unnecessarily loud. Even when playing at the lowest volume this can be an issue for certain players. Also when starting a completely new game after playing for a while, sometimes the game would just force close completely, which can be a nuisance when playing with groups. The AI also needs some definite improvements. When playing with the AI, it seems too bland. They rarely use cards and buy property, which makes the game far less enjoyable playing solo; and more like a necessity to play multiplayer.
Conclusion
The MoneyMakers Rallye is a nostalgic take on its predecessor. The overall layout and graphic design are vibrant and colorful, the gameplay is simple yet addicting, and there’s plenty of content and replayability thanks to the card system and Sir Clepton. The game has a few annoying bugs and the AI seems too easy at times but nonetheless, there is fun to be had with the title.
The MoneyMakers Rallye - Review,
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