The Game of Life

Surely you’ve heard of the board game The Game of Life. It’s the board that simulates all the fun of living, working, having kids, and retiring, without the tedium of actually waiting for several dozen years while your actual life plays out.

The video game adaptation of this game is pretty true to the board game version, with the added bonus of there are less pieces to lose. You spin the wheel, drive forward the requisite number of spaces, have some life event happen (you have another daughter!, your house burns down!, etc.), you adjust your funds, and you steadily head for retirement. All the while a slightly cheesy (and very annoying) announcer emcees the whole deal. Pretty standard stuff.

However, unlike the board game (and completely inexplicably) there are little arcadey challenges that occasionally pop up. These completely break the flow of the game, and aren’t really more than tangentially related to the main game. Thankfully you do have the option to turn them off (I think), making it a $20 or so version of a $12 or so game that you can play on your television. What progress!

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