Game of Life

Spare a thought for board games. Once, every rainy weekend would be spent hunched over the likes of Cluedo, Monopoly and Risk, hunting for pieces down the back of the sofa and causing massive family feuds to break out. Now their place in the family unit has been taken by the twin colossi of video games and reality TV, crushing all before them.

One of the most well-known of these tabletop gems was Game of Life, an ambitious game that enabled you to play through the whole span of a person’s existence. Your success or failure as a player, and therefore a person, was judged by how much money you accrued, how many kids you had, and the things you achieved. The player who ended their life with the biggest wad and most magnificent mansion was the winner. You might not agree with the materialistic ethos, but it was certainly a classic motivator!

So how has this treasured family board game translated into pocket gaming form? Well, you still have a car to race around the board, which takes you down life’s road earning wages, paying taxes, getting married, having kids and the like. It looks fairly pretty too – you’re represented in-game by a little smiley face (you can enter each player’s name and gender for that extra personalisation), and travel through a green and pleasant land populated with houses, shops and churches. There's even the board game's trademark spinner to decide how far you move each turn. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is sub-par; one tune that plays on a loop throughout the game, and nothing else. You’ll have to select the ‘sound off’ option before you go nuts.

The real fun in Game of Life lies in the range of different lives you can lead. One game might see you become a teacher (exempt from education fees!), have five kids, and finish the game curing the common cold and ending pollution. The next sees you play as an athlete, going through life with no kids but winning marathons and inventing supercomputers. Life’s little challenges are represented by a (slightly limited) range of mini-games, for instance finding your way through a maze or matching cards. Complete these successfully and you get a cash injection and a ‘Life Card’, a record of your finest achievements.

Where Game of Life really makes a bid for pocket gaming's big league is when playing against up to three other human players. The computer opponents vary from moronic to God-like depending on the mini-game and, let’s face it, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat is far more fun when it’s against a friend rather than your mobile.

So gather your mates around your phone, and show them how they should really be living their lives!

Game of Life

A solid conversion of a board game classic, with lots of replay value and no chance of losing the pieces
Score