First “The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword,” now this. In less than a month, in the waning days of the Wii’s life cycle, we get two games that should have launched with the console. “Skyward Sword” is the perfect showcase for one Wii wheelhouse — its motion controls — while “Fortune Street,” a bizarre, engrossing hybrid of Monopoly and the stock market, is a great example of the console’s other focus: opening video games to people of different ages and interests. If you have any board game fans, armchair tacticians or budding entrepreneurs among your loved ones, here’s how to unite them over the holidays.
“Fortune Street” looks like a board game, plays like a war game, feels like a Mario game, and will have you thinking more about high finance than you would ever guess. The game can be played two ways. Easy Rules make for something like Monopoly — roll the die, buy properties, make sales when other people land on stores you own — with a couple differences. First, simple minigames everyone can play break up the action. Second, and more importantly, you can invest money in the shops you own, so their prices go up.
