NESpresso: Game Reviews \ PC \ Big Money Deluxe

Game Stats
System: PC
Genre: Puzzle / Action
Players: 1
Memory used: about 9 MB's (w/ installer)
Playtime: 00:00 / 00:03
ESRB Rating: Everybody (6+)

Screenshots

Another Pop Cap hit released to the public as people try to get rich by collecting moneybags while preventing the coins from reaching the top.

Big Money is a variation of a lesser known game called "Same Game", where players try to clear the screen by clicking on a group of 2 or more items that are touching each other. In Big Money, the challenge is that you must clear groups of 3 or more from an ever-growing playfield

As with all of the Pop Cap games, the graphics are simple, yet effective. The coins that you play with have both colors & money symbols like Dollars ($), Cents (¢), Pounds (£), Yen (¥) & even Euros (€). You'll also see the occasional spinning dollar sign (NOT as a coin) in various colors, but that's the only downside with the graphics for the colorblind.

The music in the game is bouncy & somewhat of a ragtime that you may have heard in other computer games like Monopoly. Unfortunately, there's only one tune that you'll hear while playing the game but it's normally broken up between the level ups, menu selection & the game over music. The sound effects make the coins feel realistic as you hear the clangs of the coins as they drop & a cash register opening once you fill up the coin meter. Both the music & the sound effects can get annoying in marathon sessions, but you can adjust the volume of both within the game. That way you can enjoy your own music while playing.

If you haven't played the game before, the object is to collect the money bags before the playfield reachs the top. As you can see in the screenshot, there's 9 possible groups that you can click on. As you click on the group of coins, the coin meter on the right side fills up & once it's maxed out, a money bag drops onto the playfield. To pick up the money bags from the playfield, you clear the coin(s) that it's resting on. Once you pick up your quota of money bags, you proceed to the next level.

The controls for the game is as simple as using your mouse & clicking on the group of coins that you can clear. The coins even glow when the cursor hover overs them when there's a possible move. You'll only need to the keyboard to pause the game with the space bar while in full-screen (clicking outside the game window automatically pauses the game). The game will also give you a few quick tips while playing so you know what's going on in the game, unless you disable the tips.

Big Money has 3 modes (Action, Strategy & Puzzle) with 3 difficulty levels. For fast-paced games without too much thinking involved, action mode is for you. Those who's interested in using the brain & a slow-paced game as the playfield rises with every click. In Puzzle mode, you have a limited of coins to clear the level by dropping the money bags to the bottom of the playfield. Puzzle mode doesn't require you to fill up the coin meter & no new coins will rise from the bottom. Since you only have a limited number of coins, you only need to find groups of 2 or more coins.

You will want to try the basic version online (which doesn't include everything in the deluxe version) before spending the $20-$25 on the deluxe version to see if this game is right for you. If you're hooked on the basic version, then the deluxe version would be just the fix you're looking for as you can play it as much as you like without going online.