Reviews / previews
Risk is like the Citizen Kane of strategy gaming - you just can't consider yourself a gamer unless you've played it. The basic objective is simple: Conquer the world, which has been divided into 42 territories. You gain armies based on the number of territories you control, with bonuses for controlling an entire continent. There are no trade routes or supply lines to worry about and no morale checks - just straight-ahead world conquest.
All the features of the boardgame have made the transition to Risk II. Veterans will be familiar with the alternate victory conditions: Mission Risk and Capital Risk. New to the mix, though, are six bonus territories that create new connections between continents and really open up the map. For example, adding New Zealand, the Philippines, and the Falkland Islands makes it much harder to turtle in South America or Australia.
The biggest gameplay innovation is the Same Time mode, in which players place their reinforcements and plan their attacks simultaneously. The exultation of knowing that your strategy is about to pay off or the teeth-grinding realization that you've been blindsided and are about to lose that continent adds a lot to the game. This mode also opens up the possibility of border clashes as players send armies against each other, territories being invaded across multiple borders, and spoils-of-war battles between successful invading armies to determine ownership of a territory.
Same Time mode contains one other important change. Instead of the 6-sided dice of the original, each player rolls a single 12-sided die, with faces numbered from one to six. The size of an army determines which type of die it rolls, with smaller armies skewed towards lower numbers and higher numbers for hordes of 30 or more. Additionally, ties now go to the attacker, rewarding more aggressive play.
Graphically, Risk II is fairly true to the boardgame, with an old style map and brightly colored armies. You can customize the display, color-coding territories by continent, ownership, or troop strength. There is an option to view the game as a globe instead of a flat map, although this view can be a little disorienting. Battles take place in a zoomed-in view of the disputed territory, with each unit represented by a miniature soldier (Cavalry and Artillery are mixed in for variety with larger armies). Dice are rolled and muskets crackle as units cry out and collapse in defeat. And if you get tired of watching the zoomed-in battles, a quick change from the Preferences menu will speed things up.
On the downside, the diplomatic options are limited to three levels of alliance and a 'threaten' option that can only be used at the beginning of your turn, by which point the attack you wanted to stop has already happened. Also, although Tournament Mode pits you against increasingly skilled AI, there is no way to adjust the computer's skill level on your own. Computer opponents rarely gang up on players in the lead and are not very aggressive about continent-busting - repeatedly overextending themselves trying to capture continents while blithely ignoring neighboring, inadequately defended continents.
Despite its flaws, Risk II is a solid update of the boardgame. The lack of industry buzzwords like dynamic LOD or bump-mapping may keep away hardcore gamers, but the robust gameplay and high degree of customizability will reward those willing to take a Risk.-- Chris Patterson / GamePro
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