February 2001 || Volume 01, Issue 07
Review by Erica J. Marceau

4 Smileys - 1 Smiley Poor, 5 Smileys Excellent

Title: Risk II
Version: 1.0.1
Developer: Infogrames
Price: $29.99 SRP
Contact Info: http://www.wizworks.com/macsoft
Genre: Strategy Board Game
ESRB Rating: Everyone
System Requirements:

• PowerPC 132MHz or faster
• Mac OS 8.1 or higher
• 32 MB of RAM (Virtual Memory may be required)
• 4X CD-ROM drive
• Display capable of thousands of colors at 800x600 resolution
• 5MB hard disk space (155MB recommended)
• Internet connection required for Internet play

Platforms: Mac OS, Windows 9x

Earth Conquering at Its Best

Risk is the classic board game of world domination, and Risk II takes that game to a whole new level. Distributed for the Mac by MacSoft, Risk II far surpasses the abilities of the original
game and its first digital counterpart. You probably already know how to play Risk, but in case you don't I'll describe it for you. You play on a map of the world which is divided into territories/countries such as Northern Europe or Greenland. There are many variations for how to play the game, but it essentially goes as follows: each player starts with an equal number of territories (or one off in the event that the number of players is odd) and soldiers. You attack another territory using die or dice, with larger rolls earning a kill. After defeating a territory or ending a turn with a gain in territory, you receive a card. Each card, when combined with others, can be turned in for additional troops.

While this is the basic idea of Risk, the computer game has added more game options that weren't even considered when the original boardgame came out. Including more ways to gain the starting territories, more ways to win the game, ability to make diplomatic relations with the computer players, detailed statistics, online play, bonus territories, three modes of play, and better graphics. Is Risk II a fun game or is it a relic of the past before we had computers with which to amuse ourselves? Read on to find out.

The RISKy details

Many options await in the realtime game setup.

There are a number of additions to the traditional Risk gameplay and the three biggest areas are the objectives, how you get your starting territories, and the three different modes of play. The three game objectives are World Domination, Mission, and Capital. World Domination requires that you occupy
either 60%, 80%, or 100% of the available territories. Mission gives a different objective to each player and they must fulfill all of the requirements to win. Available missions include defeating a certain color, conquer certain continent(s), and occupy a certain number of territories among others. In Capital, every player picks a territory to be their capital and in order to win they have to conquer a certain number of other capitals depending on how many people are playing.

The three ways of allocating territories at the beginning of the game are Random Allocation, Territory Grab, and Election. Random Allocation evenly divides the number of territories among everyone playing. Territory Grab presents an empty map and you place your troops yourself. Election is a little more complicated and uses the idea of Election Points and influence to determine whether a territory is yours or not. Everyone is given one territory and the same number of Election Points. One of the territories is selected and everyone starts bidding for it using their Election Points. The surrounding territories that you own can be used to add Election Points for one territory. At the end of this process, troops are placed as in Territory Grab.

Battle orders for the upcoming turn.

The three different modes of play are Classic, Same Time, and Tournament. Classic consists of four phases in each round; Diplomacy, Reinforcement, Battle, and Tactical Move. Diplomacy is when you make alliances, Reinforcement is when you place soldiers that you get through the occupation of territories, Battle is when you attack other territories, and Tactical Move is when you move troops around on territories that you control. Same Time has some similar qualities to Classic in that it consists of Diplomacy, Reinforcement, Battle, and Tactical Move. Instead of each player going through the four phases alone, in Same Time every play goes through each phase together. So you can have more than one player attacking a territory at the same time which makes for some exciting battles. In addition, Same Time uses different types of dice depending on how many soldiers you are using to attack or defend. The Tournament is a series of sixteen games in sequence and as long as you win the game or remain in the game at its conclusion, you'll receive points and move on to the next game in sequence. The AI gets better in each successive game as well as the number of AI players participating.

Graphics and Sound

A battle in progress... For a "board game" reincarnate, Risk II is more alive graphically than one might imagine. During battles, the game zooms in on the territories in conflict, and you see soldiers reloading, preparing, and firing upon the enemy. This along with the background sounds of cavalry horses, gunfire, and more create a very appealing game that grows beyond the classic design. And it really did spice up the fact that you were "rolling die" virtually speaking to determine the winner.

Net Play

Setting up a Network Game

You can also play online either through a LAN, with people in the same room, or GameRanger. I gathered a Risk II game and shortly someone came on with some useful advice such as Same Time being more fun and having a minimum of four players. It was pretty fun, and the small chat window was a good way to talk to the other players. Unfortunately, a bug cropped up when I was attacking someone and their roll
button never let them click it in order to roll their dice. They told me that it was a common problem if the host is on a slow connection and since I was on a 56k modem, I suppose that's considered slow these days. Another problem is that if anyone leaves the game, it immediately stops and you have to start a new game. Despite these problems, I had a good time and it was very easy to let everyone know that a Risk II game has started.

Is Risk II fun?

Playing a board game is not for everyone and the element of chance can be very aggravating. Seeing your 12 soldier force get decimated by a 4 soldier force has led
to more than one instance of me cursing at my bad luck. However, the
combination of strategy, luck, and the many new ways of playing Risk has
created a very fun and enjoyable game and one that will entertain you and
members of your family for quite some time. The graphics are bright and colorful and the little soldiers reloading their muzzles add a nice touch to the game. The ample amount of statistics that you get at the end of each game lets you determine what area needs improving so you can do better in the next game.

Basically, if you liked the original Risk board game or if you want to get introduced to classic strategy board games then buying Risk II is a good decision. You'll definitely get many hours of gaming enjoyment.

Erica J. Marceau - erica@macosjournal.com
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