💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › games › REVIEWS › risk.rev captured on 2022-06-12 at 07:56:55.
⬅️ Previous capture (2020-10-31)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
RISK RISK, for those unfamiliar with Parker Brother's popular boardgame, is a game of world conquest for two to six players. RISK is played on a map of the world divided into six continents (Europe and Asia are considered separate continents), and 42 territories. Each player starts with an equal number of territories and generic "armies" with which to conquer other players. The computer edition of RISK is an excellent simulation of the boardgame. The map is beautifully done in EGA graphics, complete with the sailing ship, whale, and dolphins that decorate the original board. The delay in die rolling captures the feel of a conventional game quite well, and can be toggled off to speed play. The RISK cards are very nice too, showing the territory and the figure (artillery, infantry, or cavalry) clearly. (This review is based on the IBM-PC version; Atari ST version notes follow.) Every rule and variation mentioned in either the US or UK editions is represented, with the exception of team games. Games can be long, ending with complete conquest of the world, or short, ending with either the elimination of enemy headquarters (US short game) or fulfillment of secret missions (UK short game). Initial territory selection can be random or manual. RISK card values can be fixed, may increase slowly in value, or may increase quickly in value. The Supply Line, Attack Advantage, Commander Advantage, and Army Limit optional rules are all available. Any number of computer players can participate, each at one of three different skill levels. Predictably, even the best computer opponent -- although competent in the basic mechanics -- has blind spots. In particular, it tends to evaluate only those territories adjacent to its armies. This has several side effects. Most obvious is that continents are easier to defend against computer adversaries than against humans, since the former often ignore a weak defense unless they happen to own the adjacent territory. Neither do computer players team up to attack strong opponents. In games with RISK cards that rapidly increase in value, the computer players are very weak. As soon as the sets are each worth 20 armies or more, captured RISK cards become very important. The computer players won't (and can't) make that all-out push to eliminate another player for his RISK cards. Despite these problems, the computer plays a decent game of RISK. A six-player game against five of the high-level computer opponents will give even an expert RISK player a run for his money, provided he or she plays with the UK rules (with its fixed values for RISK card sets and random setup). The computer edition of RISK does have some failings, though. You don't get to see the RISK card you draw until after you finish placing armies during your next turn unless, of course, you happen to have a set yourself. Since possession of the territory on the card is worth extra armies, this is occasionally frustrating. More seriously, the Army Limit rule doesn't work properly at the start of a new game. Computer RISK ignores this option until it's explicitly re-selected during a player's turn. In games without computer players, this is not a problem, since all players can simply agree to abide by the limit until it can be enabled. The other shortfalls are few. The Quit command reboots the computer instead of returning to DOS. The manual includes only a partial explanation of the Attack and Commander Advantages, assuming instead that the reader is familiar with the boardgame rules. When either option is enabled, the program often asks if the player wishes to use the rule, even in when it would bring no benefit. The Supply Line rule could be better implemented. As it stands now, the game forces the player to move armies territory by territory, instead of simply picking source and destination territories. The IBM-PC version of RISK requires 512K of RAM and supports CGA, EGA, and Tandy 1000 graphics. It is not copy-protected. All in all, the computer edition of RISK is a good game. The box blurb claims it's "a must for libraries of war strategists and gamers alike," and after careful consideration, I have to agree. Although relatively simple in mechanics when compared to other wargames, RISK is fun and thought-provoking. Further, RISK has a broad family appeal, as the history of the boardgame has proven. ATARI ST VERSION NOTES The Atari ST version of RISK is, for all practical purposes, identical to the IBM-PC package described above. On the IBM, RISK supports both mouse and keyboard; on the ST, RISK uses the usual GEM interface conventions, thus making everything mouse-controlled. The only glitch that surfaced involved the save-game option: Instead of saving a game in progress, this function created three bombs and a system crash. Since I don't often come across a bum save feature, I'm inclined to think the cause was a mildly scrambled program disk, rather than a bad routine. Notwithstanding the save screwup, RISK on the ST looks and plays just fine. While SCRABBLE is still the best boardgame translation Leisure Genius has released so far, this computer version of RISK comes close enough to be as good. I'm not sure, though, if it will appeal to many gamers who aren't familiar with the original. RISK is published by Leisure Genius and distributed by Virgin Mastertronic.