The board game "RISK" was one of the classic games of childhood for thousands of us who grew up on the staples of 80's gameplay.
A strategy game where the ultimate goal is complete and utter world domination!!! The Risk player chooses a base of countries to start from -- in the game either chosen by the player/players, or randomly assigned by the computer -- and works to defeat or contain the armies of his opponent which each turn.
For those that played the board-game, the gameplay is significantly accelerated, as the dice-rolling and tedious peace removal are handled automatically by the computer. The frustrating part of this, of course, is that one loses the heart-racing moments of the individual battles that would rage throughout a lengthy game played with shit-talking friends, or your older brother who would punch you in the shoulder when you pulled of an upset in battle. Not that my brother used to do that or anything.
The gameplay is simple and easy to learn. At each round, a player starts by building up his standing armies in the countries he owns. Each player gets three armies, plus a bonus for each continent (the size of the continent controlled determines the number of bonus armies), as well as cards that are rewarded for conquering nations, and combined to gain 5 addition armies. When army buildup is complete, the player may attack any adjacent country with his armies, depleting the standing armies in the country based on the dice-rolling concept in the board game. Unfortunately, there is no insight as to why your armies happen to get manhandled by a smaller force -- but it is a small price to pay for the accelerated gameplay in the computer version.
The game is enjoyable, especially with multiple players, but the initial placement of ones armies is by the far the most significant factor in determining the ultimate world hegemon. Once one has determined a winning strategy (not too difficult against the computer) the game can become repetitive. This is where random army placement and an live opponent is useful in making the game much more interesting.
All in all, a very interesting strategy game that is good for hours of fun gameplay. Especially if you'd like an accelerated version of a game from your mis-spent youth.
