I have never played the game RISK in my life until EA released the downloadable game, RISK Factions. In fact, strategy games have generally been my least favorite game genre of all. Recently however, I have been playing strategy games like Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution (both the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS versions), Supreme Commander 2, and most recently, RISK Factions.
Most strategy games are generally single player and/or online multiplayer games. They very rarely allow for local games. What’s nice about RISK Factions is there are several modes you can choose from, including local multiplayer. By playing the single player campaign, you will unlock maps for for play in both the online and offline modes.
You can play classic Risk, which is set on Earth and the game ends when someone has conquered all of the territories. But the game really encourages you to try out the new Factions rules. The game will literally chastise you for choosing the classic version. Besides, you will want to try out Factions because EA has included some interesting strategy and fun characters.
Factions takes place in a fictional world and introduces five unique factions – Humans, Cats, Robots, Zombies, and Yetis. It features environmental hazards, such as volcanoes, that players can control. You also gain an upper hand by controlling territories that contain special constructs, like military bunkers or capital cities. To win, you no longer capture all the territories. Instead you will have to complete three objectives that you choose from a randomly generated list. One objective might be to take over two continents during your turn. Once someone completes an objective, no one else can complete that one. If you defeat an opponent by taking his last territory, you gain all of their completed objectives.
Bonuses vary depending on the map you are playing. Some territories have mining bonuses, which may help you complete an objective. Other bonuses include controlling a missile silo which grants an additional attack die. Having these different powers makes it so a player can still have a fighting chance even when they are down to a few territories.
If you take over an opponent’s territory, you get a reward at the end of your turn. Be careful though – if you happen to complete an objective AND take over a territory in one turn, you have to choose between the taking the reward, or completing the objective. If you DON’T choose the objective, you must try and complete it again on your next turn, given an opponent doesn’t beat you to it.
While all these new rules may help breathe life into the Risk franchise, it’s the crazy style and sense of humor the game features that will make this game appeal to a wider audience. The animations during battle are pretty funny. You can opt to watch the full battle animations, which show the two factions, the roll of the dice, and the actual battle – so you will see cats coughing up hairballs and zombies throwing what looks like nuclear waste. The game gives you complete control over the animations you see. You can choose to watch just the battle, so the dice rolling is not visible, or you may decide for the fast battle, where you just see some explosions. Watching the dice rolling just pissed me off, because it seemed like my opponent always rolled better. Games can run rather long so the fast battle saves time in the long run, but I enjoyed watching the battles between the factions for the comic relief. Cartoon violence is always fun. The game also allows you to save your game at any time. This also helps when you are locked in a lengthy battle. Some games can last over an hour, so it is a great feature.
I had some trouble in the beginning of Factions, as I was not at all familiar with the original Risk. I always started out guns a-blazin’ and attack as many territories as possible. However, I ended up spreading my troops too thin and ultimately would lose. Watching how the AI opponents played as well as how my husband played during the local mode helped me understand the strategy a bit better.
That brings me to the multiplayer modes. Like I mentioned at the beginning of the review, you can play online OR you can play locally. When I played with my husband, we would gang up on the AI and then battle it out against each other. It made for some fun and brutal gameplay.
Strategy games are starting to grow on me, and RISK: Factions has helped because it is a fun and enjoyable gaming experience. The new rules make it a more interesting experience and the art style and direction is humorous and something to be appreciated. And if you don’t like the art style, you can skip the animations with a press of a button. To add to the value, the inclusion of classic mode will keep fans of the RISK board game happy as well as those who are new to the game.
A review code was provided but did not affect the outcome of this review.
Recent Comments