Customer Reviews

Risk II

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Risk 2 offers new variations to a classic strategy game. It offers many different types of play. There are single and multi-player games, including hotseat play. Risk 2 includes the standard "take over the whole world" game but also has many options. You can lower the percentage of the world you must occupy to win, which is helpful if you are looking for a shorter game. The Mission risk option is interesting. Each player is given a mission to achieve to win. Single players can also play a tournament of 16 games. The games get proggesively more difficult and you may save tournaments after each game. Only one tournament at time can be played which can be inconvienent. The most interesting addition is same-time risk. Same time risk can be played by single or multi-players, world domination or mission, and by a variety of AI Generals. Each phase of your turn (reinforcements, battle orders, battles, surge attacks, tactical moves) is conducted at the same time as everyone elses. (All reinforcements are placed, then the game shows where everyone else went. Then everyone places battle orders, then you see them all at once. Etc.) This is a interesting and addictive variation to a classic. In comparison to Risk, this offers many similarites but I find the AI is better and the same time option is great. It does not include the ultimate risk option found on the original. If I were to only buy one of the two, I would purchase Risk 2. Great game that can be enjoyed by teens and adults.

Risk 2 is not an upgrade. It is a companion to the original game offering additional variations on the game. The interface is improved and the 'bookkeeping' phase moves quickly even with all of the options turned on. There are two additions to the classic version - the first is 'same time' Risk. All moves are entered and the computer resolves battles simultaneously (similar to Diplomacy). The second addition is the 'tournament'. In the tournament there are 16 pre-determined starts and to win you must beat each of the 16 games. There are other smaller refinements. Both the original version and this version are first class.

The best part of Risk 1 was Ultimate Risk. Strategic attack and defense options, generals, terrain difficulties, and forts, made for ever changing and stimulating gameplay. The only problem was the computer AI which caused some opposing forces to make moves contrary to common and tactical sense. I was looking forward to playing Risk 2 against more intelligent opponents.

Microprose, a quality game developer, decided not to include Ultimate Risk in Risk 2. It now has a variation called simultaneous Risk. All players make all attack decisions at once for a turn, then you press a button and the attacks are carried out. There is no flexibility to change tactics based on changing fortunes of war.

This brings us back to playing only Classic Risk on a board that looks graphically like it was taken from a DOS game in 1993. The battle boxes are graphically state of the art. I watched the battles unfold a few times, said, "Cool," and turned them off to speed up gameplay.

I uninstalled Risk 2 from my computer and am back playing Risk 1, Ultimate Risk, one of the great games of the 90's in my opinion.

Risk 2 is definitely worth the bargain price. The many different gameplay options allow for different challenges for one or more players. Some old high school buddies and I decided we would try getting together once a month to keep in touch, play a game, and chat. This game allows for intense gameplay while quality time with family or friends. The tournament is extremely challenging because it forces you to play the game in the different modes which does not allow you to develop a consistent strategy. This is a plus because games that allow you to form and follow a set strategy get boring and monotanous after a short time. The "Same Time" strategy takes a little while to get used to, but definitely is an addition that benefits the game. It allows for multiple attacks, both from two or more of your countries, but also from several of your countries and countries of other players. If you and a fellow player attack the computer at the same location, for instance, once the computer has been defeated, you and your buddy "go at it". You also have to watch out for "surge attacks" where an opponent can attack you one place and then immediately go into the next country while you're not even aware of it. If you're into a challenge or want a game which allows for some competition and quality time with family and friends, get Risk 2.

People who haven't played the original PC RISK think this "sequal" is fun, but people who have probably know better. Don't be fooled by the pretty graphics or the neat-sounding simultaneous-moves game. Those are the only things this game has that the original doesn't have, but they are both a big disappointment. Furthermore, the original had way more features which were way more fun and this game doesn't have any of them. Let me explain:

RISK II:

GRAPHICS: Yes, it looks cool to see the little soldiers aiming their guns, shooting, and dying, but by the 20th or so battle it gets to be a real bore and only serves to slow the game down immensely (and there's no way to skip through it.) It might be more fun if there were many more animated soldiers or if they stood in formation (like in the original.) The graphics are certainly better quality than the original but it's really just an attempt to give the game a modern, 3D, RTS look. In short, it looks good at first but gets old and boring really fast.

SIMULTANEOUS-MOVES: The makers of RISK II did a good job of figuring out how to resolve all the many complex situations that can arise when you have multiple players who can split attacks, attack from two different directions, or surge attacks (two territories in a row.) But the disappointment was how the actual combat was resolved in these situations. The thing that really gets my goat is that when a territory is attacked from multiple enemy territories (called a mass-invasion), each attacking territory gets a separate die, regardless of the size of their force. The problem is that the defender has to beat ALL of the opposing dice to do any damage at all. In other words if six armies each attack the same territory from six different territories (one from each) they will have a HUGE advantage even if the defender has the same six armies all on the same territory. The attacker will get six dice and the defender only one, and the defender will have to beat all six opposing dice even if five of them rolled lower numbers. The catch is that if you do roll hihger than all six then you will kill all six, but with only one die your chances are slim and in my experience it just doesn't weigh out. It lends itself to strategies that favor dividing your forces rather than massing them. In reality this would be strategic nonsense.

AI: On top of all these problems, the AI is rather unsophisticated. I've gotten to the point now where, if I play my cards right, I can almost always beat the computer, no matter how many opponents I play against. You learn to use the mass-invasion tactic to your best advantage but the AI never figures it out.

That's about all there is to say. This game does not have many fun features.

THE ORIGINAL GAME:
*Several different maps! Europe (Huge!), Asia, Americas and more.
*Historical scenarios, some with TONS of armies.
*Short battle movies and unit animations (with soldiers in formation!)
*Tactical Cards like "Attack Right Flank," "Defend Center," "Ambush," "Echelon Attack"
*Generals!
*Forts!
*Terrain effects!
*Many other features and options that I can't remember.

See my point?

I was expecting something similar to RiskI and was totally disapointed, there are no map options as in the first installment. Though the Battle graphics are good, it slows down the game so much if you kept them on it would take forever to go through one round. I felt cheated out of a really good game. The lack of choice in maps I felt downgraded the game. I enjoyed playing the first, in large part because the map options changed the way the game was played. in closing save your money.

First the good news: you can play classic risk by yourself or with a friend and let the computer take care of some of the work. (The board game is still MUCH more fun with friends!) More good news: you can play "same time," which is a really interesting twist on the classic game, and it's only feasible on the computer--all players issue simultaneous battle orders! It's offers some brain-tweaking fun to figure it all out.

The bad news: the AI (the computer players) are dumb as posts, and I'm not much of a gamer. I could have gotten to harder AIs, but I didn't have the patience to work my way through all of the lower levels. Why not let us play at a harder setting to begin with? More bad news: no saving games! Worst of all: you have to endure a slow pace! Unlike the original computer Risk, which came out in the late 1980s, you can't just flip through the battles--the game only allows you to speed it up a tad: so you could be playing speed games on the computer, but it won't let you! Tedious!

While "same time" is really interesting, the fact that you're stuck playing AI numbskulls detracts a lot. This game is best-suited for young players, perhaps ages 9-14.

I look forward to seeing Castle Risk and Risk 2210 on the computer, as well as further variations such as "same time". And I look forward to the obvious corrections demanded by this game.

This version of Risk I thought was an overall bad idea because it just played of the original. furthermore, the original RISK 1 disk was more than good enough in every department. The company who released this video game was just trying to "update" the game in which didn't needed to be updated. bad job over all

This is a marvelous game! The part of the game that shines is definitely the SameTime mode. It is much harder, but more fun and strategic that the orginial. The computer AI are excellent, there are 16 AI opponents each with different traits and their own skill level of play.

Also, the game is VERY customizable and includes special mission based objectives. Furthermore, you dont have to win by taking every piece of territory if you don't want to. You can win by taking over 80% of the world or if you want a quickie 60% of the world!

In short, get this game! It's worth it!!!

Risk has always been a great, classic game, and thought its been quite some time since I sat down to play the board game, and being that I just picked up the Lord of the Rings Edition of the Risk board game, I needed practice and I figured I would give 'Risk II' a try.

Risk II is definitely fun. You can play alone, using computer AI to fill in where the other players would be, making for some great practice for when you play with your friends. There are many different AI opponents to choose from, and presumably these different opponents use different strategies when you play against them.

There is a Simultaneous Battle mode that has you coordinating attacks at the same time that your opponents are. It is easier to play with computer AI, since with human opponents it tends to take a while, or the game ends up ending in 3 minutes. However, it is a very interesting way to play Risk and I enjoy it. There are multiple options to choose from, such as setting the number of batallions you receive for controlling continents, how many territories are open(for example: Hawaii and some outlying islands are often closed, but may be set as territories), and how territories are distributed at the start of the game.

Battles are animated, which is a nice touch, and the graphics, while nothing impressive, are nice enough to look at for a while. I give the game only 3 stars however because of the AI issues. Sometimes, the AI opponents can be just absolutely stupid, barely putting up any challenge whatsoever. But being that you are playing against a computer, it seems that the computer is prone to cheating...or at least, having just a wee bit too much 'luck' with the roll of the dice. To this day, I will never know how my invasion force of 40 batallions lost to a defender force of 11...only 11 defending batallions! Its things like that which kind of diminish the fun in the game, because for any player, AI or not, to have that much luck when they're the last territory in the game is, for lack of a better word, completely unprecedented.

Regardless, the game is fun to play, and is of course always more fun when you have more than one person playing it. The computer AI serves as great practice and if you're just looking to waste time, and overall the game is a fine single player experience, even if the AI just happens to have unrealistic amounts of luck. I recommend this game to any Risk fan, as it should keep you entertained for hours on end. I'm already hooked, though when it comes to competing with other people, I prefer the board game. The AI just fluctuates too much between being stupid and skillful, often going to extremes in both cases.