Risk: Global Domination

Risk: Global Domination Description

Ever since the hazy days of 8-bits, we've always been provided with our fair share of video-board game recreations, some of which have proved particularly popular due to the added dimension you can give when the action is thrust into the virtual domain - anyone remember Battle Chess? Well, the classic strategical global domination game Risk is the latest one to undergo the cyber makeover, with RTS titles such as Rome: Total War and Kessen as the obvious inspirations behind its on-screen recreation of the tactical action. As you would expect, the core gameplay remains pretty much unadulterated from its respective board game roots, with you choosing your countries, setting up armies and taking it in turns to wage war on one another - the ultimate goal being to achieve the titular 'global domination'. Along the way, each player can turn in sets of cards for more armies - in this case a feature that can be tweaked by altering the rules of the army awards for each of the card sets. As well as the standard game - known throughout as Classic Risk - the game also offers up two further game modes that add a bit of variety to the proceedings. Mission Risk assigns each player with their own objective - such as defeating a particular adversary or taking over certain territories - with the first to achieve it claiming victory. And Capital Risk sees players start out by choosing their desired 'Capital' territories - the first to claim all of them being the winner, champion of the world, greatest guy ever, or, if you're a student, the one who doesn't have to wash up. Obviously, the main difference between playing the original board game and booting Risk up on your PS2 is that here the action is brought to life on your TV. When a battle commences, the camera zooms in on the two warring factions to show the cavalry preparing for battle, dice rolling and explosions resulting from each attack. No game such as this would be complete without a multiplayer mode. Risk: Global Domination places strong emphasis on this aspect, offering support for up to six players as well as online connectivity for those blessed with a network adapter. This is certainly a good thing, as the game is not really great fun as a solo experience - it's far more entertaining to be able to invade your mates' countries.