Risk

Ahhh yes, risk. One of the greatest board games ever created. Many people have played the classic board games over the years (in fact I have 4 different boards). The game is built around the idea of you assuming command of an army. In the traditional game your objective is to simply wipe out all competition and rule the planet for yourself.

Hasbro has taken this game to the next step. They have created two different games for their CD version of this classic. The first game is the classic Risk game. This game follows closely with the original board game.

Hasbro also included "Ultimate Risk", which offeres unique features such as generals, forts, and battle tactic cards. Although there have been various versions of these features that people have used with the board game. However, these three features dramatically change the way the games is played. Especially with regard to invading territories.

Both versions enjoy a wide range of settings that can be changed and manipulated by the user to adjust the settings to individual preferences. For instance you can have the computer randomly assaign your armies to countries you control. Another nice advantage is that there are several different maps to choose from, including the classic board, Europe, North America etc... Each board has its own startegies that must be used because of the way the land is connected.

The graphics in this game are pretty good for 1995. However, I found that the gameplay was good enough for me not to worry too much about several year old graphics.

The gameplay was also pretty simplistic. It was a simple point and click interface that allowed you to move through the game without needing to rely on the keyboard too much. You can also set the dice to "fast" which greatly helps to speed the games up.

Unfortunately, there are still problems with this game. For instance, one of the biggest problems I found was that you can not exit out of a game in the middle of a round. Several times I would have liked to have restarted a game or needed to save it quickly, but I had to wait until the round ended. This game would have definately been improved if they would have added a simple "escape" command. Another major problem was with the instruction booklet. The guide would be just as helpful in building a spaceship as it was in explaining how to play risk. I'm not sure I would have been able to figure out how to play either versions if I had not already known how to play. And in fact there are still several features in Ultimate Risk that I just don't get.