PixlBit

I have a rather complicated history with Risk. Growing up I loved playing anything that involved the concept of strategy, mainly because I ranked on the lower spectrum of twitch reflexes amongst my group of friends. Of course Risk falls into my category of preference, but after playing it over time I realized it had two distinct problems.

There really wasn't too much strategy, particularly when players discovered the "devious" Australian choke point gambit. It also shared the same trait as Monopoly, in that people usually gave up before finishing the game. This of course didn't stop me from wanting to play it; you can attribute that to my friends deciding that my bragging about being undefeated was entirely too annoying, and calling a four player truce to curb stomp my dictator that did that.

With that tumultuous history still sitting freshly in my brain, I of course hold grudges; nonetheless, I gingerly set my 360 to download the new Arcade game from Stainless Games.

In Factions you have two different game types: Classic and Factions. Classic is exactly like you remember it being, complete with a map of the earth broken up into seven continents. Based on the rules, chosen territories are randomly divided up amongst five players and each turn a player is awarded a number of men based on the number of territories and continents controlled. No real surprises, except that games actually can finish relatively quickly now that you don’t have to count out men or roll dice.

Factions Mode mixes things up in two ways, the first is with the maps themselves. Not only are they newly redesigned but every map comes with certain territories that when captured aid the player. These aids can be as small as allowing you an extra man at the start of a turn to something as insane as letting you convert an entire territory to your side each turn, including the men. I call that ability, “I win.”

The second way Factions is unique is in that the game will let you win not only by destroying your opponents but by also managing to achieve three objectives the game lays down at the beginning of the game. These objectives could be to take over a continent, an enemy capital, or to capture 9 territories in one turn. This functionality is a bit refreshing, that at the same time annoying because it enables the underdog to suddenly pull a victory..Conversely, it forces you to constantly be aware that your next move may open up not just vulnerability, but an objective as well.

While the game was obviously designed for multiplayer they did see fit to include a five map single player game to get you used to the new faction rules. The computer AI is not the most impressive I have ever seen, often failing to capitalize on an obvious chance and more often than not, just attacking every territory it can until it has 1 man left everywhere.

Of course some of the people I played online didn’t do much to distinguish themselves from the AI, and they threw in the added bonus of racial slurs. When a board game can’t be civil that says a lot about society.

My only major gripe about multiplayer is that when a player quits the game just skips his turn, making his territories something like a buffer. In my opinion, it would have been better to let the AI take over. Surprisingly I have yet to run into a problem with matchmaking and am always able to be part of a five person game.

In closing, if you are a fan of Risk and would like to be able to play a quick game when you can then this is something worth buying. If you didn’t enjoy the board game, you won’t find anything here to change your mind.