Miss those marathon games of Risk from your childhood? Have fond memories of “accidentally” knocking the board over once Dad got control of Asia and Europe? Risk II has all the fun you remember with some sweet new additions.

Learning to play is simple even if you’ve never played Risk before. You divide up all the continents with your opponents (except Antarctica, because who really wants Antarctica?), place troops throughout, and battle for control of the world. Each turn you get reinforcements to place anywhere on the map, and the more territory you control the more soldiers you get. You get bonuses for controlling entire landmasses too, with the bigger ones being worth more (but also being harder to defend). Once you’ve done that, you can attack any territory adjacent to one of your territories as long as you have at least 2 soldiers in the attacking territory.

Combat zooms in up close and takes place via die rolls, although the battles are animated on a nice looking isometric landscape (which you can turn off if you’re a board game purist). You can attack with up to three and defend with up to two troops, and you roll against each other with the lower number losing. Tie goes to the defender. This happens until the attacker withdraws or someone runs out of troops. Wash, rinse, and repeat until you’re satisfied, and then your opponent gets to do the same thing to you.

The graphics and sound are top notch, considering this is based on a board game, and the music is very appropriate and exciting. When you go on a rampage the classical score cheerily booms along with you and gets your blood pumping.

Despite all these improvements, it does have a few flaws, though. Honestly, they’re carried over from the original board game. Games can be quite lengthy and once you start losing it becomes an uphill battle that requires a lot of luck to turn around. Gameplay can also be a bit slow sometimes, with back and forth sweeps of the same territory. But all of that is something you should come to Risk expecting.

Risk II has all the fun of Risk, good feature additions, and the annoyances are minor. If strategy warfare is your cup of tea, or even if you just like board games, give it a whirl.

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