RISK Factions Demo

RISK: Factions is a board game based on the famous Risk, and it’s developed by Stainless Games and published by Electronic Arts.

If any of you ever played RISK, then you know it’s a game of chance and strategy, which are two concepts that don’t usually work together. It’s frustrating to have the upper hand in a battle, but this is what happens when your fate depends on a dice throw. RISK never pretended to be a game only about strategy, but it turns out that it’s not only about chance either.

On the other hand, RISK is also a game that brings out the worst in people, even if they are your closest Friend. Games that involve dice tend to have this effect, and it happened more than once to curse at the gods of RISK: Factions for being cruel. And I suspected more than once that the AI is cheating, but that’s difficult to prove when you can just say that there were some really lucky dice throws.

Just like any good turn based game, RISK: Factions will take over your time. The expression “just one more turn” applies perfectly. The game conspires never to let you go until you win or until the AI will crush you.

The idea of RISK: Factions is simple and follows the rules of the most recent edition of RISK 2008. The rules are clear. Players need to fulfill a number of objectives, like controlling all the barracks, all the continents, or simply by beating the others into submission. It’s important to note that one objective can be achieved per turn.

As you can imagine, this is best played with human opponents, but the AI is good enough. The level that’s provided in the demo is a small one, but it took some out of the box thinking to beat the computer.

Of course, there were, at least, a couple of moments when I thought that the AI cheats when throwing dice. It feels unlikely that a small contingent can defend against the bulk of my army with consecutive lucky throws.

In any case, RISK: Factions is worth a look, and it’s sure to make an impression on the fans of the real deal.