Review: Risk Factions

Posted by Ben on April 15th, 2011 | 1 Comment | Tags: risk factions

Translating board games to consoles is never a particularly easy task, with even the best adaptions of classic games falling victim to interface issues and a general lack of comprehension of the rules on the part of the player. I’m pleased to report that Risk Factions manages to overcome both of these issues, delivering a game that stays faithful to the spirit of Risk, and still figures out a way of making the games more suited to a console audience.

Bizarrely, the main draw of Risk Factions is the campaign mode. Featuring a handful of missions, it does a terrific job of introducing the game’s additional mechanics, which add an amusing layer on top of the traditional domination mechanics. Capturing territory in order to control certain buildings and forces of nature is an addition that adds a lot of possibilities to the game, and the joy of opening a freshly captured dam onto a section of enemy troops is certainly fulfilling. Bizarrely, the area were Risk Factions’ campaign excels most is in its cutscenes, which are quite often hilarious, introducing the various factions in interesting ways, and crafting memorable characters in the process, which is quite the feat considering the somewhat short length of the campaign itself. The cutscenes are also wonderfully animated and filled with personality, which certainly spills over into the game itself. The battle animations in particular are a treat.

Of course, the main draw of any console version of a board game is the core game itself, and Risk Factions goes above and beyond the call of duty here, offering a variety of maps, and two game types, with classic Risk being available in addition to the new Factions mode, which adds the previously mentioned secondary objectives on top of the classic game. These modes are available both online and off, and I had no problems finding a game offline. I did have problems winning though, which is understandable. If you have people to play with, this is a fine version of Risk to play with friends.

Risk Factions sets a standard for console versions of board games. With a fun, if short campaign, and a good selection of offline and online features, it does a fine job of bringing Risk to console audiences. You honestly couldn’t ask for anything more.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here. This review is for the PlayStation 3 version of the game.