This time it's war

GAME OF THE WEEK: RISK: FACTIONS,10 cert, EA/Hasbro, Xbox Live ****

Board games translate surprisingly well to digital formats. Take Risk: Factions. There’s no unfolding of huge boards, no tiny pieces to lose and best of all, no paperwork. Instead of writing notes, flicking through dog-eared instruction booklets and bickering over rules, your machine does all of that heavy lifting for you.

Just like the original game, Risk: Factions is a military strategy endeavour. Players move their armies and consolidate their powers with a view to world domination. And just like the board game, success in individual battles depends on a roll of the dice. That element of chance is cruel and arbitrary, but the game depends on tactical nous as well as luck. Should you combine one huge army and force your way across continents? Or is it a better idea to build a varied group of smaller armies and scatter them throughout?

Players are rewarded for conquering territories, and can even gang up on opponents. You can play online or offline, though when playing online it’s best to play people you know. It heightens the competitive element, and online strangers are more likely to log off in the middle of a game.

Gameplay can be in a traditional mode faithful to the original or in a fresh format that includes new technologies and rogue elements. Now you can control dams that can be used to flood continents or even mind-control machines that can convert a foreign city to your cause. There are also new meteorological elements such as volcanoes.

Military strategy games often tend to be deathly serious and personality-free, so the decision to make Risk: Factions so tongue-in-cheek was inspired. The cut scenes are amusing and the armies are colourful. You can fight as robots, cats, yetis, humans or (my favourite) zombies. There’s even the smallest hint of satire, like when the human general says of the cat army: “We do not negotiate with quadrupeds.”

Risk: Factions is smart, addictive and witty. Watching a continent fall under your command is gratifying, just

as seeing another army conquer your country is heartbreaking.

I always began playing nestled in my couch, and eventually found myself standing up, peering at the screen while pondering the potential battle decisions to be made. For many (including this writer) it’s the closest thing to becoming a general, without having to go through that pesky and arduous military career first.

JOE GRIFFIN