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.com ---- The year is 1812. Napoleon's army is on the march, and it's every empire for itself. As Supreme Commander, you'll seize territories, crush your enemies, and betray your allies in a fast-paced, ruthless quest for world domination. Play the Classic Game under the familiar rules, trading cards for armies and rolling the dice to outdo your nent. Play the Simultaneous-Turn option for a whole new Risk experience that includes I-COM communication and negotiation features, territory-depth enhancements, and territory bidding. Risk 2 is the ultimate form of this world-domination game that people of all ages have enjoyed for 40 years. Review ------ When it comes to computer versions of board games, you'll almost always get a compromise. Either the computerized version no longer plays anything like the original board game, or there's not enough difference to even warrant a computerized release. Fortunately, the sequel to the strategist's strategy game is something of an exception to the rule, as it not only stays faithful to the original gameplay, but it also presents some pleasant new spins on the classic Risk formula. Risk II now comes in three different variations of Parker Brother's classic board game. There's the classic mode, which you play using the rulebook of the board game; the same-time mode, which eliminates individual player turns and instead determines the results of all players' attacks simultaneously; and a tournament mode, which is a series of both classic and same-time games that awards points for completing certain objectives. The same-time mode is essentially a brand-new game. While the mode uses only a slightly different and set of rules, its differences and subtle nuances are enough to throw off even the most brilliant of Risk strategists. Instead of having individual player turns, same-time Risk is now split into phases. Each phase lets you set up your armies and attacks, then the conflict begins once everyone has submitted their battle orders. During this period of time, armies on the offensive that have yet to attack are considered en route to the country they will be invading and cannot defend their home country. Thus, attacking armies have to be considered carefully, as sending your whole army on an attack leaves your country vulnerable to an attack from a neighbor. In addition, multiple neighbors can now attack one country, giving an advantage to the player who owns the most of any country. Same-time Risk doesn't use the classic six-sided dice; instead, it uses a completely new die rule - the attacker and defender each gets one 12-sided die that has a certain a of number values on it, depending on the size of the army. There are five ranks of the 12-sided dice, called "battle dice", from white to black. The white die rolls an average of 2.6, while the black die rolls an average of 4.5, making it easier for larger armies to destroy smaller ones. Not only does the color of the battle dice determine how strong your roll will probably be, but it also determines how many armies you'll lose upon the outcome of the roll. While this new system is certainly interesting, it's somewhat one-sided, and it completely eliminates the infamous "Rambo" scenario in which your single defending army successfully repels an attack, even though it's hopelessly outnumbered. The advantage is now definitely with the attacker, as the defender no longer wins a tie in same-time Risk. To make up for this, same-time Risk sports a rule that limits exactly how many armies you can use to fortify certain territories. Unfortunately, this rule is frustrating, as you'll often find yourself with more reinforcements than you can spend on your border territories, making you waste those armies on a country that's not at immediate risk. With all these variables, same-time Risk is a quicker, more ruthless game than the classic version, and it couldn't possibly exist without the assistance of a computer to keep track of all the details. --Ben Stahl --Copyright ©2000 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot