Risk: Factions
Encyclopedia
Risk: Factions is a downloadable video game for Xbox 360
's Xbox Live Arcade
service, PlayStation 3
's PlayStation Network, and Windows computers through Steam. The game was announced on January 12, 2010 for Xbox 360, December 21, 2010 for PlayStation 3, and March 8, 2011 for Windows. It is based on Hasbro
's popular board game
, Risk
The game has both single player and online modes of play. The single player campaign is divided into 5 chapters. Each chapter unlocks one of the games 5 factions. The gameplay in the single player campaign is similar to that of the 2008 Risk rule set. Players must complete three objectives and have control of their capital to win the game. Alternatively, a player may defeat all the opponents to win the game as well. The features added to RISK: Factions that do not appear in the 2008 rule set are overkills, faction abilities, and dynamic terrain. Overkills are awarded when players roll either two or three 6s. If a player rolls 2 sixes he destroys half the opponent's units in the current battle. If a player rolls 3 sixes he destroys all the opponent's units in the current battle.
average of 77%.
Destructoid praised the developer for not just making a copy of the traditional board game with the console version. The reviewer said: "Clearly a lot of time was put into making sure Factions not only overflowed with personality, but was also able to capture the interest of new players. I can't recommend this game enough, especially at such an affordable price."
1UP.com said that "while the factions aspect could have been fleshed out a bit more, the title still stands as a solid update to the game and a worthwhile purchase for strategy fans."
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
's Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
service, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
's PlayStation Network, and Windows computers through Steam. The game was announced on January 12, 2010 for Xbox 360, December 21, 2010 for PlayStation 3, and March 8, 2011 for Windows. It is based on Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
's popular board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
, Risk
Risk (game)
Risk is a strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers . It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde in France. Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players...
The game has both single player and online modes of play. The single player campaign is divided into 5 chapters. Each chapter unlocks one of the games 5 factions. The gameplay in the single player campaign is similar to that of the 2008 Risk rule set. Players must complete three objectives and have control of their capital to win the game. Alternatively, a player may defeat all the opponents to win the game as well. The features added to RISK: Factions that do not appear in the 2008 rule set are overkills, faction abilities, and dynamic terrain. Overkills are awarded when players roll either two or three 6s. If a player rolls 2 sixes he destroys half the opponent's units in the current battle. If a player rolls 3 sixes he destroys all the opponent's units in the current battle.
Factions
- Humans - Leader: General William P. "Fatty" McGutterpants - A jingoistic American sounding general. Is always seen with his pet dog.
- Cats - Leader: Generalissimo Meow - A Hispanic sounding cat dressed like Mao ZedongMao ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
. Launches an attack on the Humans after a mortar is accidentally dropped on his country and McGutterpants refused to apologize. - Robots - Leader: Commandant SixFour - An untested automated defense system built by the Humans. Unfortunately, due to its obsolete technology it is incapable of distinguishing friend from foe and declares war on the rest of the factions. His name is a reference to the Commodore 64Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
. - Zombies - Leader: Colonel Claus Von Stiffenberg - A hook and eyepatch wearing zombie who declares war on the other factions after being attacked by the Humans. Like the rest of the faction, he was presumably either an ordinary human or a revived corpse, mutated by an experimental bioweapon launched by Commandant SixFour. His name is a reference to Claus von Stauffenberg.
- Yeti - Leader: His Excellency Gary - A buddhist-like Yeti Monk with a jovial attitude like the Dalai LamaDalai LamaThe Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
. Ironically, he declares war when General McGutterpants asks his help to bring peace with the other factions.
Dice probabilities
In the factions game type, it is possible for a player to gain the ability to use up to a fourth dice when attacking and/or a third dice when defending. That, along with the overkill and super-overkill features, makes the probabilities of winning battles different from the original Risk board game rules. Below is a table summarizing the dice probabilities for the factions game type:The probability table makes the following assumptions about the rules of Risk:Factions, which are not explicitly defined:- If both attacker and defender roll an overkill or super-overkill, the defender's overkill overrides and is the only one that counts.
- When a defender is using 3 dice, they are capable of a super-overkill.
- If the attacker rolls an overkill while the defender rolls one or more sixes, the attacker's overkill is cancelled out.
| Attacking dice | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defending dice | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Attacker loses all | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | |||||||||
| Attacker loses 4 | 7% | 2.8% | 7% | 2.8% | 7% | 2.8% | ||||||
| Attacker loses 2 | 30.6% | 18.2% | 40.2% | 31.2% | 54.4% | 42.1% | ||||||
| Attacker loses 1 | 29.3% | 34% | 41.7% | 82.7% | 74.5% | 58.3% | ||||||
| Both lose 1 | 31.2% | 33.1% | 29.2% | 24.3% | 25.5% | 32.4% | ||||||
| Defender loses 1 | 70.7% | 66% | 58.3% | 17.3% | 25.5% | 41.7% | ||||||
| Defender loses 2 | 23.1% | 36.7% | 18.8% | 35.5% | 11% | 20.8% | ||||||
| Defender loses 4 | 6.7% | 8.0% | 4.0% | 5.8% | 1.6% | 1.9% | ||||||
| Defender loses all | 0.9% | 1.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | ||||||||
| Attacker wins | ||||||||||||
| Defender wins | ||||||||||||
| Tie | 31.2% | 33.2% | 0% | 29.2% | 24.3% | 0% | 25.5% | 32.4% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Reception
Risk: Factions received generally favourable reviews upon release, with a MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
average of 77%.
Destructoid praised the developer for not just making a copy of the traditional board game with the console version. The reviewer said: "Clearly a lot of time was put into making sure Factions not only overflowed with personality, but was also able to capture the interest of new players. I can't recommend this game enough, especially at such an affordable price."
1UP.com said that "while the factions aspect could have been fleshed out a bit more, the title still stands as a solid update to the game and a worthwhile purchase for strategy fans."