RISK: Factions

Risk: Factions is a pleasant surprise to most people.   A lot of people, myself included, downloaded the demo expecting the game to be translated to the Xbox Live Arcade in the most generic fashion possible.   This couldn’t be farther from the typical port.   The game features awesome animation, easy to play gameplay, and some of the best times you can have with an XBLA game.

 The singleplayer component features both a campaign and custom skirmish games to be played against the game’s A.I.   The campaign, while very fun, is almost too short.   I managed to play through it in around 3 hours, which is a little lacking even for an arcade game.   The excellent animations and humorous story make it worth playing through (it also serves as a semi-training mode).   If you just so happen to beat the campaign, there are 2 avatar awards awaiting you as well.   The custom skirmish games are a ton of fun if you can’t find anybody to play against, but you can only play so much risk by yourself.

 The game’s multiplayer is obviously the focus of this game.   The various maps and options available make the online multiplayer more than worthwhile.   There is absolutely no lag that I have noticed and the game moves along at a brisk pace, and human opponents offer a far greater challenge than the A.I.   Leaderboards are also included (although I don’t think any XBLA game that has multiplayer doesn’t have them).   As of now, the community is strong and there is no wait in finding a game.

 Ultimately, the game is flat out fun.   It is definitely Risk at its core, but with some new polish thrown on top (of course the polish is optional, but you should definitely try it).   The multiplayer is great and the singleplayer is awesome…while it lasts.   I have found myself a little weary of playing it lately, as with every game, there is such a thing as too much.   However, I recommend all Risk fans check out this fantastic game.