@robdaviau: Thats cool man. Btw you must excuse my fubared name at the moment.

Thanks though for stopping by to comment! Im sure a lot of the folks (me included) who is curious about the game appreciate it!

n/a

Meh...Risk 2210 is the bomb!...no seriously, you can control the moon.

smeee

@n/a:

Yeah, it was really me. Just seeing if there is anything I can clarify about gameplay etc.

robdaviau

Why did they get rid of the little plastic soldiers?

Black ops modern looking toy soldiers would be awesome. Simple round markers just do not help the imagination that much.

I like the idea but I really pray they bring back the soldiers. Imagine this game with little tanks and aircraft :D

EdwinJ85

I think the games designer was suposed to have commented here.

Well if its really him that is, which I hope it is.

n/a

I despise Risk. It's such a shallow game. It's incredibly annoying when a series of bad dice rolls completely decimates your army. I prefer to play Diplomacy. The basic rules are simple, but there's still an incredible amount of strategy involved. Plus, no stupid dice.

Phbbt107

Comments from the designer on Boardgamegeek imply that Risk: Black Ops is a promotional item, and that during 2008 a new version of Risk with the Black Ops ruleset will be released to the general public. As for getting your hands on the sexy black version shown... good luck!

But the gameplay length is down to 60 minutes, which would be perfect for both face-to-face and online play. Sign me up!

amygdala

@Obiter: While I sort of agree, most people just do NOT have nearly enough time to play the whole freakin' game. And sure, you COULD play it over the course of a few days, but really I can't stand that. Taking a break to your normal life really kills the tension. While Black Ops might actually be a crappy game, in THEORY it sounds really fun. Just 'cause they're shortening the game doesn't mean it can't have its own special flavor of nuance and strategy, right?

I expect a full review ASAP, guys!

Spiffyness

My favorite had always been Castle Risk. It had the original map on one side, but flip it over and you had a pre-WWI map of Europe on the back.

The map was divided into empires with each empire having a capital territory. Defeat the capital and that player is out and you get all his territories plus bonus armies each turn for controlling more than one castle. Plus since that version had you placing reinforcements at the end of your turn instead of the beginning, there was more incentive to take "Risk"s.

And then there were the ships that allowed any coastal territory to attack any other coastal territory. Oh how I loved the ships. <3

Too bad they stopped making it....

n/a

@Obiter: You can play your way, and I'll play my way. And my way includes a really sweet looking new game board.

NeverSage

Risk is nothing without the serious wheeling and dealing of alliances, truces, mutual non-aggression pacts, ententes cordiale, border agreements, and the most fabled clause of all, the "no attack until one turn after capturing a continent."

I play Risk with a group of 5 lawyers every couple of months. It's glorious. We've got the game down to roughly 2-3 hours of intense alliance system building typically followed by complete collapse once someone actually rolls the dice.

Objective-based Risk is pretty stupid. How hollow and pointless a victory is "I win" based on what some card says? Seeing your opponents shattered, their territories burning, and their women violated is the only reason to play at world domination. It's all or nothing I say -- and it should stay that way.

Obiter

This game just SCREAMS XBox Live Arcade version PLEASE!

SUGARAY

God I love Risk! I seriously used to play that game ritually in the summer into the wee hours of the morning. Too bad our current 'host' for these late night/early morning Risk parties is currently in the insane asylum. No, I'm not kidding.

ThisCharmingMan

The designer (me!) tried to clarify things here but apparently his post got eaten so he's trying this test post.

robdaviau

@Jesse Mrozowski: It looks like it's just a promotional give away at the moment. There's some debate on whether it will be released to the general public at all... Shame...

The designer has been posting on the BoardGameGeek Forum about it: [www.boardgamegeek.com]

entropyblues

Just to clarify (I'm the designer on the game)...

Risk Black Ops is the promotional version of the 2008 update to Risk (think of it as a playable press kit). So Black Ops won't be for sale (it'll be soon be given out to press, editors, bloggers, etc). The new version of Risk will have the same rules as Black Ops, just different pieces. That will be on sale starting this summer.

And the objectives in the updated version(s) are distantly related to the missions in previous versions of the game but play quite differently.

Hope this clears some things up.

robdaviau

I just had a game of risk last night, and won thanks to the tried and tested Africa/South America combo. But just as described, pretty much everyone went suicidal or abandoned the game, such that by the end it was just me and a guy who took over for somebody who quit half way through left around the table.

Our risk is a new one though and also features objective cards, much like the ones mentioned in the article. You take 4 of different difficulties, with some being simple (hold a territory in 3 different continents) and others being really rather hard (conquer 15 territories in a turn). In the end I couldn't complete my final objective and resorted to dominating the entire map, as my one remaining enemy didn't have the 15 units I needed to kill in a single turn left on the board :D

reno84

@Jesse Mrozowski: D:

Hmm...perhaps give it a little time then?

I just searched around too and nothing just like you said.

Witzbold

@Witzbold: That's the first place I looked but you can't buy it off boardgamegeek.com directly, the webpage linked to in the ad section doesn't sell it, it's not listed under the marketplace section or the ebay section. Hell there isn't even any reviews or messages posted in the forum section on boardgamegeek. So I ask again where am I supposed to be able to buy it?

Jesse Mrozowski

@rainofwalrus [XBL]: If you ever play Risk: BlackOps let me in on the fun!

Witzbold

Maybe now my friends and I can play a game without getting too drunk before anyone wins.

avgbear

gonna take a miracle to pull my group away from a fine game of Puerto Rico long enough to actually play Risk:BlackOps.

rainofwalrus [XBL]

Cute and all, but it doesn't look nearly as fun to drive a motorized Action Fleet AT-AT across during the middle of other peoples' game (for the record, I drove it across rear territories that all had one army each, so fixing the board afterwards was easy enough that it was a cause for amusement, and not murder).

@MangaDragon56:
Ah, but if there's no yellow player, you cannot defeat him, can you?

@Raynre:
I guess none of your friends ever watched The Princess Bride? Vizzini has a few words of wisdom for them...

@el_gordo:
I'm not normally a big fan of playing Risk, but I did once win the game from Australia. Just Australia, against an opponent who controlled everything _but_ Australia. I didn't even have the whole continent either, so I wasn't getting that measly army bonus, but suddenly his rolls all sucked donkey balls and he burned out pretty much his entire frontline army in a single turn, leaving me with a field of 1's in front of me.

@unbankmhebertplease:
My last boss mentioned that a mutual friend of ours had purchased the version that has a nuclear warfare time-limit, and one turn before the nukes started dropping he was eliminated, packed up the game, and went home. He got much love that day...

Purple Dave

I play at conquerclub as well. Very slow paced and the dice obviously play a hufe role but it's still alot of fun.

As others have said, Risk would work fine on Xbox Live. You just have to set set a timer for turn lengths. For the Classic map, 1 minute is plenty of time for a turn. Players should be allowed to set it as high as 5 minutes or so if they desired, however. Get a good group together with camera and mike support and it would be great.

rluzinski

Reading the title made me think that they introduced Spec Ops to the game or something...mildly disappointed.

Gunhaver

...'kay.

Still waiting on the XBLA/PSN version of this sort of stuff. C'mon Hasbro, you know you want it.

Moonshadow101

@LX:

Risk 2210 AD is certainly more complicated, but I find it to be way more interesting. Plus it relies a little less on lucky dice rolls.

I agree with you about the moon though (in GodStorm I think they have a Netherworld instead) it can make things a little more hectic than need be. Still it works well enough and it gives people one more thing to fight over.

Risk 2210 AD is 10x better than classic Risk if you ask me. It's a shame that few people actually know about it.

Here are a few links...

[www.wizards.com]

[www.boardgamegeek.com]

Bones_Jackson

@Jesse Mrozowski: [www.boardgamegeek.com]

Witzbold

So will someone show me where I can buy this game? Cause I've been looking and every time I type Risk: Black Ops into a search I get links to books written by people that desperately wish they were Tom Clancy. Even Hasbro's website doesn't have it listed.

Jesse Mrozowski

When I first saw the picture of the board, I thought it might be a game based on the movie "War Games". Which at first I thought would be awesome... except the only way to win is not to play...

NeverSage

The Ukraine is not weak. The Ukraine is strong!

noamjamski

The PS2 version of Risk is pretty great. It is funny that you say that Risk takes too long. We used to play 4-6 players and it would take an hour, hour and a half maximum. I had a computer version of Risk that I would play and I don't think that I ever played a game of it that took more than 15 minutes, and it usually took 5-10. Maybe you need to play with people who have played the game before? I think that it is a better strategy game than the other more complex ones because it is so easy for anyone to pick up. A board game where someone who is good at it will always win is not fun for anyone else.

Monopoly, if not played electronically, will never end, and even then it usually ends in a stalemate. Maybe Monopoly should have a variation where you stop accumulating money by passing Go after a certain number of people have passed Go, such as 50 or 75.

kingofallcosmos

Maaaan... I grew up on Risk but have recently switched my allegiances for Axis and Allies, mainly because there are very clear objectives and strategies to use, rather than full dependence on luck :3

RWHC

I remember back in the day one Christmas my aunt gave my cousin RISK for PS1 I believe, I also believe he never played it - and now that I think of it Im going to get it from him and play it on my PSP, thanks auntie!

JesseLacey

I prefer diplomacy, Axis and Allies, Game of Thrones, and many other strategy games to Risk.. due to the overly large amount of luck involved with Risk.

thebluick

@z357x, su.: The PS2 was published by Atari. I'm not sure, but they probably had a 3rd party develop it.

Gary

conquerclub.com

Seriously, forget the board game version. I will never play the board game version again. The game takes way too long. If you are hanging out with six people playing the game, and you lose, what do you do? It's so boring. However, on conquerclub.com you can play and play and play and if you lose, well, who cares. You don't have to hang out in front of the computer. I wish someone would unban my kmhebert account, I can't begin to describe how many times I had something I wanted to comment on but I really feel like I was banned for no reason and would like to be unbanned and continue commenting under my original username. However reading through all these comments and not seeing even one mention of conquerclub.com, I had to mention it. You can play 4 simultaneous games for free so if you like Risk at all, check it out. There are dozens of maps and game modes you can play and the games are so much faster than the board game version of Risk.

unbankmhebertplease

It's the same Risk with more acceleration, only black? Like... Coke Black? Didn't that drink die out pretty fast?

Cpryd001

@Bones_Jackson:
A friend of mine has Risk 2210 and it's awesome, I really prefer it to classic risk, although I kinda wish the moon had been left out, it was enough to worry about the water ways without suddenly having shit drop on you from moon territories.

This version looks like it could be interesting, not sure if it brings enough new stuff to the table though.

LX

Too bad Risk isn't a "real" strategy board game.
Sorry, I'm being a huge board game snob here, but I've played games of Yahtzee more engrossing than Risk. (yawn)
Try Settlers of Catan, it's already on Xbox Live. And it's like, awesome.

Hazzy

Any version of Risk post 1995 or so comes with the "Secret Mission Risk" option. You get task / objective cards, and once you finish them you are done.

Playing Risk can be time consuming (who hasn't played a "quick" 5 hour game?) but with people who know what they are doing it can run at a reasonable speed. The slowest thing tends to be army counting / placing, and as long as you plan a person ahead (count while others are rolling) you should speed it up. And it's not like your army placing should be a last minute decision you should know that at least a couple turns ahead.

RBecho

@kingdavid73: Absolutely! Australia is the tender scrotum of Asia. Sneek armies across India and through the Middle East, and take Africa. With luck, the Americas will be too busy fighting each other and Europe.

I'd try this new game, but I wouldn't buy a whole new version just for new mission cards. It's almost the 50th anniversary anyways. Don't you think there will be a big fancy box with die-cast metal armies like the 45th anniversary box set?

el_gordo

i think old school risk with hours long games would work good on xbox live. i mean its not like i wanna go outside or anything.

Thejamielynch

Risk already has some quicker, better versions. Risk: Godstorm is pretty good and Risk 2210 AD is really great. They offer WAY more in terms of depth AND they can be played in one sitting.

Also if you want a great game that plays like Risk without the name Risk...go buy Nexus Ops. Its out of print, but you can still find it at Toys R Us for a measley $15! Its got a nice Sci Fi theme and the game plays at a blistering pace.

Bones_Jackson

Why would it not work? civ works, I want RISK for console with online, would be well fun. BTW, is there no PC version of Risk out? I thought I remember seeing that somewhere.

Irenicus-the one and only

Everyone who mentioned "Mission cards come with new versions of Risk" is correct. Also, I think the black map looks like it would be even MORE difficult to spot territorial boundaries, which is a pretty key part of the game. It's not a part of the game that should be stylized...

I actually dislike Mission Risk vs. Conquest risk. In Mission Risk you can Accidentally make someone else the winner by helping them complete their objectives since the objectives are hidden.

kwan

On the topic of game length.

I was excited about Culdcept, until most reviewers mentioned that playing one game takes neary 4-5 hours.

Mr Crecente, throw a small insight on a live match. I am still debating to pick this up before the weekend.

Fyren

God damn, I'm going to have to pick this up.

Me and my friends are big board game fans. Especially long ones like these...

We have Risk: 2040 AD, Catan (with a few expansions), and Starcraft: The board game.

Looks like this version could be fun.

exkon

@Gary: Did atari make the PS2 version of Risk? I'm pretty sure it did. I can't check cause I gave my copy to my grandpa (His favorite games are Grand Theft Auto and Risk, I let him play assassin's Creed once and he asked if he could have the rocket launcher now)

I would seriously DIE if Risk were on PSN> I'd never get anything done...

z357x, su.

I love RISK in all it's too long glory.
I fully intend to grab this beautiful board when it comes out. I'm also salivating at the thought of being able to play this on XBL. R:BO online could supplant my current crack cocaine addiction.

By the way "Doubtful", Never, NEVER play RISK with a woman (That's the second rule of "RISK CLUB")

JetLag

@lotkrota: Aw, thanks. Huggs and kisses.

I'm used to just "Lol, j00 are a Prinny" comments.
Or, "you look like Whtz" to the unenlightened.

z357x, su.

I have a newish edition of the boardgame, where the pieces are saped as cannons, horses, and men. My friend's copy, that I was first introduce to the game with, have the roman numerals, it was the same map.

In addition to those, LoTR Risk (which sucked, territory bonuses and a world i know nothing about), Risk II, Genesis Risk, and PS2 risk have all crossed my hands.

Genesis is the best for a quick game, the PS2 and Risk II are good for custom games. I'd love to seen a high quality console one made again, it doesn't need to be much, just a solid interface and plenty of customization options.

Black Ops, while a nice try, just seems like a cross between mission Risk and Capital Risk, with a black board. Not exciting.

Gary

@z357x, su.:

I see your posts, not all is lost.

lotkrota

I love Risk... great game. Bring it to online play please.
 
Axis and Allies would be nice too (and no, that 2004 PC abomination doesn't count... and the older PC title doesn't work on anything XP or newer). Gimme.

dv8godd

The UK looks REALLY big, suddenly my house is in the mid-atlantic.

YoppaDo

Your RISK experiences seems to have gone slightly different than all of mine. Currently, RISK is the only board game my wife has banned me from playing.

Of course it's also the only board game that got thrown across the room. Fucking dice.

doubtful

@kingdavid73: Hahaha hell yeah that's my favorite strategy.

NotAZombie

@giddieon: @catapult37: I feel like my posts are invisible sometimes. Risk Games have been made and kicked ass. Here (z357x) is the best one ever. And the PS2 version of Risk was pretty good also (Almost the same game with better graphics)

The PS2 version had these objectives also I might add.

z357x, su.

@n/a: I have no idea why my screen name changed up there.

Gouki4u

I don't see why the original Risk wouldn't work on XBLA. I think it would be a lot faster just due to the CPU keeping track of units and battle outcomes for you. Much like Catan, half the length of a game of Risk is all initial setup... a video game version could really help with that.

Anyway, this version sounds cool -- I'm looking forward to playing it sometime!

catapult37

Every time someone mentions Risk, I always want to fire up good ol' Rise of Nations again.

DCSimian

I really would love to see a risk game done really well I have hopes that EA will bring the real Risk game to PS3 and 360 and not just the networks...

Also where is Monopoly??? Scrabble??? Clue??? These games could be done really well...

giddieon

The original Risk made a slow but fierce drinking game(only way I've played it since I hit 21). Might actually pick this up and play it normally.

crim

I played Star Wars risk once, my brain exploded.

If you want a risk like game that actually ends, play Dust, based off the Italian comic.

Kyle81

Me and my friends a couple of years ago made a Risk variation built around WW2 that had some of these ideas incorporated. It also had special cards like Castle Risk and we even made a new full fledged board for it. Making your own game or even just modifying an existing one can be alot of fun.

Thanatos-

All the newest iteration of the Risk Series have their time cut in half with a maximum turn limit. (I'm talking about the 2210(or so), God Storm or the Transformers edition.)

Arthois

Video game related?

I will stick with Dice Wars, amazingly quick because it's a video game and not a board game. This does sound cool though.

JimmyPageJun1or

I always enjoyed grabbing africa at the start of a game. Most of the people I played with used to try to grab asia or N America first for the army bonus, but Africa was my launching site because: A) You only need to guard 2 key territories, and B) It let me attack pretty much any continant of my choosing. =) Good times.

Raynre

Japan sure is big on that map and Madagascar seems out of place. And worst, the Philippines is completely gone. What gives?

Mr.Waffleton

I thought regular Risk these days had a type of Objective mode... Kill all the red enemies... Control South America and Australia, stuff like that?

gatorjosh

Yay, I love Risk. Just hold Australia.

kingdavid73

@Mike: You have apparently never heard of "Risk II" by Mircoprose. It's an awesome computer version of Risk that has quite a few different modes.

Just the fact that it's a computer game speeds up the game play so much we can finish a game in mere hours. It also has a simultanious mode so you and the other players make your attack moves at the same time, which is a lot cooler cause you never know where or when you'll be attacked or if you'll be flanked while making your own attack.

Personally I don't like this "Black Ops" idea. [en.wikipedia.org]

z357x, su.

I have a friend who would probably shoot someone for saying Risk is too long, but fortunately he does not read Kotaku. I can't decide if he would glom onto this game like a lamprey, or decry it as a bastardization.

I would play the fuck out of this on Live.

n/a

Will the pieces also be Black-Ops related?

gunstarhero

*scratches head* I bought a copy of risk a few years ago and it came with a set of 'objectives' cards. Says a bunch of things like 'get x amount of countries' and 'capture South America and Europe'. Even 'defeat yellow player', which is an easy win, as no one around here ever picks yellow. ^.^

I also thought the risk game for the PS2 had objectives, though I am not sure having never played it myself. All in all, looks like another repackage to me. *shrugs*

MangaDragon56

I'll take it and monopoly someday too please.

gr1f1th

@lotkrota:

Not sure, didn't see anything in the original article but "soon". Then again I was merely skimming.

Destrudo

I'm in. release date?

lotkrota

Looking forward to it, I think.

Destrudo

I usually never use this expression but

DO WANT!

Witzbold

My racist roommates and I played risk a lot back in the day. I'd always play as yellow, so when they decided to push the yellow man back to asia, i'd still get that 7 army bonus at the end of every turn. 3 or 4 turns with that bonus, and i'd storm out of campchakta, eastern europe, and the middle east and whip some ass. I once took the entire board in 1 turn. It involved some poor defense strategies as well as a statistically improbable number of 6 rolls in a row, but it was a beautiful thing.

God I love risk. Put me down for 3.

RamV10

@Witzbold: I'm pulling some strings to get my PRESS copy.

rainofwalrus [XBL]

I'm sure the guys at www.ewarzone.com will be very happy..Since the downfall of bill gates "the Zone"...(oops did I say downfall.Of course I mean closure.This is where the true Risk11 fans hang out.Although a lot of them moved on to the Web based site ([www.conquerclub.com])with very few game freezes.Lets hope if they do bring this out on CD rom it will transform risk into a wonderful freeze free zone.

KoE_Sirius

OOoh... this should be fun. Better than the older risk. Frakin took FOREVER to finish a game specially when you decide to hole up and attack sporadicly.

Okais

@Phbbt107: Sure, the dice can get annoying when your luck is bad, but the unpredictability adds an element of suspense and fear into the game. No matter how well you're doing, you just NEVER know if you're really okay, so you get really suspicious of allies and whatnot. It's all very Cold War-esque.

Spiffyness

@rainofwalrus [XBL]: ooo nice!

Witzbold

That map is a great example of why New Zealand doesn't need a defence force.

bitshifter