For those of you who have never heard of the game before, Risk is a turn based strategy board game in which players attack and defend territories by managing and projecting their military force. The object of the game, in most instances, is to dominate the world by capturing each and every territory. This is accomplished by deploying your forces in order to conquer new territories while continuing to defend your existing land. If you're unfamiliar with the inner workings of the game, Risk II offers 32 different tutorials that will demonstrate the rules and regulations of the game.

There are three modes of play in Risk II: Classic Risk, Same Time Risk and Tournament Play. Classic Risk recreates the conventional turn based board game while Sam Time Risk introduces a style of play in which players make simultaneous decisions regarding their attacking and movement phases. This offers a unique twist on the game in that if you decide to deploy your units to attack a new territory, another player, in the same turn, might decide to attack the territory from whence those units derived from. It adds a new element of strategy to the game. Finally, Tournament Risk is a series of 16 pre-set scenarios with varying objectives and settings. Tournament points are awarded in accordance to how well you do in each scenario.

In a single player game, you can compete against up to 7 computer opponents in any one game. These aren't just any old computer opponents though, there are 16 of some of the most famous leaders the world has seen. Opponents such as Napoleon, Taupin and the Duke of Wellington are offered up, each with varying difficulty levels.

In terms of the rules of the game, Risk II is no different from the original title. It does, however, serve up a number of new gameplay options. First off, there are six additional territories that can be activated if you so desire. Not only do the territories add to the size of the world, they also add new links between continents that aren't available in the original game. There's also the option to change the continent reinforcement bonus settings in the game. These new options create a whole new set of possible attack routes and outcomes in the game. There are also three different objectives to select from: World Domination Risk, Capital Risk and Mission. The World Domination choice requires the winner to capture and protect a percentage of the world. Capital Risk requires the winner to capture and occupy their opponent's capital cities. The Mission objective requires the winner to complete the task allocated to them via a Mission Card which is revealed at the beginning of the game. Missions range from controlling certain continents to destroying all troops belonging to a specified player.

As I mentioned before, the rules and regulations of the game remain the same. You still collect trading cards when acquiring a certain number of territories and you can still trade those cards in for reinforcements. You still deploy a set number of units at the beginning of each turn and you still attack and move forces in the same manner as before. When you first start a game, each player chooses territories they wish to control one by one. Risk II features a new election approach in which players are allocated election points that they can use to outbid other players in order to control certain territories. Once all the territories have been acquired, players then deploy their starting armies on the board. The game begins as each player takes their turn consisting of four phases, a process that remains unchanged from the original game. Players can form alliances with opponents, move units, attack adjacent territories to theirs, etc. Another new option introduced into the game is defence strategies. Player's can now position their troops within a territory in order to gain an advantage. You can place units on the borders of territories or in the capital, each with it's own set of advantages and disadvantages for combat and movement.

One of the biggest improvements over the original Risk title is the new and improved interface. Besides the 2D board view, a 3D globe view is available at the stroke of a key and both modes are fully zoomable. I did find the 3D globe to be a little shaky in terms of viewing the entire world. You can only rotate the globe horizontally, with no vertical adjustment available. I think you'll find the 2D view is the one to stick with. The controls are relatively simple and information panels are available upon request if you're having difficulty. At the end of each game, graphical battle statistics are presented for each player including kills, casualties, continents controlled, and much more.

The presentation of Risk II is much improved over the original. The board and interface are much more colourful and the addition of battlefield animations is a bonus, although slightly repetitive after awhile. The background music consists of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and works to great effect. There are also sound effects during the battlefield animations in which you'll hear such effects as rifle and cannon fire while commanders bark orders to their troops.

Risk II does offer multiplayer options including TCP/IP and LAN support. Apparently there will also be an online matching service at Microsoft's Gaming Zone. Turn based titles like Risk II require a taste though for multiplayer games. Personally, I have a hard time dealing with the lengthy waiting periods between turns. You can also play with more than one player on the same machine, via the hot seat method, but I can't see how that would be very exciting. I'm sure somewhere down the line Hasbro Interactive will incorporate their famous Play by E-Mail feature, but it currently doesn't exist in Risk II.

As I mentioned before, Risk II is more a remake than a sequel. The core of the game remains the same despite the addition of some new features. Gameplay is slightly more limited in Risk II, as compared to the original title, since the Ultimate Risk style has been removed. If you're in the market for a classic board game, Risk II is certainly worth a look and even if you own the original 1996 version, there are enough innovations and options to declare Risk II the ultimate computer based Risk game.