Review: Risk 2210 A.D.:: Risk 2210: Fixes Some Problems, Adds Some New Ones: "
Risk has a bad rap. People complain about all the flaws in the game--the 12 hour playing time, Australia, the randomness, etc. etc.
Risk 2210 fixes many of these problems rather elegantly, but also introduces some new ones. This review is a quick summary of improvements on the original Risk and problems that remain to be fixed, as well as my thoughts on each one.
(Note: this is not intended to be an exhaustive review; I only touch on gameplay elements that are relative to the points I'm discussing. I recommend looking up another review, or, better yet, the rulebook, if you want to learn more about how the game is played.)
Risk 2210 Fixes:
-The Static Board. Although not as bad of a problem as, say Axis and Allies, the typical Risk game is rather predictable: Whoever has Australia will defend it vigorously and never lose it, the guy who has Asia will never ever hold on to it, etc.
In Risk 2210, 4 territories are chosen at random. These territories receive a Nuke token, meaning that they've been destroyed or contaminated or something; nothing can enter or move through these territories.
Believe it or not, this small change has a HUGE impact on the game. The layout of the map is rather dramatically changed, shaking up the game. For example, I've had several games where Australia is inaccessible, one where North America lost half its territories (but kept its full continent bonus), making it easier to hold, and another where the Middle East became a choke point between three continents.
This is my second-favorite change; the board feels different every single game. It really ups the replayability value.
-Australia. Australia's cool, if you own it. Otherwise, it's a thorn in your side, and completely unassailable.
Risk 2210 adds two additional routes into Australia, both composed of several Water Colonies (read: additional spaces). These extra entry points force the Australia player to spread out his forces, but the Water Colonies act as a buffer, making sure that conquering Australia will never be a cakewalk.
I think this is a really elegant solution to the tendency to 'Turtle' in Australia. In most other Risk variants (e.g. The Clone Wars), the 'Australia' continent simply has a second entrance. This nullifies most of the defensive properties of the continent, making it much less appealing. The way it's implemented in 2210, Australia is still quite defensible, but not impossible to take.
-Counting. 'OK Red, your turn.' 'How many reinforcements do I get? One, two, three, four....Oop, forgot the Middle East. One, two, three...'
Risk 2210 adds a Scoreboard, which players use to keep track of how many territories they own, along with the amount of reinforcements they get. During play, it can be adjusted quite easily, and, if you lose track, players can count (when it's not their turn) to double-check.
This is my single favorite addition to 2210. In fact, I find it difficult to play without the Scoreboard now. Although it's not hard to count, it slows the game down considerably. This is another small change that has a huge impact on the game.
-The Randomness. Risk is, at heart, a dice-based wargame. With heavy emphasis on 'dice.' It's not uncommon for two defending armies to hold out against seventeen, or for an offensive force to breeze past an evenly-matched defending force like they weren't even there. Once or twice, it's amusing. After twelve times in a row, it gets old.
Risk 2210 adds elements that allow a player to influence his luck. Generals can be purchased which allow the player to roll 8-sided dice (instead of the regular 6-sided), which gives him a higher chance of winning. Players can also buy 'Space Stations' defensive, land-based (go figure) fortresses, which allow players to roll 8-sided dice while defending, as well as providing extra troops.
I like this change. It's nice and adds a little flavor (the generals have different abilities), but it isn't as drastic as other changes.
-The 12 hour game time. Risk ends when there's one player left standing. This is fine and all, when you play against a computer, but with humans? Risk has a tendency to stretch on for a long, long time, often unreasonably so.
Risk 2210 introduces a new mechanic, where the game ends after turn 5. Players then score points equal to the amount of reinforcements they'd get on their next turn, and certain cards (worth extra points) are added to the total. Whoever has the most points wins.
This drops Risk from a 12-hour game to a 2- or 3- hour game. It's still not ideal, but it's much better. However, this introduces a problem, which I'll discuss shortly.
So, Risk 2210 does a lot of cool things. But what problems does it have?
Risk 2210 Breaks:
-The Last Turn. Risk 2210, along with the time limit, introduces the concept of a 'last turn.' Thus, whoever goes last on the last turn has no need to play defensively. They can spread themselves as thin as they want, and it'll be OK, because no one's gonna hurt them. Meanwhile, all the other players are furious as they see their continent bonuses (and, therefore, points) evaporate in a puff of dice rolls.
This, in my opinion, is 2210's greatest weakness. The last turn is simply broken. I think a quick variant would be enough to fix it, but I have yet to hear one that I like; I have a suggestion of my own, which I'll tell you about in a little bit.
-Bidding For Turns. Risk 2210 introduced the concept of a cash-based economy to the Risk franchise. It's drastically simplified, though; you get 'Credits' equal to the amount of troops you recieve each turn. These Credits are used to buy Generals, Power Cards, and Space Stations, as well as bidding for turns.
By turns 4 or 5, there is generally someone that has more credits than he can spend. Thus he can outbid anyone for turn order, selecting the all-powerful Fifth Spot on the Last Turn.
An idea I have to fix both this problem and the last one is rather simple: on the last turn, players select Turn Order in reverse order of scoring; thus, whoever has the fewest territories picks first. He can decide if he wants the Fifth Spot, or if he's afraid he'll get destroyed by his rivals before he's able to go. Conversely, the most powerful player will get stuck with the third, second, or (gasp!) first spot, whichever is considered least desirable by the other players.
I must say, though, besides its broken-ness, I don't like bidding for turn order. It just doesn't seem to add all that much to the game, and can often get a player frustrated if he's consistently going third (generally the least desirable).
-The Moon. 'Didn't you hear? The Moon is the new Australia.'
The Moon is a spiffy addition, but, because it starts empty, is generally one of the first to be taken. After someone owns it, they generally start dumping troops on the three landing zones, effectively making the Moon impenetrable. If anyone tries to land on the Moon, the Moon's owner plays all kinds of defensive cards he's been building up, destroying the attacking army and urinating on their robotic corpses. The Moon's owner then chills on the Moon for the entire game, not interacting with anyone else unless it's a missile salvo or some half-hearted land defense (after all, he has the Moon. What concern are land-based territories to him?). And, if he decides he is sick of kickin' it up in the sky, he can play a card to come back down, dumping all the troops he's been saving on top of some poor sap who didn't bother to look up.
I don't think I've seen the Moon actually be contested for more than a turn or two, in all my games. Again, it's spiffy, but it just introduces a bunch of new problems.
Final Judgment:
I really enjoy Risk 2210. Overall, I think the changes were positive, and it adds a whole new layer of strategy to what was essentially a dice-rolling game. Just about everyone I've played it with enjoyed it too; the one exception was a guy that ended up winning anyways.
And, the best part? If you don't like the changes, you can play regular Risk, too. The board is the standard Earth board, and the territory cards (used for randomly selecting territories) can be used for reinforcements as well. The Scoreboard can even be used to keep track of how many reinforcements a set of cards will give you!
The pieces have even come in handy for other games. You get a set of five pawns in five colors (the Generals), which you can use for your print-and-play games, or old-school Dr. Lucky. You get a set of about 500 tokens (the armies) in three denominations and 5 colors, which you can use for pretty much anything. In this regard, the armies are more structurally sound than, say, Clone Wars armies, and smaller than Risk(2003) armies, and are in a generic-enough shape to be used for just about anything. The Credits (round cardboard chips in two denominations) can be used for scoring. And, you get dice. Who doesn't need more dice?
All in all? Highly recommended, especially if you already like Risk. I've gotten my money's worth many times over.
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