Risk / Battleship / Clue (Nintendo Game Boy Advance, 2005)

One day I got an itch to play RISK. Only I didn't want to play it on a console or PC; I wanted to play on my Nintendo DS. So off to the stores I went in search of a DS version.

I was surprised to find that the only versions of RISK currently available are for the PC, the PS2, and this version for the Gameboy Advance. I had figured that with the release of a slew of board game collections on the DS that surely they had made a version of RISK. I figured wrong. As it currently stands, this is the only portable version of RISK in existence.

The game itself is no frills, very basic. Your options are rather limited - you cannot pick your color army and there is only the world conquest game. The interface takes a bit of practice to get the hang of it, as it is a scrolling cursor over small countries. Everything is handled by the cursor, which makes me wonder why they didn't bring even this version to the DS. The touch-screen would be much more suited than scrolling around with the D-pad.

Otherwise the game plays the same as the board game, which makes it a fair reproduction if you want to play RISK on the go. BATTLESHIP and CLUE are kind of the same way. BATTLESHIP allows you to set the AI difficulty (which doesn't make much sense to me), and CLUE requires three seperate screens which you flip back and forth through to get your cards, notebook, and board straight. You are expected to have memorized the rooms of the mansion as well, as there are no labels that I could find telling you which room was where. CLUE was the most frustrating to play in my opinion, but I suppose with time and exercising your brain it could be an enjoyable version of the game.

Presumeably you can hook up with other players who have the cartridge and play multiplayer since you can choose how many players you want, except there is nothing really mentioned on the box or in the instructions that says you can do this. It may be a game of "Pass it around" as each player finishes their turn and hands off the system to the next player. I haven't figured that out yet and considering the only place I have seen this game is here on eBay it is unlikely that any of my friends will pick it up.

My biggest gripe about the game - and this is huge in today's portable game market - is that there is no save function. You cannot save your game at all. This is incredible considering that nearly every portable game out there has some form of game saving function due to the fact that it is a portable game. This is somewhat tempered in the case of RISK in that 3-player games tend to be over and done with in about an hour. More than likely the more players you have the longer and more difficult the game will be. Without a save function though there isn't much point in playing more than 3 players unless you have the time to devote to a longer game.

As far as portable RISK goes, it does a decent job of presenting the classic game of world domination. Just don't expect much beyond that. If you have a long ride on the bus ahead of you this will pass the time wonderfully. My hope is that RISK will get a facelift for the DS soon, as I want more options than what this version offers. The DS would be the best portable interface for the game and the wireless and Wi-Fi connectivity offers plenty of possibilities for multiplayer options. Instead we are left to wait and wonder, and bide our time with this version for now.

This combination of three great board games into one Game boy is worth buying at what most sellers have the price listed in their auctions.
The computer artificial intelligence is decent enough. No real problems with it making a decision, but sometimes it does make it too easy to win.
For example, in the game Clue the computer controlled opponents will take a door exit from a room he/she is in instead of a door exit that is closer to the room they will go toward. And I have not seen one of the computer opponents use the secret passages to travel across.
The best game of the three to play is Risk. The computer can pose to be a formidable opponent and tends to be fair in attacking other computer players as well as yourself.
The one game I felt a little put off was Battleship. It just honestly felt like the computer has a way of discovering your ships location a little too easily. But that could be the way it was meant to be played on Hard mode.
The game visuals are what could be expected for the Game Boy. Not much in the sound effects and the music is simple.
So far it is a game worth playing every once in a while, similar to Tetris. You could play it for a little while, then put it away. Later on see the game and start playing it again for some time.
This is a kind of game kids who like to play board games during car trips can share together. Otherwise, play the actual board games in the living room/kitchen/wherever else is comfortable.

Having played all the games a few times I can now say this game cartridge is a waste, unless you are buying it for Battleship!!!! (DSI was very sloppy on this 3-pack.)

Battleship:
This game works correctly (as far as I noticed) like the classic version we all know and love. You can either play the regular single shot per turn game, or the 1 shot per ship you have left each turn style.

Risk:
This game works like the board game for the most part, but has the following problems. The computer players will attack any territory they can as long as they have 1 army more that the defender. They will continue to attack until they have only 1 army on each of their territories or they cannot attack with greater odds.(For instance if they have 3 armies and you have 3 armies they will not attack.) This amounts to a very, very simple victory. You can usually win in 4 turns. They also don't try to break into continents to keep you from getting extra armies. Also, when you wipe-out a player you do not get their cards like in the classic board game. This is a real bummer.

Clue:
This game has the most bugs/errors in it. They range so widely and are so different from game to game that you almost can't tell what's going on!!! Sometimes you will have a card to disprove a suggestion, but the computer just says you cannot disprove the statement!!! Sometimes you narrow the options down to the final 3 and make your accusation and it says you're wrong! Also, when a computer makes a suggestion or accusation, their picks of culprit and weapon flash so quickly you can hardly read them. The game is just too fast. This really takes the logic and extra info you can learn by paying attention out of the game. There are just too many problems with it to be worth your money. DSI did a terrible job on this one!!!!!

All in all I would say this game is a waste of your time and money. Read some of the other reviews for this title and you will see where other had the same problems.

Other DSI 3-packs sound to have similar problems with them too. BE SURE TO READ THE REVIEWS BEFORE BUYING THEM!!!

This game was bought for my 2 boys ages 6 and 7 who are absolutely crazy over clue and battleship games. I bought this when I inadvertently found it online.
The price was good for a game I knew nothing about. The delivery was right on time. I will however say that the game itself is a little hard to play on a gameboy, that would be the game maker fault. The CLUE game itself is not worth it, which by the way is why I purchased it. Battleship is fun, RISK is too complicated on such a small screen. I'm sure it won't be too long and I will be trading this game in at our local gamestop.

This is a game that I would not recommend unless you are stranded on an island, all by yourself, and you have an urge to play Clue or Battleship. Otherwise go out and buy the board game versions and you will have much more fun. These games do not translate well into video games - they were originally made as board games, and that's how they should stay. Just my $.02.