So to be honest, I've never played Metal Gear Solid games and have had absolutely no interest in them, let alone to actually sit down to play it. BUT, being a HUGEEE Risk fanboy my whole life, I couldn't just turn a blind eye to the newest Risk variant, featuring MGS (except for Risk: Halo; THAT just looks fucking stupid). Last week, me and a friend split the costs and we finally picked up this fine Risk game off Amazon. After dicking around with the game, just trying to accustom ourselves to the rules, we eventually got another friend to join in and play the game for reals. But before we get into the play by play, we'll go ahead with the unboxing first!
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The one thing I appreciate about the new Risk variants are the molded plastic dividers to keep each color group and other play peripherals separated. For whatever reason, Risk 2210 and Godstorm stopped including dividers in their boxes which have always been a pet peeve of mine. But as you can see here, the contents are all neatly tucked away in their own concave section with easy stow away compartments. The cardboard poke-outs are your typical nice quality stock gaming pieces; pretty durable, easy to read, and nice to the touch. And just like all Risk games, everything can be neatly taken out of the box right from the get-go.
The board is definitely the most eye catching part of this Risk variant. It's sleeked out in a dark, war-room hologram-esque scheme that just looks amazing.
If any of you think this board design looks familiar, then you're right; this board looks like it was designed after the board for Risk Blackops, the promotional limited-edition version of the now available Risk Revised. Even though most Risk fans wont be getting their hands on a Blackops board, we were at least fortunate enough to have a board designed strikingly close to it. That'll have to do before I can afford spending $800 on a mint Risk Blackops game off Amazon. Oh well, I can dream..
If any of you think this board design looks familiar, then you're right; this board looks like it was designed after the board for Risk Blackops, the promotional limited-edition version of the now available Risk Revised. Even though most Risk fans wont be getting their hands on a Blackops board, we were at least fortunate enough to have a board designed strikingly close to it. That'll have to do before I can afford spending $800 on a mint Risk Blackops game off Amazon. Oh well, I can dream..
And here's the Risk game in its entirety
Gameplay Review
Now with the unboxing out of the way, we'll get into the play by play of our first REAL play-through after we've gotten familiar with the new rules and variations. But we'll first address all the main differences between MGS Risk and Risk 2210. MGS Risk utilizes the new objective system to win the game which was first introduced in Risk Revised back in 2009. The main premise here is to complete three objectives and you win the game. This means no more 5-6 hour Risk games for world domination; gone are the days of playing Risk into the wee hours of the morning since the night before. Roughly, games will last no more than 2 hours.. so yes, somewhere in the world, a Risk purist weeps.
The next innovation introduced in MGS Risk are the Bosses. There are eight bosses to choose from and the function like Commanders from Risk 2210. But instead of having unique command cards, each boss has a special ability such as: dice modifiers, army fortification, and economy (more on this later), much like how the Gods functioned in Risk Godstorm.
Instead of unique command cards like in Risk 2210, in MGS Risk, all the playable cards are under one name: Drebin Shop cards. There are two types of Drebin cards: Tactical and Action. Tactical works much like Diplomat cards and Action works much like Land cards laced with Nuclear cards. Drebin cards can be purchased by any player by using Drebin points which function exactly like Energy in Risk 2210. The one main difference between Drebin cards and Command cards is that there are NO MULTIPLES of one card for Drebin cards; each Drebin card is unique and has no copies. No more hoarding a shit ton of stealth mods or assemble mods anymore.. sadly.
The most unique addition to MGS Risk is the ship, Outer Haven. This ship functions essentially like a portable Moon that can launch a delayed Invade Earth effect. Outer Haven is randomly placed on the docking stations which are the numbered circular spots on each continent. When someone fully takes over Outer Haven, that player can choose to maneuver Outer Haven onto any of the docking stations they choose at the end of their Maneuver Stage. From there on, you can unload your army onto enemy land as you please.
The next innovation introduced in MGS Risk are the Bosses. There are eight bosses to choose from and the function like Commanders from Risk 2210. But instead of having unique command cards, each boss has a special ability such as: dice modifiers, army fortification, and economy (more on this later), much like how the Gods functioned in Risk Godstorm.
Instead of unique command cards like in Risk 2210, in MGS Risk, all the playable cards are under one name: Drebin Shop cards. There are two types of Drebin cards: Tactical and Action. Tactical works much like Diplomat cards and Action works much like Land cards laced with Nuclear cards. Drebin cards can be purchased by any player by using Drebin points which function exactly like Energy in Risk 2210. The one main difference between Drebin cards and Command cards is that there are NO MULTIPLES of one card for Drebin cards; each Drebin card is unique and has no copies. No more hoarding a shit ton of stealth mods or assemble mods anymore.. sadly.
The most unique addition to MGS Risk is the ship, Outer Haven. This ship functions essentially like a portable Moon that can launch a delayed Invade Earth effect. Outer Haven is randomly placed on the docking stations which are the numbered circular spots on each continent. When someone fully takes over Outer Haven, that player can choose to maneuver Outer Haven onto any of the docking stations they choose at the end of their Maneuver Stage. From there on, you can unload your army onto enemy land as you please.
Playing the Game
Now with the rules out of the way, I'll go into a review of our first real game. This will be a three player game with my friends, Justin and Jeff. Justin is playing as orange, Jeff as blue, and myself as awesome buttercup yellow. The turn order started off with me going first, Jeff second, and Justin third. I chose Solid Snake as my boss, Jeff as Eva, and Justin as Liquid Ocelot. This game took about two hours to finish.
Our randomized starting positions
This was our starting position after we randomly selected our territories. We're mostly spread out pretty thin. The only favorable position is my high concentration in Australia, which I promptly placed my capital in New Guinea. Jeff placed his goals in Europe, fortifying Russia first to go for the Europe Objective. Justin set his sights on South America, fortifying in Brazil. Luckily for Justin, Outer Haven rolled a 2 and was planted right at Justin's backyard.
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I made my first move by taking over Australia and moving upwards through Asia. I completed my turn by taking over 4 city countries in one turn, taking that objective accompanied with a guaranteed territory card reward. I ended up fortifying in South East Asia
Jeff made his move into the remainder of Europe, clinching his objective. BUT, he did a pretty sneaky move at the beginning of his turn. What he ended up doing was that he used his reinforcements and planted them in South America, which was adjacent to Outer Haven. Jeff took advantage of Eva's ability and used an action card which allowed him to reinforce a territory with the amount he rolled on a d6; luckily, he rolled a 6 and put six armies to join his march onto Outer Haven. Jeff's plan was to steal Outer Haven right under from Justin and move Outer Haven to Europe for safe keeping, screwing Justin out of an objective. But in a cruel twist of fate, Jeff fell short by ONE army when he tried to overtake Outer Haven. Not only did he fail, he also softened up Outer Haven considerably for Justin to easily take it over which he swiftly did on his turn.
Ohhh, it was a glorious play by Jeff and it would've been just plain douchey if it worked. By the end of the first round, we all each had one objective in hand. The game was off to a great start so far.
 The one army that laughed at Jeff in the face |  Justin asserting his dominance over Outer Haven with almost no opposition |
The start of the second round was when things really sped up. I rampaged my way through Asia, taking it over and clinching the objective for taking Asia in one turn. I then fortified my death ball of an army into Western United States using Solid Snake's ability to transverse through enemy territories. I was planning my next phase in North America for its cities to gain my third objective next round and with Justin located primarily on Outer Haven, my army would relatively be unopposed.
Jeff continued his conquest to reestablish control of Europe after I poked into Russia to disrupt his Europe bonus. He then tried to bum rush his way through Asian and into Australia to take my capital, but I played a series of Drebin cards: Black Mail and Blind Side, which essentially worked as a roundabout Cease Fire stopping Jeff's attack on my Asia territories and locking his army in Russia.
Justin began his turn reinforcing Brazil and leaving Outer Haven in South America to gain the other Outer Haven major objective. He then friendly moved all his units into Brazil without doing any major attacks.
 Ready to take over cities on my next turn |  Jeff locked in Russia for trying to fuck with Asia |  Justin bunkering down until he accomplishes the Outer Haven major objective |
With the start of the third round, the game ended in a pretty uneventful way. I started my turn reinforcing all into Western United States with 21 bonus armies from my massive amount of territories and my Asia bonus also being left untouched. As I was gearing up to take down a few more cities to gain the last objective, I actually had my final major objective met which was to control 18 territories. None of us realized this yet until it hit us at the last moment. So I ended up just ending my turn, collected my final objective, and thus winning the game with the most undramatic way I have ever won a Risk a game.
Conclusion
After all the multiple dry runs and practice plays we've tried out till this actual game we played for real, MGS Risk has proven to be quite a fun variant of Risk, but without the long 5-6 hour games. I was particularly excited that Risk finally came out with an adaption that combined BOTH the objective system from Risk Revised with the Commander/God elements of Risk 2210 and Godstorm. But there are some issues I would like to address.
Even though I've never played MGS before, I get the feeling MGS Risk was 'form over function', as in it was made more in mind to appease the MGS fandom in relation to trying to keep with the MGS storyline and play style. As far as the game goes, there are a few balance issues that fall short because there was so much emphasis for following the MGS story line rather than to appease the Risk fandom, which I totally understand, but as a Risk purist, I'm inclined to point out the flaws from a Risk fanboy's perspective.
The one main issue I had was with the Drebin cards not having any multiples, each card was unique and you could be assured no one else had the same card as you. Some cards are just way too chaotic without any way to really stop them. There are no frequency jams, no counter spells, and no way to counter cards in the typical Risk 2210 fashion. It was obvious to all of us when we saw the card, ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → A B START, that this Risk variant had the sole idea of appeasing the MGS fandom. I mean, REALLY?! A Drebin card that calls you a cheater and lets you drop a 10-army shit ton in one territory?! The card is ludicrous in all ways, but I'm not gonna lie, these strong MGS references in the Drebin cards are a nice change of pace from my predictable Risk 2210 tendencies, albeit with a few extremes I could do without.
The next issue is with the Boss characters. They're absolutely badass and I love playing with them, but AT THE MOMENT, most seem underpowered. We've only played this game so many times and it's hard to say exactly the potential of each Boss, but you can see that there's a reason Bosses like Beauty and the Beast, Rat Patrol, and Raiden would not be the top of anyone's picks. Just by playing some statistics in dice rolling, Rat Patrol and Beauty and the Beast are almost inferior to Solid Snake and Liquid Ocelot. Why even choose them, right? OH wait, you went 4th or 5th, too bad, you might have to settle for them. But I wont be TOO critical now until I've played a few more games to really see what the other Bosses can do; I'll wait till then to lament.
All in all, MGS Risk is a nice breath of fresh air to the Risk franchise that I personally enjoy playing. It's like a nice coffee break from the intense Risk 2210 nights I've had in the past. I'll admit that MGS Risk is fun to play and the action is non-stop, but it's no replacement for my baby, 2210. If anything, I see MGS Risk as a more player-friendly way to get my other non-Risk friend to give it a whirl instead of the intimidating 5-6 hour game nights with Risk 2210. I do like the objective system they implemented, but to the Risk purists, the win-by-objective definitely isn't anywhere near as satisfying than pummeling ass with your domineering conquest over the world, BUT the objective system is still pretty fun and dare I say it.. actually adds LEGITIMATE strategy and tactics to the game (unlike those other Risk variants, you know who you are!)
So, if you're a fan of MGS, or simply a Risk purist who wants to get their feet wet with something different, but JUST AS CHALLENGING (imo), definitely pick up a copy of MGS Risk! As I play more games, I'll be giving more reviews and play by play's in the near future.
Even though I've never played MGS before, I get the feeling MGS Risk was 'form over function', as in it was made more in mind to appease the MGS fandom in relation to trying to keep with the MGS storyline and play style. As far as the game goes, there are a few balance issues that fall short because there was so much emphasis for following the MGS story line rather than to appease the Risk fandom, which I totally understand, but as a Risk purist, I'm inclined to point out the flaws from a Risk fanboy's perspective.
The one main issue I had was with the Drebin cards not having any multiples, each card was unique and you could be assured no one else had the same card as you. Some cards are just way too chaotic without any way to really stop them. There are no frequency jams, no counter spells, and no way to counter cards in the typical Risk 2210 fashion. It was obvious to all of us when we saw the card, ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → A B START, that this Risk variant had the sole idea of appeasing the MGS fandom. I mean, REALLY?! A Drebin card that calls you a cheater and lets you drop a 10-army shit ton in one territory?! The card is ludicrous in all ways, but I'm not gonna lie, these strong MGS references in the Drebin cards are a nice change of pace from my predictable Risk 2210 tendencies, albeit with a few extremes I could do without.
The next issue is with the Boss characters. They're absolutely badass and I love playing with them, but AT THE MOMENT, most seem underpowered. We've only played this game so many times and it's hard to say exactly the potential of each Boss, but you can see that there's a reason Bosses like Beauty and the Beast, Rat Patrol, and Raiden would not be the top of anyone's picks. Just by playing some statistics in dice rolling, Rat Patrol and Beauty and the Beast are almost inferior to Solid Snake and Liquid Ocelot. Why even choose them, right? OH wait, you went 4th or 5th, too bad, you might have to settle for them. But I wont be TOO critical now until I've played a few more games to really see what the other Bosses can do; I'll wait till then to lament.
All in all, MGS Risk is a nice breath of fresh air to the Risk franchise that I personally enjoy playing. It's like a nice coffee break from the intense Risk 2210 nights I've had in the past. I'll admit that MGS Risk is fun to play and the action is non-stop, but it's no replacement for my baby, 2210. If anything, I see MGS Risk as a more player-friendly way to get my other non-Risk friend to give it a whirl instead of the intimidating 5-6 hour game nights with Risk 2210. I do like the objective system they implemented, but to the Risk purists, the win-by-objective definitely isn't anywhere near as satisfying than pummeling ass with your domineering conquest over the world, BUT the objective system is still pretty fun and dare I say it.. actually adds LEGITIMATE strategy and tactics to the game (unlike those other Risk variants, you know who you are!)
So, if you're a fan of MGS, or simply a Risk purist who wants to get their feet wet with something different, but JUST AS CHALLENGING (imo), definitely pick up a copy of MGS Risk! As I play more games, I'll be giving more reviews and play by play's in the near future.
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