Naturally, there has to be some element of realism to the battles or what's the point of building up forces? Well, the attackers do get the advantage in a fight with - yes, you guessed it - more dice to roll than the defenders. That's it. The emphasis is biased towards the more strategic elements of the game, such as troop placement and knowing when to attack and when to guard your borders, without having to get bogged down in the gritty realism of combat.

So what advantages does the PC version have over the board game? Well, for one you don't need to convince a bunch of your mates to play in order to have a game. The AI players are cunning and quite ruthless. There's even a tournament option that increases in difficulty each round, with different missions to accomplish each time, that should keep you busy. Secondly, the battles look slightly more exciting with little 3D men and horses, especially compared to the board game's little plastic pieces. Finally, there's no chance that your game will be ruined because your dog has eaten some of the bits.

At the end of the day, you're just playing a more attractive board game, and yet there's something strangely addictive about RISK II. It's something you can't quite put your finger on but it's definitely there. Maybe it's the slick interface or the smooth combat system, or maybe it's the fact that even though you're beating your fists against the table because you've just rolled eight ones in a row and lost, you just have to have one more go. Simple it may be, but RISK II oozes playability and that beats real-time lighting effects any day.