IConquer: Computer Game Review

If you are a Mac user and were ever a fan of the board game of world domination called RISK then you are in luck. Software company Kavasoft has released the RISK-like iConquer for the Mac. As with the classic board game, in iConquer you begin with a set amount of armies throughout the world and you battle with other armies in an attempt to take over the world--right from your computer. The game supports 2 to 6 players. You have the option to play against the computer, against friends using the same computer, or challenge others over a network. iConquer offers all levels of interactive play.

At $25 iConquer is on the pricey side but the amount of customization and other features of iConquer justify the cost. Upon purchase and download you can launch the game and begin customizing it to your preferences. You can choose the color that you would like to represent your country. Another great feature is the ability to name the leaders of each country. Your country would of course have whatever name you decide to use for yourself. The others by default are named after infamous dictators including Joseph Stalin, Mao Tzekung, and Fidel Castro. You can rename these to anything you want. So if you want to pit yourself against Alexander the Great or George Patton, you can change the names to the names of the military leaders.

Now of course not all nations and leaders behave the same way and iConquer takes this into account quite nicely. The game allows you to give each nation a particular level of aggressiveness. So you can have a Hitler to be imperialistic and desiring to take over and then you can have another army that is only defensive and not so imperialistic. This greatly affects how you need to approach each enemy and how to fortify your forces. Lastly, concerning customization, you have a complete control over how the countries of the world are divided up at the outset of a round of play. You are welcome to let the computer determine the land allocations for you but if you want more control, the ability is there for you.

As with RISK you begin with a set amount of armies. At the start of each turn you are given more armies the number of which depends up on a few different factors. As you conquer lands the number of armies awarded to you increases so it behooves you to conquer lands with each turn but do so in such a way that they can not easily be taken back before your next turn. Furthermore you acquire bonus armies for owning entire continents. By far the best way of accumulating armies is by way of card collection. There are 42 total cards, one for each country and additionally there are two wild cards. The cards have three suits among them. As you collect cards if you collect three cards with the same suit, or one card of each suit, you can turn them in at the start of your turn and acquire bonus armies. At the outset of your turn the number of armies you receive are show at the bottom of the window depicted by Roman numerals.

At the beginning of your turn set your bonus armies on any of the land masses you own. The number of armies for any given country that you own will be indicated by a number. The absence of a number indicates only 1 army and such a country can not launch an attack. On any turn you can choose to simply fortify or attack then fortify. But once you select the option to fortify, after doing so your turn is over. So if you want to attack, attack first after setting your armies. You can attack only adjacent countries that do not belong to you (no civil wars allowed!). Select a nation that you occupy and then select the adjacent nation that you wish to attack. The game will "roll a dice" behind the scenes (as you would in RISK) and the numbers of your armies and the defending armies will decrease based on who wins. You can continue attacking the same country until you defeat it or are defeated or you can decide to stop and attack another country. After you have finished attacking you can fortify and/or end your turn. Once all of your countries have been taken from you then you are out of the game. Play continues until one nation owns all of the continents.

RISK is an extremely popular and addictive board game. Now Kavasoft has brought that same fun and interaction to iConquer and you will love spending hours planning and plotting as you seek to defeat the computer or your best friend in this game of domination and military strategy. Good luck and happy conquering!