iPhone Review: Conquest

Publisher/Developer: Sean O’Connor
Genre:Strategy board game
Price: $5.99
Verdict: The best Risk clone available, but not really worth it for non Risk fans.
Pros: Plays a decent game of Risk
Cons:The price. $5.99 seems steep for such a relatively simple game.

Have you ever had a megalomaniac urge to rule the world? Or Atlantis? Or erm…a volcano? If any of these ideas sounded good to you, then Conquest may well be right up your alley. On a more realistic note, if you love playing that good old board game favorite Risk, then you might like Conquest as well.

Yup as you may have guessed from my not too subtle hint: Conquest is Risk on your iPhone. This is so obvious in fact that the title on iTunes actually states ‘Conquest (Risk style game)’, which is essentially all that you need to know. Of course there’s luckily a little more to it than just that. In case you haven’t played Risk before in idyllic family situations like me (actually, we usually played it when there was a power cut and we were bored), Risk is all about conquering the world. Each player starts with a certain number of provinces within each continent, and has to gradually acquire more and more by going to war with neighbouring factions. Good, clean, family friendly fun eh? Think Monopoly but less capitalist, more potentially violent.

In the case of Conquest there are more maps available for you to conquer. One can of course go with the traditional board and conquer the world, but there are also nine other maps on offer ranging from a volcano, outer space and even good old jolly England. There are also five difficulty levels on offer with the hardest one being plain evil to fight against! There is also the option to play against friends, although only if you pass the iPhone around as unfortunately there is no online multiplayer mode.

Conquest is quite a simple little game. It offers exactly what you would expect from an iPhone conversion of Risk and builds upon it with a few extra options which add variety such as spicing up difficulty levels and the variety of maps which makes things visually slightly different. It has to be said that Conquest is not the prettiest game on the iPhone by a long shot, it is distinctly functional and certainly doesn’t show off the graphical potential that the iPhone has. Is Conquest worth $5.99? Well, it all depends on just how much you love Risk. If you’re a Risk aficionado you will love this, it is the best Risk clone on the App Store. However if you just have a passing interest in the game, then it’s not really worthwhile as when so much depends on the luck of the dice, it can feel a little pointless. For those of you who never liked the board game but are reading this for some reason anyway: think of it this way, for a dollar less, you could be buying Space Invaders Infinity Gene.