A few weeks ago, Electronic Arts released Risk: Factions for the Xbox Live Arcade. While it fell short of really being the full-blown conversion many wanted and expected, it still did a great job at bringing the classic board game to home consoles. The art style, in particular, was a pleasant surprise, and the campaign, while short, provided a good amount of entertainment for the money. At a recent EA event, the publisher unveiled plans to bring a version of Risk to the App store, and showed off what makes this handheld version of Risk worth picking up over the myriad of clones already available.

The first, most obvious different from the Xbox Live Arcade version is that, well, this one has nothing to do with it. While it might have seemed like an easy move to bring over the new art style and gameplay mechanics from Factions to the iPhone, EA has opted to, instead, go for something completely different. This version of Risk is much more pure, much more serious. The different armies are represented with art featuring stereotypical soldiers, and gamers shouldn't expect to see any wacky cut-scenes in between levels. It takes itself more seriously, and follows the current Risk rule set closely, while giving options for players to change things up a bit if they see fit.

The kink in the armor, however, is a big one. The core of any version of Risk is in the multiplayer, and it's an area where the Xbox Live Arcade version thrived. The lack of online saving was a bust, but the ability to play games over Xbox Live was fantastic. EA had a chance to make it work even better on the iPhone; with games like Words With Friends taking the App store by storm by allowing players to take turns like they would send a text, it would have made sense for EA to go the extra mile with this game, and allow players to engage in online games of world domination at their leisure. Instead, multiplayer is actually limited to local play, either over WiFi, Bluetooth or Pass ‘n Play. No online multiplayer. At all.

This massive oversight definitely takes the value of the game down a few notches, and if they don't add some expanded multiplayer within a few months of release there's going to be absolutely no reason to pick up the official Risk game over the other Risk-type games already available. EA has done the Risk name good recently, and it would be a damn shame to see them fall so short with what could easily be the best version.

Risk for the iPhone is due out later this Summer.