Publisher: Ubisoft
Ages: Teens & up
Parental
Advisory:
None
A fantastic family title that tests the mind and serves the ultimate strategy game, Ubisoft's Chessmaster delivers. Whether a player is a beginner or a tournament-level contestant, the title offers an excellent learning tool as well as a challenging opponent. Chessmaster is designed to help players learn, improve and master the game of chess and offers a variety of AI-controlled opponents and the ability to meet other chess players online.
The title serves lots of tutorials and drills that challenge players of all levels. The title's Academy section features International Master Josh Waitzkin, who walks players through chess basics and introduces strategies for dominating opponents, and there are attacking moves taught by chess champion Larry Christiansen.
An extensive training mode provides quick hints, comprehensive advice, in-game coaching, game analyses and blunder alert warnings. Ubi Soft says that its King engine is powerful enough to defeat a grandmaster.
The game comes with some 180 artificial intelligence-computer controlled (AI) opponents of different skill levels and various playing styles to provide a challenge for everyone. Experienced chess players get to test their skills against these ranked AI opponents, set up tournaments and simultaneous exhibitions, and rate their performances in the statistics system. And as players improve, the game suggests appropriate AI opponents.
There are more than 60 predefined tournaments and an option to customize tournaments, and some 500 famous chess games with commentary that span five centuries of chess. Taking advantage of Xbox Live, players can compete against friends and other ranked players, as well as obtain rankings, chat about what's new in chess and join an online chess community.
While most youngsters would prefer to shoot aliens and bad guys, Chessmaster offers a thorough and challenging chess experience. It's a great game that appeals to beginners as well as kids and advanced chess players. On the other hand, if you already own a chess game that you're happy with, there's probably little reason to invest in a new game.
11/17/04 www.daytrum.com Editorial Staff
