Chessmaster: The Art of Learning for Nintendo DS Reviews by Gamers

The basic playing engine is good, everything else is awful. I guess for beginners there may be some thing here, but the intrusive presence of Josh W. is very annoying. To have him make faces and simulate talking is asinine. The mini games where you "attack" fruit are crazy, but not in a good way, but in the way that getting underwear for Christmas is a crazy gift. Josh never reached the highest level of chess before he burned out & chess stopped being fun. Is this game the way he can keep any other children from repeating his fate by making chess as unpleasant as possible? Josh's new book has been well received, would that this game were a tenth as good.( I expect to have bad dreams of being "Push Hand" ed while Josh's face yammers above my head!)

This game is great on many levels.

1. Easy, Medium, and Hard opponents. They are all very well balanced. Choose your level and then work your way up. The ramping up difficulty is very fair and will help you progress.
2. Simple graphic design. Although I first found the graphic design TOO simple, I have really come to like it. The main purpose of this game is to LEARN chess and progress in your skills. The overly simple design of the black and white board & pieces really actually helps that learning process happen. It is very easy to follow.
3. Settings: you can turn on settings that actually show you your available, legal moves. This is actually a big help. Especially if you are unfamiliar with more complex moves, like castling.
4. MINI-GAMES! These games are where the real learning happens! They are excellent, extremely balanced games. They are also colorful and full of new graphics. They are well worth your time and fun.

That's it. I"ve been playing this DS cart for over a year now and I've gotten tremendously better at chess. Everytime I am waiting for Gamefly to send me a new DS cart - I simply go back to this one while I wait for a new cart to show up in the mail.

If you're serious about getting into chess - try this out. I'd recommend buying it too, if you like it.