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IGN Review of Chessmaster: The Art of Learning
Chess is an interesting game, because what differentiates it from simpler board games like checkers also tends to drive many casual gamers away from it. For over two decades, the Chessmaster series has advanced videogame chess with a constantly-evolving AI system and input from real-world chess masters. Developer/publisher Ubisoft has brought Chessmaster and its wealth of strategy and AI to the Nintendo DS in a package that should thrill diehard chess lovers and could even draw in casual gamers.
This is the eleventh generation of Chessmaster, and new features in this edition include minigames, an update of the famous chess engine, and excerpts and tips from the book "The Art of Learning," by still relatively-young chess master Josh Waitzkin, subject of the book and film "Searching for Bobby Fischer." The big returning feature is the personality system, which emulates the strategies and sensibilities of past chess grandmasters such as Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik, and the aforementioned Bobby Fischer through the game's AI. Not only can one play against a tough AI opponent, Chessmaster allows the player to simulate specific famous opponents.
The game is narrated and instructed by Waitzkin, who appears on the top screen while players navigate and perform moves on the bottom screen. Presumably the PC and console editions of this game had video of Waitzkin, because there's an attempt to fake FMV here by having still images of Waitzkin stutter through frames as instructional text scrolls by. The crude attempt at lip synching is a little unsettling, like watching the animatronic presidents at Disneyland. This may appeal to younger players but watching Waitzkin make the same "ba-ba-ba" movements with his mouth seems a little less dignified than non-animated portraits might have been.
There's a ridiculous amount of available modes here. In Quick Game, players can jump right into a game without having to navigate through any options or settings. These games are meant to be a casual, learning experience and as such, allow players to receive hints, take back moves and have available positions displayed each time a piece is selected. Players can also fast forward and rewind a game upon completion, as well as advance the game forward and backward frame by frame. All of these features are easy to control, and should help anyone trying to really hone their chess abilities.
In the Classic Chess category, players can go through a pretty exhausting series of tutorials with Waitzkin that touch on the mechanics and tactics of the game. Players can play a practice game, play an ELO-affecting game, play a match setting up the pieces in specific locations (to practice a key moment), and load a half-finished game that was previously saved. An ELO rating is essentially the player's chess prowess. Players start with a rating of 600 and this increases based on their percentage of wins, and the ELO rating of the AI opponents they beat. A 1200 rating is supposed to be promising for a chess beginner, while the 2200+ range signifies a chess master. In each match players have the ability to select piece color, timer properties, minutes per game, and seconds per move.
The minigame selection shows some surprising depth with a wide variety of modes that reinforce the principals of chess without just regurgitating the same core gameplay. Players align chess pieces to take out fruit, paint a picture with chess pieces, capture multiple pieces with only a knight, create a chain reaction with game pieces, navigate pawns across the board without capture, clear out hidden mines, and review high scores for each of these games. The results of each game tie into a rating and development system (narrated by the virtual Waitzkin) that tracks the player's supposed analytical reasoning, memory, focus and several other mental attributes. The whole thing has a very Brain Age feel to it. Only one minigame is unlocked to begin, but plowing through them to unlock the others doesn't take much time.
The Chess Puzzle Challenge section of the game offers another wide selection of modes, where players either practice or play on a timer to capture a specific piece, block an opposing check, find a saving piece, fork a king and another piece, pin pieces against one another, avoid an eminent checkmate and look for a checkmate that's one move away. As opposed to the minigames, which more or less pick a gameplay hook and run with it endlessly (until a progress meter fills up), the puzzle challenges all work toward a single solution. In addition to this laundry list of contents, the game offers single- or multi-cart two-player wireless chess matches. Unfortunately there's no Wi-Fi multiplayer, but that's about all this game is missing. Customizable profile settings round out the game's features.
But content aside, is the game any fun? That mostly depends on the level of interest the player has with chess itself. For chess aficionados, or young gamers with any interest in the board game, this package offers a robust set of modes, options, difficulty settings and lessons to fully educate any player. But those who aren't interested in chess probably won't appreciate the game, as every ounce of this collection works toward reinforcing the principals of the game and honing the player's chess-playing abilities.
©2007-12-04, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This is the eleventh generation of Chessmaster, and new features in this edition include minigames, an update of the famous chess engine, and excerpts and tips from the book "The Art of Learning," by still relatively-young chess master Josh Waitzkin, subject of the book and film "Searching for Bobby Fischer." The big returning feature is the personality system, which emulates the strategies and sensibilities of past chess grandmasters such as Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik, and the aforementioned Bobby Fischer through the game's AI. Not only can one play against a tough AI opponent, Chessmaster allows the player to simulate specific famous opponents.
The game is narrated and instructed by Waitzkin, who appears on the top screen while players navigate and perform moves on the bottom screen. Presumably the PC and console editions of this game had video of Waitzkin, because there's an attempt to fake FMV here by having still images of Waitzkin stutter through frames as instructional text scrolls by. The crude attempt at lip synching is a little unsettling, like watching the animatronic presidents at Disneyland. This may appeal to younger players but watching Waitzkin make the same "ba-ba-ba" movements with his mouth seems a little less dignified than non-animated portraits might have been.
There's a ridiculous amount of available modes here. In Quick Game, players can jump right into a game without having to navigate through any options or settings. These games are meant to be a casual, learning experience and as such, allow players to receive hints, take back moves and have available positions displayed each time a piece is selected. Players can also fast forward and rewind a game upon completion, as well as advance the game forward and backward frame by frame. All of these features are easy to control, and should help anyone trying to really hone their chess abilities.
In the Classic Chess category, players can go through a pretty exhausting series of tutorials with Waitzkin that touch on the mechanics and tactics of the game. Players can play a practice game, play an ELO-affecting game, play a match setting up the pieces in specific locations (to practice a key moment), and load a half-finished game that was previously saved. An ELO rating is essentially the player's chess prowess. Players start with a rating of 600 and this increases based on their percentage of wins, and the ELO rating of the AI opponents they beat. A 1200 rating is supposed to be promising for a chess beginner, while the 2200+ range signifies a chess master. In each match players have the ability to select piece color, timer properties, minutes per game, and seconds per move.
The minigame selection shows some surprising depth with a wide variety of modes that reinforce the principals of chess without just regurgitating the same core gameplay. Players align chess pieces to take out fruit, paint a picture with chess pieces, capture multiple pieces with only a knight, create a chain reaction with game pieces, navigate pawns across the board without capture, clear out hidden mines, and review high scores for each of these games. The results of each game tie into a rating and development system (narrated by the virtual Waitzkin) that tracks the player's supposed analytical reasoning, memory, focus and several other mental attributes. The whole thing has a very Brain Age feel to it. Only one minigame is unlocked to begin, but plowing through them to unlock the others doesn't take much time.
The Chess Puzzle Challenge section of the game offers another wide selection of modes, where players either practice or play on a timer to capture a specific piece, block an opposing check, find a saving piece, fork a king and another piece, pin pieces against one another, avoid an eminent checkmate and look for a checkmate that's one move away. As opposed to the minigames, which more or less pick a gameplay hook and run with it endlessly (until a progress meter fills up), the puzzle challenges all work toward a single solution. In addition to this laundry list of contents, the game offers single- or multi-cart two-player wireless chess matches. Unfortunately there's no Wi-Fi multiplayer, but that's about all this game is missing. Customizable profile settings round out the game's features.
But content aside, is the game any fun? That mostly depends on the level of interest the player has with chess itself. For chess aficionados, or young gamers with any interest in the board game, this package offers a robust set of modes, options, difficulty settings and lessons to fully educate any player. But those who aren't interested in chess probably won't appreciate the game, as every ounce of this collection works toward reinforcing the principals of the game and honing the player's chess-playing abilities.
©2007-12-04, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved