Virtual Chess 64

"A chess game for a system like this just doesn't work..."

A chess game for a system like this just doesn't work...

A chess game like this one on the N64 seems very lame, and not surprisingly, Virtual Chess is very lame. 3-D Chess, now that sounds interesting but after playing this game I never want to play chess in 3-D again if this is what its going to be like. It is also very hard to control the 3-D board and hard to see the overview of the whole board. Although this game does come with some handy options and features but still, it really isn't that great of a game.

In this game there are two main boards (the 2-D and 3-D boards)and five all together including the special 2-D boards. On the 3-D board you have the choice of watching cartoony animated fights (whenever one piece captures another its a different unique fight) but the difficult thing as I said before is that the it's really hard to see a clear overview of the board and hard to control because you have to keep rotating until you get the review you want but then rotate again to move certain pieces. On the 2-D board it is much easier to view and the control is great. So, I would assume most people would play on the 2-D board but yet this game was made for chess in 3-D. So you can just forget about any 3-D features in this game.

The game features a handy momentum meter and a handy timer but the timer does it count down, it keeps track of how long you have been playing on all of your turns throughout the whole game. Very handy for keeping track of this valuable information so you can record whenever you play someone really good and beat him or her.

The computer AI is very difficult. There are twelve main levels and two beginner levels. So the new people at chess would enjoy this too, right? Wrong! Even on the beginner levels the computer AI is just way to hard! On the beginner level they make mistakes on purpose (sounds weird) but then the rest of the game they play you like experts. Sorry, this game is just not for starters and all the computer AI levels are real hard.

What I do like (one of the only things) is that it has like a virtual help book (which is what I like to call it.) called 'tutorial.' It contains over fifty topics in all. It is a good book for starters that it teaches you some real neat skills that might come in handy for when the time comes. The problem is, you probably will never get that chance because the computers on this game are just too good. Anyway, the book features all types of nice killer strategies and 'how to play' information but it also includes some famous tournaments that you can learn a lot from. The book shows you each tournament by step-by-step information of each players move and it gives tips and what the players were thinking at the time of the move. Very interesting.

There are some cool options but I'm most glad this game has a nice feature called 'Setup position' where you can place any kinds of pieces wherever you want for good practice in making certain scenarios to help you through the things you struggle in. Also handy in saving games for later (including games in reality), just load the pieces in and your good to go.

The graphics look all right on the 3-D board and the animations are all done in cartoons. The battles are all comic humor and the pieces are all transformed into weird funny medieval people.

There are four different types of music to choose from that you can change in the options mode. There are only four music types but music isn't a big concern as the gameplay is. The sound doesn't run so well with the battle animations because sometimes a peasant (who plays a white pawn) will whack a guy with his pitchfork and a second later you will hear the whack. Just little things like that add to the bad sound. The most annoying sound is probably when you're ready to move a piece and then cancel. It will make this huge sound like a messed up horn on a car.

Overall I give this game a three out of a ten because you will very little enjoyment and you will most likely get bored of this game real quickly. If you see this game try and pass it up and never by a game by what the box that the game comes with says. I've made many mistakes like that and you will regret it if you do. Its always the games that aren't so good who have the best descriptions on the box that the game comes with. Once again, Virtual Chess for the N64 is very lame and please, for your own good, don't go for it. Do not get this game.

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Pros
-Very handy tutorial
-Funny animations
-Nice feature ('setup position') where you can setup the board however you want.
-Some handy features and options

Cons
-Too hard to control, especially on the 3-D board
-Computer AI is way too hard
-On the 3-D board it is hard to get a good view
-Animation gets tiring after awhile
-The 3-D board runs very slow
-The 3-D features are awful!
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GekkoGamer's Words of Wisdom: Don't get fooled, this game has awful 3-D features. You might as well forget this game has any (decent) 3-D features.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/01/02, Updated 08/17/02