Virtual Kasparov

"Very nice, great for chess players of all skill levels"

My brother bought this game for me on a trip, and gave it to me. The word ''battle game'' appeared in several phrases on different parts of the box, so at first I didn't even know that this was a chess game. But it was, and a very interesting one at that. Titus (makers of the game) has made a fighting game out of chess, and has done it right.
The main feature of the game is a story mode, which introduces and describes chess players from different continents. From what I've heard, it's extremely long and eventually gets really hard. I can't vouch for it yet, since I haven't gotten very far, since while I do well against human opponents, you just can't find the same kind of stupidity among computer opponents. Sure, for careless players, it attempts to emulate really stupid moves (putting their queen in position to check you, but right diagonally from a pawn), but it's still very hard to do. Of course, some stupidity is emulated very well (such as unnecessary castling) and reflect what a lot of careless and inexperienced players try to do
As good as the stupidity is (compared to other games), the intelligence is even better. The computer can catch your slightest mistake, or even analyze your mistake and see if it might do you any good. I once checked the enemy king with my knight, only to see that it could easily be captured risk-free by a queen. Doh! But the king just moved out of the way. By the end of the game, I discovered that getting the queen away from where she was was the way to winning the game! It was impossible to see way back at that point, but the game already saw it... THAT'S impressive.
Of course, you can also just play a quick game against every opponent you've unlocked, plus you can play a customized opponent. I used to have trouble with inexperienced, extremely aggressive players, but with a couple of fights against a custom opponent like that, I have those problems no longer. Or you can lower your cockiness level by making an insanely hard opponent. ;)
Graphics and sounds aren't much, but a real sparkler isn't necessary for a game of this nature. You can choose from 2 3d boards or a bazillion 2d boards. I'm a 2d person myself.
Don't know how to play chess? There's an extremely intuitive tutorial system that teaches you, and then lets you make moves to show what you've learned. Even experienced players can learn something, and watch games in action. And in these games you still get to make important moves; very cool!

Overall, this game should go in any chess player's collection. It's almost perfect, just not a really good AI for beginning players. Other than that, get it. Now.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/28/03, Updated 07/28/03