Customer Reviews:
 Excellent, but.... August 5, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This game is awesome. But also, a bit frustrating.
The plethora of opponenets is great and the computer AI is tweaked to perfection but there are some things that make this game a bit annoying. One of these things is that the boards are a tad bit small. It is very hard to see your pieces unless you are either squinting or have your nose touching the screen. Also, I've found that most of the boards are hard to play with by the way the pieces are designed, so most of the time i'm playing on the simple figurine style. And last but not least, the chess battlefield sucks. I really dont need to explain it, it sucks. Yeah sure the pieces slay eachother, but when you cant remember if that guy is your bishop or your queen, it creates a problem.
But lets get back to the pros shall we?
I love how you have a rating, especially if you're a beginner because it makes it very simple to find a reasonable opponent, not some program that is going to whoop you in about ten moves. Also I like the tournaments. They're cool because you can choose them on what type of player you are, such as a defensive player, or a trader.
Overall the Pros outweigh the Cons by a landslide. Great game, great price... This is a must have for any chess player; master or beginner.
 Ridiculous amount of bugs April 10, 2004
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This game could be a 5 star, if it worked properly. I've only had the game one month and I've found several bugs in it. I'm a computer programmer and if my work had this many errors in it, I'd be out of a job. If you win a match within the time limit in 'Rated Game', half the time it'll declare your victory a 'Stalemate'. This has happened probably a dozen times. Also, it sometimes overwrites your save files. I had a profile with a 4-0 record and this morning it was overwritten. I recreated it, won a game and saved it. Thanks to another 'stalemate' that I didn't deserve, I rebooted after a 2nd game. I come back and my new profile with 1 victory saved has been overwritten again. If you love chess, try to get this game used at GameStop or some other used game store. But be warned. It has more bugs in it than Windows 2000.
 Worth the $20 March 21, 2004
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The first person to review this product, SleepyJD, must own a copy since he stated that this is chess for people who have no friends.
king of games November 12, 2003
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
this game is pathetic.I had chessmaster 2 for ps1 and it was much better (larger chessboards +actual controls)do not buy this mini screen squinter!now you know K.G. out
Great for learning chess, so-so graphics August 2, 2003
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
In a world where Harry Potter is king, and Wizard's Chess captured the hearts of millions, it's no surprise that another animated chess game - Chessmaster - has hit the market. The game has quite a collection of training systems - tutorials, exams, historic games, classic openings. But I went diving right for the fantasy chess, with its animation. You can choose from the orcs or the humans, white or black. Each side has six leaders to choose from - each with his own style of play. You can play single player, two player or just watch. The play has a variety of backgrounds - stone walls, desert and more. As much as I used to love Battle Chess and enjoy playing it, this version really wasn't that great. The fights were all extremely simple. While you could spin around the board, you couldn't zoom in or out, and often the not-great graphics made it hard to tell exactly which unit was which. The game played was a good one, but the graphics and angles made me quit back out to the regular game. The main chess game has a variety of boards and piece styles as well. Each 'theme' has its own pieces, board, background, music. While I enjoyed the Halloween and gnome sets, again they were hard to use and fuzzy at best. I settled on the Irish wood set and got going. The gameplay again was great, and the tutorials, lessons and examples really help you learn at your own pace and make solid progress. Since that's really what the game is about, I highly recommend you choose a nice, simple chess layout - maybe even going for the 2-D symbol set. Don't fool with the fancy backgrounds - just concentrate on the wealth of information the game offers as far as learning the game. There's even an online option for when you've gotten your feet wet and are ready for a human challenger. Recommended for anyone wanting to learn the game of chess, or hone their skills.
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