Video games - Virtual Chess 64

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	Video games - Virtual Chess 64

Virtual Chess 64 was first released in 1997. It was one of the least successful N64 video games. The game was actually very difficult. There was no actual completion to the game so you could play an endless number of games.

Features

The game came set with a basic tutorial on how to play chess with a cartoon character named Titus the Fox. Often, he would explain a feature of chess and show you how it worked and then you would have a situation which you had to solve yourself based on the lesson. Eventually leading to "classic games" which put everything together from previous lessons. Titus himself rarely "said" anything during each lesson as it was explained in text form. Below are quotes from Titus:

"Well Done!" and "Brilliant!"

Once you had been through the tutorial you could play a full game yourself using either a 2D or 3D board. On the 3D board every time a piece was captured you would have a short cut scene depicting the capture of said piece. The idea was to amuse the player. There were no cut scenes on the 2D board for captures but you could change the design of the pieces and board by pressing the C-left or C-right button. There were a few to select from.

The game also had difficulty levels in the form of levels. With Beginner 1 being the easiest and Level 12 being the hardest. Changing the difficulty level did also affect time. On the lower levels the computer took just seconds to make a move but on Level 12 the computer could take as long as 5 minutes to make their opening move. You could also play as either white or black pieces and you could even make situations of your own by adding or removing pieces from the board and placing them in different positions. Like most board games, you had the option of 2 human players instead of 1.

Criticisms

Unfortunately, this game did not sell very well. While it was quite original in terms of animations there had already been predecessors to this game, the most well known being Chessmaster for the PC. While Virtual Chess 64 provided a challenge to experienced chess players, it was simply too difficult for beginners and casual players. Even on the lower difficulties the Al had many tricks up its sleeve. Even after going through the tutorial the game still seemed quite difficult. On the lower difficulties the Al tended to start off badly but gradually built an offensive that eventually lead to a surprise counter-attack that forced you to stop your offensive. Even on Beginner 1 the computer quite easily had you in checkmate. Even on the lower levels the "recommended moves" did not guarantee success at all, leading to the computer winning the game by a massive margin.

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