Chess 2: The Sequel: Review
An Unorthodox Move
By forcing players to use creativity and skill over move memorization, Chess 2 attempts to reduce the memorized openings and endgames seen in traditional chess. This is accomplished by offering players six different armies, each with their own unique rule set.My favorite is the Reaper army, which allows the queen to travel to nearly any spot on the board, and turns the rooks into “ghosts” which can do the same, but cannot capture or be captured. Another creative set is the Two Kings army, which gives the player two super-powered “warrior kings” that are capable of doing an attack that captures all adjacent pieces.
Each army has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it’s fun seeing how different sets match up. After some trial and error, it is very satisfying to find an army that works well with your gameplay style. In an attempt to reduce draws is the inclusion of the “Midline Invasion”. When a player’s king crosses the midline they can claim victory without the need of a checkmate. This is a welcome addition that ensures every game is exciting until the very end.
Learning Curves
While I find these changes refreshing, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed at first. The in-game rules and tutorial are only accessible from the main menu. I often found myself forgetting what my opponent’s pieces did and was forced to quit my current game to re-watch the tutorial. Going online and printing out the rules feels almost necessary, which is a shame considering the in-game tutorial is well done.One change that seems unnecessary is addition of dueling. Each player starts with three stones, and whenever one of their pieces are captured, they are given to opportunity to initiate a duel by betting an unknown amount of stones. If the attacker doesn’t match or surpass the defender’s bet, the attacker loses his piece.The randomness of duels seems to contradict the strategy of chess and feels out of place. Randomly losing a piece, even after making a great capturing move, is extremely frustrating.
Game Modes
Chess 2 offers singleplayer and both local and internet multiplayer modes. The AI in single-player is very underwhelming. Despite being a chess amateur, I can manage defeat the computer nearly every game. The AI takes entirely too long to make a move, ranging from 15 to 45 seconds for a single move to take place. Until the AI is patched, players should just use single-player as a means of learning the new rules.
Online multiplayer is very enjoyable when it’s working. Games are chosen at random, often pitting skilled players against players new to the game, leading to many mid-game disconnects. The addition of a matchmaking feature will reduce this problem.
The King’s Coffer
Despite Chess 2 being a free to play game, players are forced to utilize microtransactions to access online mutiplayer. After the initial download, players are given 30 free online matches but then are forced to buy in-game currency, referred to as “crowns”, to continue playing online.The cheapest bundle is $1.99 and will earn the player 120 crowns, which is the equivalent of 15 games. While I am not a fan of this pricing model, after one considers that an average online game lasts over a half hour, and that $1.99 gets one around 8 hours of entertainment, the format seems fair.
Grand Presentation
The presentation in Chess 2 is quite stunning, making it one of the best looking OUYA titles to date. Each of the six playable armies has their own unique pieces, and while highly detailed, these pieces can be difficult to distinguish apart from each other during gameplay.
To avoid this problem, I found myself solely playing using the overhead camera perspective. In this mode, rather than being rendered in 3D, the armies are represented with icons, which gives the player a much better view of the board layout. It’s unfortunate that players are forced to pick between gorgeous graphics or better playability.
The soundtrack consists of popular classical music and sounds fantastic. The sounds of chess pieces moving and capturing are done well, and really makes players feel like they are playing with a genuine chess set.
