For a game that originated in India during the 6th century Gupta Empire, chess has become one of the most popular and oldest games in the world.
Over the centuries, the look and pieces of the game have evolved, the language of chess has changed and some of the rules have been refined. But the main principles have remained the same: use your tactical skill to capture your opponent’s king. That’s the game pure and simple. It’s this purity and complex simplicity that has defied the ravages of time. It’s the same complex simplicity that, this month, brings chess to the Xbox One in the form of Ripstone’s homage to the greatest strategy game of all time: Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition.
For anyone familiar with Ripstone’s earlier titles such as Pure Pool and Pure Hold ‘em, the crisp, ultra-polished signature look of Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition will be instantly recognizable. The graphics are super photorealistic, the interface is almost Apple-esq in its intuitive simplicity and the gameplay has been refined with the precision of a surgical laser. Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition is exactly what it says on the label: chess in its purest form. There are no unnecessary bells and whistles and no gimmicky distractions. If you love, like or even understand chess, you’re going to love this game. If you know nothing about chess, well, Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition might just be the introduction to the game that you’ve been waiting for.
Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition consists of a series of tournament modes, starting from absolute beginner to grandmaster level. In these modes you get to test your chess prowess against the computer AI. It has to be said that these games range from the very easy to games that are tougher than a bear armed with a flick knife. And the absence of an undo option means, if your concentration slips and you make a fatal mistake, you’re going to have to play through it rather than taking the move back. There is a more relaxed non tournament mode that allows you to sharpen up your game and, here at least, you can take back moves and try another without being penalized. Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition also offers over 100 chess puzzle games ranging from mate in one move to mate in two, three etc…These games are a great way to test your chess playing skills without committing to a full game.
As we said earlier, Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition is simply stunning to look at. The many chess boards and pieces on offer are captured in near photo-realistic style. There are a number of options for viewing the game and you can choose how much information is displayed on the screen as you play. For example, which pieces have been taken by which player etc. You can also choose from a number of locations to play from but, once in the game, all you will see is the board and the pieces.
Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition also boasts an online option that allows you to pit your skills against players from all over the world. The better you do, the higher up you move on the leaderboard. We’re confident that, over time, this multi-player will be huge. But for now, as the game has just been released, you’ll probably spend most of your time playing the single player mode and working your way through the handy tutorial option. As an aside, we found the tutorials to be one of the hidden gems in Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition. No matter how well you think you can play chess, the Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition tutorial is sure to teach you something new. Brilliant.
It’s true that chess isn’t a game for anyone. In fact, the only people likely to enjoy this game are players who like to think, solve puzzles using strategy and cunning and make decisions on the fly. If that’s not you, you might want to avoid this title. However, if this does describe you as a gamer then you owe it to yourself to pick up this title. Go buy and enjoy.
8 out of 10
