Official Website

Platform: PSP

Genre: Classic Board Game / Puzzle

Number of Players: 1 - 2

Fancy a game of chess, do you?

Board games have readily found their way onto may home consoles and portables, and not just classics like chess and checkers, but just about anything and everything you can think of, and the digital age has led to some rather drastic changes, both good and bad. While there are a handful of chess titles on the PlayStation 2 and a number of other consoles, the PSP really doesn’t have any games of this nature, at least not until now.

Online Chess Kingdoms is the first, and probably not the last, PSP title that brings the classic game into the palm of your hand, but with some unique aspects. Oddly enough, the game actually has a story attached to it, though a very thin one. Apparently, ages ago, the universe was created by Phrenos and was divided into five distinct forces. There was reason, chaos, magic, order and spirit and for a time, the universe existed with harmony and balance, but soon these forces simply couldn’t get along and as a result, were separated. Now war is brewing, the kingdoms are falling, and one of them must restore balance to the universe once more.

Okay, so it’s not exactly what you think of when it comes to chess, but I suppose that everything needs some kind of back story. The game also has a story mode, which I suppose makes since as there is a background to the game. There is also the classic two-player game, against the computer or a friend, and not only will you have access to the find fantasy sets exclusive to the game, you’ll also have wooden or stone sets to chose from which look just like what you’ve always seen with chess (save for the other variants like The Simpson’s, Star Wars, Family Guy . . . pick something, I’m sure that it’s been made.) While the single or two-player mode is more or less identical to how you’ve always played chess, the story mode is quite a bit different.

Story Mode plays out with two different methods. You first have a strategy map where you will be allows to move around the board. You have mana which is used to take actions, but it can be saved up by simply doing little to nothing during the course of one turn. As you move around the board, you will eventually come into contact with enemy forces which you can do battle with and this brings up the classic chess board, though there is a slight difference. The battle is active, much like in an RPG, so you will need to constantly be thinking ahead in order to move your pieces. Each one will move just like it should in chess, but the battle is animated, so you will see pawns or knights moving around and attacking those in their way, and the goal still remains the same; checkmate.

Each of the maps also has a number of different locations that you will need to be aware of. Capitols are the single most important asset, and conquering these will allow you to create new armies to bring into battle. Cities on the other hand will help you build up your mana and terrain that in some cases can only be transverse by certain types of armies. You also have special abilities that can be utilized during the course of the strategy portion of the game.

In the single player mode, you can select all of the chess styles are available in the story mode as well as wooden and stone versions. You also will be allowed to select one of the five worlds to use as your playing field, the location (homeland, city or utopia) as well as the style, battle mode or classic. In battle mode, the game goes back to the active battle method while classic is simply each player taking their separate turn. There are also four different levels of difficulty depending on how skillful you think you are; novice, intermediate, advanced and master.

Remember as well that this is ONLINE Chess Kingdoms meaning that you can play the game with players across the world. After creating an account, you can play the classic version of chess of the battle version which is similar to what you will find in the story mode (or the single player battle mode.) Winning matches will also gain you points of prestige which will eventually begin to increase your online rank. Knowing what you’re up against is a good way to determine if you are up for the challenge again a player or not.

The chess sets look good for the most part, though really, it’s just chess, and you can’t really mess that up too badly. There is a lot of attention paid to the backgrounds, many of which have some kind of animations going on, but that’s not always the case. Actually, the cut scenes are really the high point of the game, but again, we’re talking chess here. You really don’t need the game to be over the top or extremely flashy otherwise it simply becomes a distraction.

The one drawback that I found with the game though is that if you’ve never played chess before, there isn’t a tutorial included. I might already know how to play, but for those that have been wanting to learn and think that maybe having the game on the go might be the best way, this actually isn’t the best way to learn. While there are modes that at least give you an idea of how the pieces move, you won’t really learn much else than this. Also, I think that perhaps adding in a mission mode (take your opponents knight in so many moves for example) or a recreation of some famous chess battles would have been a nice touch.

Online Chess Kingdoms isn’t a bad game for those that know the game and enjoy it. While I do occasionally enjoy playing some chess, I did find the game to be a little on the slow end of my liking and something that I couldn’t simply work with from start to finish. I’d have to say that this is somewhat of a mixed bag
 

-mike-