Wii Chess Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 24 January, 2008

King me.

Version tested: Wii

You might find it surprising that Nintendo went out and found a competition-standard chess program to build its budget-price Touch Generations chess game on. I didn't. What I found surprising was that it built the game around the loop chess engine, which came a pathetic third in the 2007 Amsterdam ICGA Tournament. What's wrong, Nintendo? Rybka's UCI chess engine a bit too expensive for you? I thought you played to win these days?

What I also found surprising - and a bit disappointing - is that you can't put your Miis into Wii Chess, or customise chess sets in any way. A puzzling oversight given all the money they saved only getting the third-best chess engine in the world to power the computer players. My carefully staged plans for a Eurogamer chess set with me as king, Ellie as queen and Bertie as the bishop behind a row of Dans who put the screenshots up are now useless.

Slightly less surprising is that you don't actually control the game by standing up waving the Wiimote around. In fact, the pointer isn't used at all. You control the game one-handed, selecting pieces with the A button and moving them with the d-pad. Pressing B when you're holding a piece cancels the move, and pressing B at other times brings up a menu allowing you to quit, give up, receive a hint, cancel the last move, save your game and so on. When you highlight a piece, the game also shows you its potential movements (although you can turn this off).

'Wii Chess' Screenshot 1

The game sensibly keeps an eye out for stalemates.

Elsewhere on the screen, you're shown a timer for each player to keep track of how long you're both taking, and you can also get a readout of recent moves on the side in chess-speak, which makes you look quite intelligent to passers-by or if you leave your curtains drawn and there's a man with a telescope. What will look less intelligent is if you use one of the unlockable chess-set designs that makes the board look like a football pitch, or if you name your profile "Deep Poo".

The good news for single players is that even the world's third-best chess engine has some serious game, as they say at the Fédération Internationale des Échecs. There are ten levels of difficulty for you to play against on your own, and, while I breezed past the first couple, even someone as amazingly tactically astute, patient and inventive as I am couldn't overcome the higher ones (alright, the middle ones). The ICGA - the International Computer Games Association - isn't about whether you're any good at Mario Kart, you see, it's about making software to "solve" games like chess and Go, and while I'm hardly a grand master I'd be surprised if the average punter ever throws this one out for being too easy.

Anyway, I appear to have been surprised to some degree in every paragraph so far, so while I calm down let's talk about what it's like to play with other people. Offline, you can play against another person, with the same controls. It's like playing chess. You can't cheat, and the game warns you if you're doing something illegitimately suicidal (i.e. moving yourself into check). Obviously you can see what the other person is considering doing, even if they rein themselves in, but then you can do that if you're sat opposite them too so it's not like they're looking at your screen in Quake or anything.

'Wii Chess' Screenshot 2

Got yourself in a bit of a mess there, haven't you John?

Online, though, is where this should shine. Hooking up to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is as easy and free as ever, and inputting friend codes is as time-consuming and stupid as ever, but at least the interface is sensible, and once you're set you can choose to play against a friend (with invites optional), anyone in the world, or someone of comparable skill. I went for the latter, fully expecting nobody to be playing it because it's chess, so the rate of player turnover will be low, but after 60 seconds or so of staring forlornly at the waiting screen I was matched with a player called "Guts". Hi Guts! Guts seemed like a good match for me, eventually triumphing after I got myself into a pickle. My subsequent opponents were pretty good too. You can play games where each of you has five minutes to make your moves, or games where you get 20 apiece, which seems like ample time for an online chess game - if you wanted to spread it out over hours, you'd probably be face to face anyway.

Sadly though, there's no correspondence chess option. Now, my Nanna has yet to be taken in completely by the suspiciously well-choreographed photo-calls and lifestyle articles in Healthy Nonagenarian about the amazing Nintendo Wii, but if she did have one then I doubt she would want to sit on the sofa playing a chess game where she couldn't speak to me at the same time for the best part of an hour, but she might very well do it if it only meant making one move a day. Given the Wii's built-in messaging system, it would seem like a good fit, too.

'Wii Chess' Screenshot 3

The ability to save and analyse your games later is a nice inclusion.

Final thing, then - if you genuinely fancy learning to play chess, having never bothered to do so, or you're just an amazing player who likes to understand why you lost to someone called Deep Poo, then the ability to save up to 20 finished games to look back upon later will come in handy. This analysis section of Wii Chess allows you to replay them completely with start and stop controls and other navigation tools.

"Analysis" seems like a good point to finish on. We obviously can't "review chess" and give it a score out of 10 in any sensible way, so the number below may well seem a bit arbitrary. It's a result of the following calculation: I like chess, Wii Chess has lots of sensible options, and the online play works, but it's missing a few things that would make it better, like voice comms, correspondence options and of course motion sensor controls for dangling a piece over a square and then putting it back down again. "Good", then, but whether you'd pay the best part of 20 quid for it is up to you.

7 / 10

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Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jachap #1 4 years ago

    Should have been a free to download channel, I reckon. Or, at most, about a fiver off the Shop.

  • mingster #2 4 years ago

    why doesn't it use the wiimote it seems obvious.

  • Darren #3 4 years ago

    I remember buying my first chess game, Grandmaster Chess 64, on the Commodore 64 and, believe it or not, it didn't look too different from those 2D screenshots above. It cost me £4 back in 1984. £20 is simply too much for such a game these days, it should cost no more than a fiver now.

  • tentonipete #4 4 years ago

    i'm a wii owner and i want it. at least i would want it if it was better.
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 11:37

  • mingster #5 4 years ago

    I agree 1K Artic chess on the ZX81 looked almost identical too..

  • systems #6 4 years ago

    It doesn't even come with any novelty boards or animations. As has been said, it should have been a VC game or bundled free with the classic controller or something. Or perhaps come with a chess book.

  • space_ace #7 4 years ago

    do you get to jump around the board?

  • tap #8 4 years ago

    Surely ''king hell' was the obvious headline?

    And don't be a dick disc :p

  • Kiigan #9 4 years ago

    I love chess and I'm not too bad either, but it can be really hard to find people willing to play.
    I own a Wii so I'm very keen to pick this game up. That said, I think I'd prefer a DS version.

  • Beano #10 4 years ago

    "do you get to jump around the board? "

    You only get to jump the queen.

  • UncleLou #11 4 years ago

    Kiigan, I am prett sure there are at least two DS chess games out, though I don't know how good they are, or if any of them has online play (if that's what you want).

  • gizmo #12 4 years ago

    You get Chess and (surpise, surprise) 41 other games in 42 all time classics on the DS.

    If this were on XBLA I'd be possibly tempted at 400 points. 20 quid is just silly for this.

  • Subquest #13 4 years ago

    Chessmaster on the DS also, btw. my dad loves it.

  • jonsaan #14 4 years ago

    /stifles a massive yawn

  • GamesConnoisseur #15 4 years ago

    Chess is one of the oldest board game around, steeped in history and references, playing against Death and so forth. Can see grandpa wanting to get this.

    Still, bloody silly to have this at full price and optical format! Should be downloadable and no more than fiver as everyone say.

    While not to everyone taste, still a missed opportunity not to have Mii featured on it and online Nintendo way is still the awkward way (ease of playing against friend).

  • Physically_Insane #16 4 years ago

    God, just buy a chess board!

  • Saladin #17 4 years ago

    They should definitely have saved this for that new-fangled software download thing. A Wii-based Chess game is a turkey, considering how people are going nuts over it because they think it's "active".

  • Lorka #18 4 years ago

    Tom, I'd prefer it if you did review Chess. Eight out of ten, I'd say. Go gets nine because it reminds me of ninjaslol.

  • Xerx3s #19 4 years ago

    <a href='http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/spyglassxboxlivearcad e/'>Better & Cheaper</a>.

  • asphaltcowboy #20 4 years ago

    What the..?! One of the standard controls for picking up Mii's is using A+B to grab them and wave them around - why on Earth they didn't include a pointing option (with a little hand), with pick-up and drop mechanics and a THREE DIMENSIONAL board is absolutely baffling! What were they thinking?!

  • Waldo #21 4 years ago

    Looks like the Shovelware bug has bitten Nintendo too.

  • NickNack #22 4 years ago

    As good as RE4 Wii edition then. Seriously sort your scores out they make 0 sense.

  • fil0 #23 4 years ago

    "At last, a review of Wii Fit... err, Chess". Can this be played with the balance board ? ;)

  • El_MUERkO #24 4 years ago

    duff me

    we don't server duff round here, we serve fudd

    okay... fudd me

  • mowgli #25 4 years ago

    Oh for fucks sake this is taking the piss. Bring out some proper fucking games.
    I like chess, always have. But i didnt buy a fucking Wii to play it.

  • BraveArse #26 4 years ago

    Um... I bought it. Tom's spot on with his review. It does have good game - the ELO ranking system works as it should. I like chess, I like this... because I like chess and online gaming on me sofa. Not sure what the fuss is about.

  • exidor #27 4 years ago

    The mrs bought this and it's pretty good once you're actually in the chess game. The interface and game start-up is dreadful though - lack of mii integration and completely ignoring the wiimote has been mentioned, but I was surprised at how clunky it was to get a 2-player game set up. It doesn't feel like a Nintendo game at all.

  • tentonipete #28 4 years ago

    looking at the screenshots: what's the point of having a board that doesn't fill up the screen?

  • Kiigan #29 4 years ago

    I am surprised that it isn't just a downloadable title, but as a disk-based product it'll probably get more players.
    And I'm keen on it, I'm sure other people are too. There absolutely should be lots of types of games for different types of audiences - if playing chess on your Wii doesn't appeal to you, play something else and quit being a misery guts.

    I'm just glad they didn't do an Advance Wars job on it, and add a few pointless extra units or add unnecessary extra rules. They could call it Chess 2.0!

  • HyperShadow #30 4 years ago

    You don't need a review to decide whether to buy this. It says it all on the front of the box Wii. Chess. If its not your bag, then move along.

    I have brought it and am enjoying it, however I would've prefered the analysis to have the game actualy analyse my moves, like chessmaster, to highlight any glaring errors or perhaps better moves. Analysis is more replay in this.

  • Eraser #31 4 years ago

    They should've made a 3D board with Battle Chess like animations based on various themes like Zelda, Mario and Metroid. THAT would've been awesome and an instant buy for me. This... this is just silly and an insult to gamers.

  • Bluetooth #32 4 years ago

    This will flop. If you're lacking opponents, you can get a more comprehensive, REAL chess board for far less. It will train you too. If you can't be bothered moving the pieces around, get GNU chess or one of the hundreds of free chess games out there on the PC. More filler-crap to squeeze as much juice from its customers as possible.

  • Weezer #33 4 years ago

    7 is the new 5

  • LazyDan #34 4 years ago

    When I first heard Wii Chess I thought "Oooh! DEFINITE PURCHASE."

    When I saw it wasn't a downloadable channel, and instead is a standalone game on a disc I thought "....what."

    When I saw it was £20 I thought "haha what"

    When I saw it didn't use the pointer I thought "what a load of rot."

    Seriously, having chess available from the wii menu any time without having to change discs would've been lovely, especially with online. It being £20 is ridiculous and it not using the pointer is just lazy and stupid. What's going on here Nintendo and co? >:(

    I love Nintendo to death but it really irritates me how sometimes they'll snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the name of a a better profit or not being seen as kiddy-fiddler accessible.

  • knocker #35 4 years ago

    Not sure whether I will bother with this or not. Love playing chess - love video games. But, yet I am unmoved.

    What I will say though, is that 3d boards - or ones with a novelty theme are shit of the smelliest and most runny sort.

    It could have been an add on - could have used the trophies from super smash bros - but it wouldn't have been as good a chess game.

  • FaceOmeter #36 4 years ago

    isn't "King Me" a draughts term?
    /hides

  • smelly #37 4 years ago

    WTF?

    20 quid??
    Packaged Disc (not download)?
    No 3d "battle chess" like options?
    No ability to play with mario characters?
    nor miis?
    And doesnt work with wiimote pointer?

    WTF are they playing at?

    Reet... That's it.. i'm getting a ps3..

  • Markusdragon #38 4 years ago

    This is a massive step back from Battlechess.

    I mean, Come ON! Battlechess with Miis would have been fantastic!

  • Nookyalar #39 4 years ago

    Generous Tommo. Chess is chess. More lost opportunities. Come on Ninty.

  • Benno #40 4 years ago

    As good as Assassins Creed then?

  • Royal Fool #41 4 years ago

    I, like the others here, am completely shocked by the low quality of this release.

    Should've been downloadable and feature 3D chess pieces with motion controls. How long did it take them to throw this crap together, 2 months?

  • Snooz #42 4 years ago

    Wii King. Sounds Wiik

  • smelly #43 4 years ago

    >I, like the others here, am completely shocked by the low quality of this release.

    Me too.. dont get it at all.

  • ph101 #44 4 years ago

    I thing the tag line should have been 'King 'ell.
    :p

  • Futaba #45 4 years ago

    I used to have Battle Chess, it was great novelty fun.

  • wiigamer #46 4 years ago

    I don't understand what's the problem with the price. The licenced engine beats probably all other chess games mentioned here. For me the chess is a strategy game and clarity (2D instead of useless 3D) is important. 3D boards or Miis would be a plus but really unnecessary from the game point of view. If you play againts the computer the AI is all that matters. Chess "has looked the same" for hundreds of years, I can't see any shiny 3d view or animation changing the actual game to any better. If you are looking for the graphics, just forget the chess. I am not playing games for the visuals!

    Also most of the posters seem to ignore the network play. Just tell me how many of the current Wii games support network? Right. Another point for Wii Chess.

    WC is no perfect. It could have tutorials, databases, better analysis tools and more configurable AI. Just 10 different levels seem too vague for me.

    But for me, certainly the worth 28 euros I paid.