Selling a chess video game can’t be easy. I can play online for free. I’ve got it on my iPad. Doesn’t always look great, but it’s chess.
So, to sell a chess game, it’s got to look good. Now that Pure Chess is on PS4, chess is at its prom-best. Looks fantastic and the different boards and themes are top notch. There’s the traditional. There’s also a feudal China theme, and Easter Island, and animals, and my favorite, the Roman empire. What they really need to do is shell out cash and license. Star Wars, Star Trek, Family Guy, South Park, etc, etc.
In any case, the game looks good but the PS4 conversion (see around :50 of the trailer below) didn’t wow me. But it seems worth the effort. Of course, I would rather have actual physical pieces and board – each piece made of pure gold – but a virtual one is still cool.
Pure Chess also has a fun tournament mode against AI opponents, but no real online play. To play a real opponent, it’s like snail-mail and not real time. That’s strange this day and age. But if I need real-time chess, I suppose I would go on Yahoo or Pogo, or get a pick-up game at the coffee house.