''Virtual Kasparov'' is a

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by Titus Interactive Studio, published by

Titus Interactive Titus Interactive SA,Contact
. Titus Interactiv ...

and distributed in Europe by

Virgin Interactive Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...

for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

and

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

. Game can be played against beginners, novices, champions, or personality players. Games that

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

played during his career, as well as interviews about his chess career, can be viewed in the game.

Game Boy Advance version

The main mode of the Game Boy Advance is the story mode. The player starts with two

continents A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of As ...

to play on,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

. After four players on one continent are beaten, a fifth opponent is unlocked. When four players from both Africa and the Americas are defeated, two new continents are unlocked

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

(sans Russia) and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

(sans Russia). Once four players from both Asia and Europe are defeated the player is granted access to the

subcontinent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of A ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. There are a total of 31 opponents in Virtual Kasparov. Opponents are of various ages, backgrounds, experience levels, and geographic locations. Every opponent has a short backstory in story mode.

Critical reaction

The Game Boy Advance version received "average" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. Steve Butts of ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' said the same handheld version "suffer from some considerable shortcomings, most notably in the area of presentation. The AI is still good enough to make the game enjoyable and challenging, but the lack of some key features leaves you feeling somewhat unsatisfied." Will Grigoratos of ''PlayStation Illustrated'' was pleased with the PlayStation version's 2D graphics, but felt the "3D mode leaves a lot to be desired." Grigoratos called the tutorial for chess beginners "excellent", but concluded the game to ultimately be "a run-of-the-mill chess game, with a few neat frills".

References

External links

*{{moby game, id=/virtual-kasparov 2001 video games Chess software Game Boy Advance games PlayStation (console) games Titus Software games Video games based on real people Video games developed in France Garry Kasparov Multiplayer and single-player video games