Chess Ace

Genre: Puzzle / Board Game

Players: 1

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Review:

Chess Ace is a family-friendly Puzzle game that uses chess pieces and how they move to form the foundations of its puzzles. This game was released on mobile devices and Nintendo Switch in 2020.

In terms of presentation, Chess Ace is very plain, with a minimalist visual style, a few simple sound effects, and no music at all. At the very least, I’ll credit the game for having multiple skins for its visuals, but even so this is a pretty bare-bones experience.

As for the gameplay, it’s fairly simple – players are given a limited number of moves to use their pawn to capture enemy pieces represented by a “club” symbol. They also have cards that can transform their pawn into another specific chess piece for one turn only. Using these, they must figure out how to capture all of the enemy pieces within the move limit.

Anyone familiar with the rules of chess should be able to pick up this game’s rules fairly quickly, and even those who are a dunce at chess should be able to figure this game out if they can get a basic grasp of how the pieces move. The game makes it fairly effortless to reset a puzzle if you mess up, so players figuring things out can go through a process of trial and error until they’re familiar with the mechanics.

Having said that, there’s not much room here for creativity or originality. Each of the game’s 200 puzzles appears to have only one solution. There’s also an unlockable “ranked” mode, but don’t let that fool you – you’re not playing against others, and this mode would maybe be better-labeled as a “timed” mode, with players challenged to complete random puzzles within a time limit, with successes and failures noted on a running score. The game doesn’t save your best times for individual levels, either, nor does it let you design your own.

There a few more complaints I have with this game. On a technical level, moving your cursor using the analog stick is a pain, as the controls are stiff and don’t always seem to respond properly. At the very least I can say that the touchscreen controls here are excellent, and between the two that’s clearly the better way to play. Also, the $10 price tag is a bit high for such a minimal experience, and if you get this game at all you’ll want to catch it on sale.

In the end, Chess Ace manages to be a decent Puzzle game that chess players in particular should appreciate, but it’s not one that’s super-compelling, and the lack of options and minimalist presentation don’t do it any favors. If you’re looking for a decent chess-themed Puzzle game to serve as a time-waster, and you catch this game on sale, you’ll probably be satisfied with it, though I can’t help but feel like this could have been expanded into something better if it had more content and options.

tl;dr – Chess Ace is a Puzzle game that uses the rules of chess, with players trying to move to capture pieces in a limited number of turns. It’s a decent Puzzle game, but it’s lacking in options, has a bare-bones presentation, and its normal price is far too high for such a minimal experience. Still, it’s not a bad time waster if you can catch it on sale.

Grade: C+

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