Virtual Kasparov

Virtual Kasparov
Platform(s)	PlayStation, Game Boy Advance
Release date(s)	PlayStation PAL April 27, 2001 NA August 15, 2001 Game Boy Advance PAL February 22, 2002 NA March 31, 2002
Genre(s)	Chess
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Virtual Kasparov is a chess video game released by Titus Software for the PlayStation and Game Boy Advance. Game can be played against beginners, novices, champions, or personality players. Games that Garry Kasparov 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 to play on, Africa and the Americas. 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 (sans Russia) and Europe (sans Russia). Once four players from both Asia and Europe are defeated the player is granted access to the subcontinent of Russia. 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

Game Boy Advance

Steve Butts of IGN gave the Game Boy Advance version of Virtual Kasparov a score of 6.5 out of 10. He said the game "suffer[s] 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." At the time of IGN's review, Virtual Kasparov was the only chess game available on the Game Boy Advance, and Butts recommended the game only to people who "[need] to get their chess fix soon", and advised others to wait for the Game Boy Advance version of Chessmaster, which, at that time, was scheduled to be released several months later. When Butts reviewed Chessmaster five months later, he gave the latter game a score of 7.5 out of 10 and recommended it over Virtual Kasparov, saying, "Although it lacks a few of the features that made Virtual Kasparov uniquely appealing, [Chessmaster] does a better job overall of presenting the game of chess in a convenient handheld format."

PlayStation

Will Grigoratos of GameVortex gave the PlayStation version of Virtual Kasparov a score of 68%. He was pleased with the game'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".