System: Valve Index Only
Price at Time Of Review: £3.99 ($4.99)
Comfort Rating: Green (No Movement)
Genre: Strategy
Input: Tracked Motion Controllers
Best Playing Position: Sitting, Standing, Room-Scale
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: PG
Description: Experience Chess in a new way with Virtual Reality. Move your pieces up and down to avoid capture and advance positions. The same classic pieces from Chess can now move in two extra dimensions, up and down. This twist is quick to get the hang of, but tricky to master.
Play several different 4d chess “maps” depending on if you want to move carefully through a vast space, or get to the action quickly. Play in a small cube just four spaces wide up to a huge 512 space volume. Add some pressure with a timer. Or forget checkmates and play Regicide to go to war.
Review: On paper maybe ‘4d Chess’ seemed like a good idea. I mean, after all, it kind of worked for Star Trek! But that this game does it take it beyond playable to the point that it is pretty pointless. You can play 4x4x4 or 8x8x8 and you can play both chess and checkers. Even the most hardcore of chess players will struggle to enjoy this and most people will simply struggle to get the hang of things. With its basic graphics, crappy 360 photo surroundings and lack of multiplayer this game really should have been free and while I get that £3.99 isn’t a lot, it’s about £3.99 more than it’s worth.
