Pure Chess: Grandmaster Edition (Xbox One) - Review

Pure Chess: Grandmaster Edition is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £9.99.

We all know what chess is, whether or not we can actually play it. There have been loads of chess games released on various platforms over the years but Pure Chess: Grandmaster Edition is the first chess game to come to the Xbox One. I'd say that if you already have Pure Chess on any other platform I wouldn't necessarily bother with this one. Unless you realllllllyyyyy want some different chess pieces. This version does come with some pretty decent sets.

There are no gimmicks with this game, (though I have to admit I was disappointed that the Roman chess set didn't act like the magic chess sets from Harry Potter) it is simply chess. The interface is slick and easy to use and each time you select a piece it illuminates the legal moves for you. You can remove the HUD which shows you what moves have been made and which pieces have been taken by you and your opponent.

You can play online, with a friend or against the AI, which has various levels of difficulty ranging from Monkey to Grandmaster. There are also three Tournaments, increasing in difficulty for you to complete. The tutorial is great, even for someone who plays chess fairly well as it gives you plenty of handy hints and tips that you might not have considered before. There's an achievement for completing it too, so it's not all wasted.

There are different settings for you to choose from, but once you're into the game you can only really see the chessboard, which is a shame because the rooms are lovely to look at. You can choose between different genres of music too, which is nice. My biggest gripe is with the loading times when you've lost a tournament it takes forever to go back to the menu which ends up with me just ending up dashboarding it on numerous occasions. I don't really know why it takes so long to be honest.

I don't know whether I would recommend this game, just because chess is pretty niche. If you're after a chess game on a current gen console then go ahead. It's a great chess game, I'm just not sure who would choose to play this over most of the games available on the Xbox One.

5/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.