Customer Reviews

Chessmaster Collectors' Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Examining the "Collector's Edition" box, I found "Chessmaster 10th Edition" on the bottom flap and that's what is displayed on installation, running it, and in the User's Manual. The only differences between the 10th Edition and the Collector's Edition are that the Collector's Edition has a fourth CD with a six-month membership to World Chess Live and the packaging and CD labels which must have been done by Encore.

Going over to the Ubisoft support page for the 10th Edition and downloading the 1.0.3 patch enables the game to be played without needing the CD in the drive. The FAQs have other tips as well including a link to unlock the locked sets if you're too impatient to play the 5-60 games required to have them unlocked automatically as rewards for playing.

I know that Chessmaster XI and Grandmaster are available, but this is still a great game and the reduced price can't be beat. The 10th Edition is the first time animated chess sets are used and the three sets are a lot of fun to watch and hear especially when capturing. I suspect the Clash, Fairytale, and Rubber (colorful Staunton) animated sets were intended for boys and girls, but I get a kick out of them as well.

I'm running it on XP Pro and haven't encountered any problems.

The lower-rated reviews by the first two reviewers listed for the Collector's Edition aren't a fair representation of this product considering that the complaints of the one reviewer who was thinking about returning it are so easily resolved by visiting the Ubisoft website.

I may return this item yet - just got it this afternoon, and already I don't like it. Only two major gripes so far - you have to have Disk #1 in the drive to run it, even after loading, which is a copy-protection scheme I detest - and, in order to get to use any of the really cool 3D chess sets, you have to win 60 games first - which I find ridiculous. I paid for the entire game, I want access to everything from day #1.

I agree with the previous poster. After installing 3 disks (I did not bother with the World Chess CD), I became frustrated by the fact that it would only run with disk 1 inserted. In the past, this was once a great method to to protect copyrights, but is not 1991 anymore. Does ubisoft expect me to keep "disk 1" with me just so I can play it on my laptop when I am at the airport? For a person with a laptop, it is invertible that crucial disk 1 will get scratched, scuffed, or misplaced.

Another poster noted that there you could circumvent this going to a ubisoft forum-- but seriously, I do not want to dig around online for a patch and install it. Like most people, I want it to be like that "out of the box." The price is great and the product is solid if you don't mind constantly inserting disk 1 OR looking for the patch online.

This game gets very high marks among the chess programs
used in my limited experience, especially as a coaching and
teaching tool. The gameplay is also very challenging for me.
I'm currently an awful chess player-- I've never beaten CM,
but then I've only played it about 6 times. It's been many
years since I played regularly, and in this game even the
inexperienced players have given me trouble. Still, CM's game
assessment tool and very good teaching utilities are helping
me focus and think about Chess in more constructive ways, and
I do see myself progressing as a player. I bought this version
over others for one reason only: The Josh Waitzkin Chess Academy
tool. Josh's early progress at Chess was the subject of the movie
Searching for Bobby Fisher, which I've seen about five times on
DVD over the past 5 years. In the Academy, we hear Josh's voice
as he explains key chess objectives, strategies etc. while the
program illustrates Josh's ideas on a video chessboard. Josh also
tests us-- he poses challenges and we get to try and solve them
on the computer. Josh grades our efforts. This tool is pretty fluid in terms of interaction, although I did encounter one chess challenge that wouldn't let me complete it-- a minor setback that the computer program was able to recover from by moving to the next challenge. I do consider this issue to be a programming error, a minor one that does not affect the gameplay modes at all in the Chessmaster 10th Edition. Here are a few game specs and packaging details that aren't covered in the amazon.com page for the game:
***
The game program included in this collector's edition is Chessmaster 10th Edition. It is probably the same game included in another chessmaster package offered by Amazon which is called Chessmaster 10th Edition. The difference in the collector's edition is the inclusion of a separate CD that gives six free months of membership to World Chess Live.
***
This program is compatible with Windows XP and I seem to remember Windows 98. Mine is running on Windows 7, and it might be worth installing CM using the Windows XP Compatibility Troubleshooter included in Win 7. (this is actually an XP compatibility wizard of the sort included in Windows Vista-- but I've found it easier to use than Vista's because it provides well-selected recommended settings that you can choose in one click. It is often best to make sure the wizard installs using administrator privilege. If the wizard doesn't offer this and you need it, you can right-click any installed program icon and either find AP or the option to run as XP on the menu that comes up. Don't let "troubleshooter" scare you- it's purpose has little to do with that. The wizard might work best on single boot pc's running only Windows 7-- I am a programmer and use the wizard fairly often to install legacy programs. Also, I've had reports from a few agents in my insurance company that Windows 7 seems to have trouble getting ordinary executable programs past a Norton 360 firewall.)

Overall, Chessmaster Collector Edition is a great value at a very good price.

After downloading and installing all 4 cds I couldn't open the program. I was suprised to learn that one of the cds (cd 1)had to be in the computer (after all the downloading)for the game to start-up. Anyway, I never got to play because I always received a message from microsoft stating that the program had encountered an error and would close. Not good.

If you want a chess program you probably want this one. It's about the best value for the dollar of any software.