| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ GAMESLIST ★ COLOSSUS 4 CHESS (c) CDS SOFTWARE ★ |
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Computer chess is not everyone 'a idea excitement. You might well wonder why anyone would bother waiting hoars fox; Arnold to make an indifferent move - and a lot of chess programs in the past offered just that Not so Colossus - on the default average move time often seconds, he can give you some real trouble. If you want a fast, fiendish adversary, then look no further. First impressions aren't all good, it must be admitted. Cyrus II has set a standard for display and ease of use that few will equal, and Colossus definitely suffers here. It's perfectly possible to play Cyrus without any documentation at all, but you'll need the manual for Colossus - and the layout may give you some problems ing the information you need. On the graphic aide Colossus clearly tries to match Cyrus with its 3D board-view option, but the perspective is very poor and the pieces can be hard to differentiate.
Once you get past these points to the game itself. Colossus shows where its real strength lies - and strength is definitely the word. It can give a tough game even with a very short move tune - once it starts averaging minutes rather than seconds per j move, if can be nothing short of terrifying, CDS claim that it beat Cyrus 10-6 and 11-5 : on comparable speed settings, and a trial in i the AA office seemed to bear this out - an impressive middle game performance produced a win for Colossus, but poor end game play saw the game stretch to nearly sixty moves. The end game is always an area of weakness for chess programs, and Colossus is stronger than most. What did come as a surprise was its indifferent opening performance, given that its openings book boasts 3000 moves to Cyrus 's 1900. The first thing you'll want to do, unless you're a strong-ish player yourself , is to reduce the level Colossus plays at . Here you find a real plus point flexibility. Rather than choosing from pre-set levels of 'play, you set die average move time in minutes and seconds. This could prove extremely useful if you're trying to improve your game, and need to increase the strength of opposition gradually. The range of options is wide, including tournament, blitz and problem modes. It has more or less ell the features you would expect - infinite, equality, backward step - and some you wouldn't. How many chess programs give you the option, for example, of playing "blindfolded"? The disc version also has a large selection of classic computer v. human and computer v. computer : games to play through, for those of you who ' are really interested. AW, AA |
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