The idea of chess on a mobile phone might be blasphemous to the old men who sit around playing it in Washington Square Park, but that's only because they probably haven't had a chance to play Chess 2.0. In spite of its name, Chess 2.0 doesn't make any fancy additions to the classic strategy game. Instead, it relies on the varying difficulties of the artificial intelligence system to provide all the depth that the game requires. Chess is, in fact, only as good as your opponent is. The game could have benefited from a little more detail, as well as the inclusion of a network multiplayer mode. And, it would have been nice to choose the way your opponent plays (not merely the level).
At the onset, after picking the difficulty, you can choose your color, which means that when you're presented with a top-down view of the chessboard, the color of your choice is going to be at the bottom of the screen. From there, you can always make the first move, opting for traditional openers or not, and it's nice to see that the computer does not always feel like making the same counter. While some chess players prefer to set up their pieces very specifically at the onset of every game, the computer is rarely so predictable. In fact, the AI in this game is only predictable in its aggression; everything else is fairly flexible. To the game's great advantage, if something comes up between you and your chess-playing, you're able to save games and load them at a later date.
There are eight difficulty modes in Chess 2.0, which get subtly more challenging until you reach the nearly impossible level 7. However, the AI doesn't vary in play style too much between the levels. At all levels, the computer plays fairly aggressively, and it almost always opts to trade one piece for another. While this is certainly indicative of certain chess play styles, it would have been nice to be able to test your wits against another, more patient opponent. Regardless, on some of the difficulty levels, the challenge is really intense and the AI is rarely sloppy. There's also the option for two-player pass-and-play, and the game will flip the board at each turn, so that both players will have the appropriate perspective. Chess 2.0 also lacks a network multiplayer mode, which several competing games enabled more than a year ago. Still, the true strength of a chess game on mobile lies in its single-player mode, and Chess 2.0 delivers in this area.
The sound in LG VX7000 version is hilarious and strangely morbid, starting off with the organ music that sounds like it's directly from the depths of Dracula's lair to the clicking noises of your pieces moving around the board. However, the graphics don't receive the similar comedic treatment, and instead they are bland and uninteresting, although perfectly acceptable for playing chess.
Chess 2.0 is a decent chess game that will provide a challenge for all but the greatest chess experts. You won't get much more than the game of chess here, but if that's all you're looking for, Chess 2.0 will suffice.
