Best Puzzles and Classics Game
Winner: Chessmaster 5500
"Simply put, Chessmaster 5500 is far and away the best all-around chess program for PCs on the market. There might be stronger chess engines available, but there's definitely none that has as much to offer novice, intermediate, and even expert players as CM 5500." - Stephen Poole, GameSpot Review
It may not have the most exciting name, but the champion of our Puzzles and Classics category is as impressive a game as any released in 1997. Chess players of all levels - from novice to expert - will find this program to be a worthy opponent and, perhaps even more importantly, an able teacher of the game. Using the latest in natural language audio technology, Chessmaster 5500 not only skillfully analyzes your play, but then gives expert advice in plain English regarding future moves, a learning tool that is unmatched by any other program on the market.
And that's just scratching the surface of Chessmaster 5500. It also includes virtual opponents that mimic the styles of great players such as Fisher and Kasparov, some 50 mind-bending chess puzzles, and solid Internet support. All this, plus outstanding board and piece graphics, classic game archives, and five audio annotated classic games, make Chessmaster 5500 not only our choice for Best Puzzles and Classics Game, but one of the best interpretations of a traditional game ever released for the PC.
Runner-up: You Don't Know Jack Volume 3
"Berkeley knows that it has a winning formula. Perhaps it's best to leave well enough alone. In any case, You Don't Know Jack Volume 3 is a superior trivia game, and fans of the series certainly won't be disappointed." - John Broady, GameSpot Review
Yes, it's once, twice, three times a trivia game, and we love it (actually it's six times a trivia game if you include the movie, sports, and TV versions, but given the retro tone of this edition, we couldn't pass up the Lionel Richie paraphrase). Berkeley Systems knows it has a winning formula in the YDKJ series, and it's apparently going to milk it until the proverbial cows come home. And why not? Almost everyone who has played YDKJ likes it, and everyone who likes the series will like this edition. The logic is inescapable.
This version features a slightly more laid-back tone than its predecessors do - colors are softer and the onscreen graphics are a little less frenetic. But the gameplay remains essentially unchanged. In essence, it's still the same ultrahip, ultracynical party trivia game at its heart, and if it weren't for the addition of the Threeway question format (which is a complete dud), YDKJ III would have reached instant-classic status.
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