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Chinese Chess Soul Giveaway
$34.95
EXPIRED

Game Giveaway of the day — Chinese Chess Soul

Chinese Chess Soul is an excellent master level and popular Chinese Chess Game software. Either you are a beginner or expert, you will have fun and excitement playing it.
$34.95 EXPIRED
User rating: 182 31 comments

Chinese Chess Soul was available as a giveaway on October 27, 2012!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$5.00
free today
Crazy Desert Car is an exciting game in the arcade genre.

Chinese Chess Soul is an excellent master level and popular Chinese Chess Game software. Either you are a beginner or expert, you will have fun and excitement playing it.

Key features:

  • Beautiful and easy to use interface.
  • Small, medium, large piece sets; change pieces and boards easily.
  • Play game from any beginning positions,play against the computer or a friend.
  • Arena match game model, Computer adjusts its level to meet your level and record your scores.
  • Play against the computer or a friend, Demo function-computer plays with himself.
  • A basic rule system can (optionally) keep plugins from perpetually checking and chasing.

System Requirements:

Windows 95/ 98/ Me/ NT/ 2000/ XP/ 2003 Server/ Vista; Language: English

Publisher:

Xing Interactive

Homepage:

http://www.chesssoul.com/index.html

File Size:

11 MB

Price:

$34.95

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Comments on Chinese Chess Soul

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#31

Re: comment #3 which said "Maker claims to have award from Softpedia but software isn’t listed on their site."

See: http://games.softpedia.com/get/Shareware-Games/Chinese-Chess-Soul.shtml

That's an earlier version but it's valid nonetheless, for the record.


WR, I happened across a forum posting from some days back (I'm not a member), if you could mention or paste this in the forum thread I'd appreciate it. I post this late in the day so as not to distract from the giveaway.

re: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/15375

ortrtr wrote: "I am currently traveling outside the country and have limited bandwidth. It was only after downloading the whopping 200 MB ZIP file of the software offered 2 days ago did I find out from the Readme.txt file that licensing required providing personal details to the developer. How can I access the licensing instructions or better yet the ReadMe.txt file prior to downloading the entire software? Can it not also be provided outside the ZIP file?"

I'd suggest LoadScout ( loadscout.com ), it's trustworthy freeware that lets you instantly browse inside zips and rars without downloading them, selectively viewing or downloading individual files. I've used it for years and not long ago I was poking around inside some 500 MB files looking for info. A great tool says I. It's clunky but great to have in the toolbox for those odd times it comes in handy, just to see archive contents or read a readme without having to download a giant file (like with GOTD). You can also use it to preview the meta data from mp3s and to select whatever portion of the timeline you wish to download for a preview (such as the first 30 seconds or some arbitrary 10 minute portion from the middle of a three hour clip).


..............................Moderator comment................................

Thank you for your feedback. much appreciated.

Reply   |   Comment by resurch  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#30

Works fine on XP but not on Vista or Windows 7. However, I have a lot of the exact same errors with Microsoft Office as with trying to run Chinese Chess on Vista / 7 such as app hangs, exception errors and fatal execution errors. That's why I'm in the process of switching over to Linux, however I will keep one dual booter for XP/Linux so I can still get great games when they come along. Windows Vista and 7 is garbage (Google: "Windows Rot") and Windows 8 is spyware with a built-in kill switch (which some jerk will hack sooner or later).

Linux is always virus-free and hasn't any back doors so it would be nice if there were more giveaways with a Linux option!


..............................Moderator comment..............................


I couldn't disagree more w.r.t. Win 7 being garbage. I think Win 7 has been the best OS so far from Microsoft.

Reply   |   Comment by Joe Hurdle  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#29

And i also took the space out at the end of the code, stills comes back invalid.

Reply   |   Comment by Becca Ward  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#28

The registration code keeps telling me its invalid code, i copied and pasted it, several times, and even tried and put it in myself. But it comes back invalid code. please let me know what the code is since its not working.

Reply   |   Comment by Becca Ward  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#27

installed but won't launch in win 7 64-bit. they have a 7 version on their website, but dont offer it here. If they have answers, they can email me. thanx, kinda wanted to learn it. best kathy ps I even re ran install and hit repair, didn't do anything different. even tried run as admin. no luck.


................................Moderator Comment..............................

Check the FAQ's section. Watcher mentions that turning off DEP works.

Reply   |   Comment by kathy  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#26

Rereading your comment, let me clarify. You can integrate this with the above post, if you'd like. I still would appreciate you composing the alternatives lists for every giveaway, I just think you should post that list specifically as a forum thread and link to it, rather than just posting a link to the general games thread. Much like the "alternatives to today's giveaway" sticky thread, but as a specific giveaway by giveaway thread of it's own. I seem to remember you've done that before.


.............................Moderator comment.........................

I did start to do that several months ago, but sort of lost my way. you could be right about spooking some developers, so may just follow your advice. :)

Reply   |   Comment by watcher13  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#25

I would vote for the link to the forum option for the alternative lists. I really appreciate it myself and I even more appreciate the amount of effort you put into it. I would hate to see you stop. Partly that comment is more addressed to the poster over on the GOTD who gives extensive lists of free alternatives for practically every giveaway. I don't find what you do to be comparable. Yours is on the order of "if you like this game, you'll like these, too". I've always understood that. His is more of the naive type of post that practically says, "here's a big list of reasons why you shouldn't download today's software". And often he says almost literally that. It's more of the idea that I would be remiss if I mentioned one without mentioning the other, and I sometimes worry that even your otherwise harmless approach may spook some developers.


.................................Moderator comment..............................

Thanks watcher. ;-)

Reply   |   Comment by watcher13  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#24

Hang on a minute or two, this says it is chess but without downloading and installing, it looks more like the Chinese version of `Nine Mens Morris`. Chees is Chess, you know Rookes, knights, bishops, pawns etc Maybe it is but going by the screen shots it seems a lot of chinese charactors on the pieces. So which piece is which?



...............................Moderator comment...............................

If you read my review at comment #1 I've posted an image showing you what each piece is called and then described each piece and its relatonship to Western chess pieces.

Reply   |   Comment by Kevin  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#23

Installed on Win7 Ultimate SP1 64 bit. Wouldn't launch. Required me to create DEP exception, which is okay. Whiterabbit, have you upgraded your 7s to SP1? If not, might explain why DEP exception required for me. In any case, those not getting a launch on 7 SP1 should try creating DEP exception. Won't provide a link, because the directions in Windows Help are sufficient.

Can't recommend. Really don't want to turn thumbs down, but must. I think there's a tendency to put up with this programs lack of documentation because it covers a unique subject. That's what I thought, anyway. Certainly a sophisticated gamer might want to play around with this thing over and over until they mastered it. And by that, I don't mean Chinese Chess but the program settings itself. Maybe as someone said above, this was meant for the Chinese market, although I don't see any links to a Chinese page on their website. In any case, people would be inclined to put up with this because of uniqueness.

But:

With a simple search I discovered this isn't even remotely true. One of the most respected software sites, Gizmo's Freeware, has a review page for Chinese Chess which favorably reviews 6 programs, mentions 5 others, and 4 online flash versions. Again, all free. I generally don't believe in specifically mentioning competing softwares on the GOTD sites unless you do a direct feature comparison. I apologize, Whiterabbit, you know I have the highest respect for you, but I don't think it's fair to the developer. This is their day, so to speak. However, I'm compelled to break my rule in this case. I haven't played any of the ones on Gizmo's site, but, having intimate knowledge of how good that site is, I can't believe there aren't a lot of better alternatives to learning Chinese Chess than from this software. I won't post the link, but, unless you're completely search impared, you can easily find it.
When you couple the lack of documentation on using the features - such as what's the difference between autoplay and autofight, especially since the website recommends arena mode, anyway - with occassional runtime errors and other glitches; and general sloppiness like the incorrect word balloon I found, and links in the program which don't work, and a website explanation on how to set the AI to it's hardest level that I believe is technically incorrect; there's just no reason to fool with this thing.
Others also may have noticed that it's discounted on the website now 50% until Nov. 3rd. In any case, $17.48 is too much and without even remotely adequate documentation $34.95 is insane with at least 11 free alternatives available. Remember too, this is not new software. 2007. In 5 years, they haven't adequately worked out the bugs for the English market. Although, there is occassional live support on the website though, I wonder if the tech can understand or explain things adequately in English.

If it was the only one of it's kind, I wouldn't slam it. But it isn't, and it isn't ready for primetime. After 5 years!


..............................Moderator comment...........................

Thank you for your excellent feedback Watcher.

I have considered stopping the alternative games section of my reviews. I did at one point just direct community members to the game discussion forums, where most of what I post can be found, but found it hard to stop. I always though it a good idea to give the community alternatives; especially those who didn't particularily like the game of the day. I do agree to a certain extent that it's unfair as it is supposed to be the developers day; but that said, I sill think that many of the excellent bargains would be missed by some if I didn't post details.

Reply   |   Comment by watcher13  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#22

Uuuh - I have to pass on this - that's to intensive for my brain but thank you anyway and looking forward to next weekend.

Reply   |   Comment by Anu  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#21

Seems excellent but I can't run it on Windows 7 64 bits SP1. I tried everything even compatibility. The software does want to open.


.................................Moderator comment...............................

There's got to be some compatibility issue. I've been able to get it to work on three Win 7 64bit computers. Try downloadig the version from the developers site and registering that using the code supplied. Make sure you delete the giveaway version first.

Reply   |   Comment by Marcel  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#20

This game is going to take a while to get to know :) The Wiki link provided above is most useful in getting an idea how to play. It's a keeper. Congrats to the Devs on this one.


.......................Moderator comment...........................


Thanks Keith

Reply   |   Comment by Keith  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#19

Thanks for your suggestion. However, I checked and there were no spaces in the license key. I tried deleting the dashes and that failed also.

Should uninstall and download once again?


....................Moderator comment.....................

Hi again, I meant at the end of the registration code. when copying and pasting for some reason a space is added to the end of the code. check to make sure the cursor abuts the last part of the code. Otherwise you could try reinstalling it.

Reply   |   Comment by Robert Blake  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#18

Thank you. This is a game that I've tried to learn to play on my own, and having an opponent - expert(?) - will help greatly. Installed, registered, and plays fine on my WinXP (sp3) box w/o problem. Yes, the graphics are simple, but it's that AI that is the important part of this type of game.

Again, thank you.


..............................Moderator Comment..............................


Thank you Bryan

Reply   |   Comment by bryan e  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#17

Thanks for the link to the wiki, karen. This link is also available on the middle of the developer's front page, on the right hand side. The wiki is obviously written by a fluent Englsh speaker and is the place to start, IMHO, to understand the game basics. To be honest, more explanation from the developer might not be that useful, as Whiterabbit intimated. They probably need a fluent English collaborator. The English on the website isn't horrible, but the language difference is obvious. The structure of the 2 languages is such that it hinders communication. It reminds me of a review about a board game dealing with Imperial China, saying the Oriental color of the game went one step to far: "The instructions are all but inscrutable." lol. Have downloaded. Will play and comment later.




..............................Moderator Comment..............................


Thanks Watcher.

Reply   |   Comment by watcher13  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#16

Hi Stephen! Thanks for the informative review; I had a time deciding if I wanted to try this, but as always you give us enough to make that choice easy. Hope you and your family are doing well...

The game downloaded and installed without a hitch; I have a folder set up for GOTD setups, and it makes things easier as long as I remember to clean out the "old" files before I tried to unpack the new ones into it. Then I just run "Setup" and haven't had a problem yet, despite the new wrapper format.

The game is all you said - and even more confusing, but it registered with no problem (remember to watch for any spaces at the beginning or end of the "name" and "code" when you copy them), and the game runs perfectly so far on my Vista 32 laptop. I haven't learned enough to play far, but the gameplay seems to be straightforward, the graphics are clean and colorful, so once I get a better idea of the rules, it might provide quite a few hours of interesting play, IMO.

Like Stephen, I've played chess for many years (we're not young men, as you may have guessed), and Ive played many types of chess games on various computer platforms, from C64 to my current multi-core desktop and Win7. But playing chess against an AI doesn't have the same cachet as playing an opponent in person, so I tend to play long enough to get a feel for a game but rarely use one more than a few times as they tend to all feel pretty much the same overall. Maybe this will be different, with a new learning curve, new (to me) rules, and different expectations - at least that's why I installed it, and I think many others will do so for the same reason.

It looks like a worthy download, so let's hope it lives up to that. I won't try to give it a rating since I've only begun, but I will say that I'm pleased with it so far, and intend to keep it. Thanks!
John



..............................Moderator Comment..............................


Thank you for your feedback JL

Reply   |   Comment by JL  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#15

5.Everything I’ve downloaded from GOTD in the past few months gives me an “invalid archive” error and I cannot install. Any thoughts? Thanks...

The reason you get that error(I get it often too), is because the download did not complete. It says it does, but has actually not completed the content of the archive. Download again, watching the % countdown to make sure it completes correctly. This works for me.

Thanks to GOTD ... you have given my wife & I, hours of fun.



..............................Moderator Comment..............................


Thank you for your feedback Chris

Reply   |   Comment by Chris  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#14

Thank you Stephen for explaining the rules. Wikipedia also has a reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi.

The developer would do well to have an explanation on his web site if not within the game for people not familiar with the game. I went to the web site and there is none. The web site needs a serious edit and reorganization, btw.

However, I would suspect that the growing middle class in China is the target for this offering.

I look forward to learning how to play and then challenging my son.


..............................Moderator Comment..............................


Thank you for your feedback Karen

Reply   |   Comment by Karen  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#13

game opens and plays, but it is just that the menus don't work. I have tried compatibility mode for 95, 98 and xp (sp2 and 3)

Reply   |   Comment by BRIAN ARNETT  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#12

Same as prior comment--have downloaded & installed twice; game would not open either time (Windows 7 x64 Home Premium). Uninstalled. Too bad, seemed interesting.

Reply   |   Comment by Heather  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#11

Doesn't run. I click the shortcut or I click the program "Chinese Chess Soul.exe" and nothing happens. Win 7 x64. Have to delete


...........................Moderator Comment.............................

Works fine on three of my computers all running Win 7 64 bit (2 x Ultimate and 1 x Pro). Check to see if there's a conflict with another program your running in the background. Check out the FAQ's section over in the game discussion forums.

Reply   |   Comment by Chris G  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#10

I have windows 7 x64 and am having trouble getting the game to play without crashing. when I try to enter the menus at the to of the screen (like game or help) I get a white box and windows says not responding.


............................Moderator comment..........................

Hi Brian, check my reply to chris below. Also try playing in compatibility mode. change the resolution and, failing those try reinstalling.

Reply   |   Comment by BRIAN ARNETT  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#9

Too bad it doesn't come with a 'Western set' as shown in the linked YT videos. Should have been a small extra effort. You apparently can load a custom set but they also don't offer one as an additional download on their site. I can't find one on-line. If anyone does please let us know.

It would lower the barrier to start playing this game. Once you like it and know how to play you could change to the Chinese characters. Preferably not all at the same time but gradually. If the developer would add the option to set the image used for every piece separately that would be a big improvement. That way you could first change the Pawns to their Chinese characters, then the King and Counsellors etc.


........................Moderator comment........................

Thank you for your suggestions Ben, good idea.

Reply   |   Comment by - Ben -  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#8

Completely agree with Steve's opening sentence in comment no. 4. Downloaded and installed with no problem. I'll have to devote a bit of time later today to working out how to play it, but my initial impression is that the developers will have to improve the graphics enormously if they want to get anywhere near to justifying that RRP of $34.99, which seems to be a figure plucked out of the air based on wishful thinking! Currently looks like it was developed for Windows 95. Will try to comment on gameplay later. I can play chess, but this has a significantly different look to conventional chess.


.................................Moderator comment........................

Thanks

Reply   |   Comment by Andy  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#7

The registration license code will not validate the install as a "purchasd" install. So it is installed as a "trial" download.

Please advise.


..........................Moderator comment................................


Make sure there are no spaces when copy and pasting the registration code and name. I noticed there was one when I registered it the other day. Removig the space at the end allowed the game to register correctly.

Reply   |   Comment by Robert Blake  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#6

Hi Whiterabbit aka Stephen

Just a minor correction. The Indian chess version is called Chaturanga, and not Chanturanga.

Bye and have a nice day.


.....................Moderator comment..................

Thanks for the correction Shivanand, much appreciated.

Reply   |   Comment by Shivanand  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#5

Everything I've downloaded from GOTD in the past few months gives me an "invalid archive" error and I cannot install. Any thoughts? Thanks.



..................................Moderator comment....................................

Hello Diane,

Try using a different file archiver to unpack the ame. (If you're trying to install the games directly from the zip file, make sure you unpack the files first). Check to see if your security software is blocking the giveaways. Set your security to allow giveaways. Finally try clearing out your internet cookies. (The giveaway cookie may be corrupted).

Reply   |   Comment by Diane  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#4

Finally, something that isn't a match-three, hidden-object, or time-management game!

Installed and ran fine on Win7 Pro 64-bit.

Pretty much what one would expect from a xiangqi computer game. No flashy graphics, but easy-to-intuit controls. The game does seem to assume you know *how* to play xiangqi, and I have not found a tutorial mode, although there might well be one hidden amid the numerous game options. Includes all the expected features: ability to import games, move lists, and AI-vs-AI matches to study.

I am very much a beginner at this game, so I am in no position to comment on the strength of the AI as an opponent.

If one is interested in playing xiangqi on their computer, this looks like a solid title.


............................Moderator comment.................................

Thanks for your feedback Steve

Reply   |   Comment by Steve  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#3

Maker claims to have award from Softpedia but software isn't listed on their site.

Reply   |   Comment by nzchris  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#2

Hmm,this is Chess in Chinese version.
Easy to handle,have lot's of fun.

Reply   |   Comment by Tom  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#1

In Brief:

Chinese Chess Soul is a master level and popular Chinese Chess Game. Designed for both beginner or expert. The computer automatically adjusts its level (according to the developer) to meet your level and record your scores. It's one of the oldest and most popular board games in China. Both Chinese Chess and International Chess evolved from the original chess game of India called Chaturanga.


Chinese Chess Soul




PicDepict.com
Installation:



The downloaded Chinese Chess zip file should be 11.9Mb in size and when installed to the default path mentioned below is 9.59Mb

Installation is a breeze; the unzipped setup file installs Chinese Chess to the following path:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Chinese Chess Soul\

Once installed you can delete the wrapped setup file (for those that are new to the giveaway project that's the orange colored file with a key symbol on the icon; you can also delete the Setup.gcd security file and once registered the read me document.

Today's game comes with a registration code and name which you'll find in the read me document .

i.e.


PicDepict.com



Unlike most game giveaways their is a desktop icon created during installation. There's also a shortcut installed to the Start Menu Programs list. You'll also find an uninstaller. I don't know the arrangement for Win 8 yet.


Introduction:








Chinese Chess, or xiangqi, is an ancient game of intelligence. People often know some philosophy of life to raise their awareness of ability, thinking and have fun through a chess board. You can play against computer or a friend. All your family members can join in.

Chinese Chess Soul is also an excellent master level and popular Chinese Chess Game software. Whoever you are, beginner or expert, you will have FUN and EXCITING playing with her. You and your family can be enjoy by beating computer and improving chess level; Arena match game model, Computer adjusts its level to meet your level and record your scores.

PicDepict.com


The variations in the pieces, their movements, and the board layout make Chinese Chess Soul an exciting and challenging game. Now download Chinese Chess Soul and lead your army filled with Mandarins, Elephants, Horses, Chariots, Cannons, and Soldiers, fight, attack, and checkmate.





Reference: accessed HERE Oct 2012





----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Game:

Chinese Chess Soul is a master level and popular Chinese Chess Game. Designed for both beginner or expert. The computer automatically adjusts its level (according to the developer) to meet your level and record your scores. It's one of the oldest and most popular board games in China. Both Chinese Chess and International Chess evolved from the original chess game of India called Chaturanga. The name Xiangqi ("shEang chE") is Mandarin for "Elephant Chess" or "Picture Game", depending on how you interpret it.

PicDepict.com





The pieces are arranged symmetrically. Some pieces on the Red side bear different characters than their counterparts on the Black side. They are the same pieces — with the same power — on each side. But names on the Red side are subtly more noble than those on the Black side. It’s a fair match, but you could say the Reds are the “good guys.”
The following images shows the approximate Chinese pronunciation for each of the pieces and the equivalents from Western chess:
PicDepict.com
The Moves:


Unlike most other forms of chess, the Chinese game is played on the points of intersecting lines, rather than on the squares of the board.

The Governor/General moves one space at a time left, right, forward or backward. He is confined to the nine point fortress, on his side of the board. (The four square area with diagonal lines cutting across the outer corners of the four squares)

The Minister/Elephant moves exactly two points in any diagonal direction. This piece can be blocked by another piece on the intervening square (A and B in diagram) and is not allowed to cross the river, which runs between the two sides of the board.

The Horse moves first one point along the horizontal/vertical lines, and then one point diagonally. Similar to the knight in western chess, but this horse can be blocked by an intervening piece. The horse in the diagram can not move to the points marked by the red X’s; it is blocked by the Black pawn.

The Chariot moves exactly like the rook in western chess: as many spaces as it wishes horizontally or vertically, until it meets another piece or the edge of the board.


The Foot Soldier moves one point forward. After it crosses the river, it may also move to the right and left, but never backward. Unlike the pawn in western chess, this piece captures just as it moves normally (see diagram). It does not promote upon reaching the far end of the board.



PicDepict.com




The object of this game is to force capture of the enemy Governor/General (King). This may be by checkmate (he is under attack and has no means of escape) or by stalemate (he is not under immediate threat, but there is no legal, safe move).

Except for the Cannon/Catapult (see above for image), a piece captures by using its normal move, and landing on a point occupied by an enemy piece. The captured piece is removed from the board and the capturing piece takes its place. The Cannon/Catapult also takes the place of its captured piece, but must use one intervening piece, as shown in the discussion of its unique move.

When the Governor/General (King) is being threatened with capture, he is said to be in “check,” and the player must move in such a way that the Governor/General is no longer threatened. If he can not, he has lost the game.







It is not allowed to give perpetual check, or a perpetual attack. If the game is repeating its position, the player forcing the repetition must do something else.

There is a special rule about the Governors/Generals. The two may never face each other on the same line across the board, with no intervening pieces between them. It is said that they may not “see” each other. This becomes important, especially in the end game, as the position of one Governor/General limits the movements of the other, and can “protect” a piece invading the enemy fortress.

The River, which creates a space between the two sides of the board, is generally ignored — as if it were filled in with lines, completing a board of 9 x 10 points. It only effects the moves of the Elephants, who can not cross it, and the Foot Soldiers, who gain more power of move after crossing it.

In tournament play, to begin the game, Red moves first.


Reference accessed HERE Oct 2012


You can see two You Tube videos (part 1 & 2) on how to play Chinese Chess HERE and HERE




Once the game is launched choose your side by clicking either red or black. Once you've finished your move click ” move now” button to allow the AI to play.

If you want to start a new game click on “game”.

There's also an arena match mode where the computer adjusts its level to meet your level of play. To choose this option select ”start” in the arena match option. Scores are recorded automatically. If you quit in the middle of a game, you still can continue to play your last game by logging in your user name next time you start your arena mode



Key Features:

• Small, medium, large piece sets, change pieces and boards just easy.
• Play against the computer or a friend.
• Adjust computer's level anytime.
• Huge Open Book including tens of thousands of GM's openings and lots of Chinese Chess
• Play game from any beginning positions.
• Arena match game model, Computer adjusts its level to meet your level and record your scores.
• Create your own opening book.
• Demo function: computer plays with himself. Watch two AI engines play against each other. You can set up an "Engine Battle" to watch them duke it out over multiple games, alternating colors each game, and saving all games to a file for later analysis.
• Get context-specific help on the program and on the basic rules of Chinese Chess from the extensive built-in help manual.
• A basic rule system can (optionally) keep plugins from perpetually checking and chasing.
• Display the game's moves in WXF or ICCS notation. When the game is over, each move of the game can be reviewed. The games can be saved in WXF file format.
• Shortcut keys and menus to help you find any functions you want.
• Small, medium, large piece sets, change pieces and boards just easy
• Adjust computer's level anytime
• Play game from any beginning positions


PicDepict.com
Video & Images:



You can see a couple of videos showing game play plus a video from a grand master showing opening moves moves HERE, HERE

and HERE





Conclusion:

I assume most community members can play chess, or at least know chess moves. Todays game is basically a Chinese equivalent of our Western game with some differences. The game comes with a help link that takes you to the developers site whee you'll find a poorly written set of instructions that defies interpretation. I had to look elsewhere for clear instructions on how to play the game. That apart this game is actually well designed. There's a confusing array of menus that I'm sure if you like the game you'll soon come to know. :)

I used to play chess a lot before computer gaming took over back in the late 80's/early 90's. I still have an electronic board with magnetic pieces up in the loft, but it hasn't been used in over 20 years so am looking forwards to checking this version out over the coming weeks.


Scoring:

Gameplay - 9

Graphics - 7

Replayability - 9

Originality - 9

Instructions/help - 1


Totals 35 out of 50 which is equivalent to 7 out of 10




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More Gamesl>





If today's game doesn't take your fancy then check out the game discussion forums and the free games synopsis. We’ve posted a couple of thousand free games over the last four years, many of which are excellent alternatives to their commercial cousins.


Steam has several games on sale at the moment including the 24 hr Steam deal which today is a futuristic vehicular sport combat game called Metal Drift (this changes to another game at 6pm GMT) and this weekends deals are both on play for free all weekend (until Monday) then, if you think they are worth purchasing you'll get 75% off the usual price.


Left 4 Dead 2


Rock of Ages.

I've also posted several links to sites where you'll find loads of decent game deals. Just look in the Game Discussion sticky section for the thread.

This months Alawar game is The Curse of Montezuma. for those that are new to the game giveaway project you will need Alawar's free game box to be able to download their free monthly game. this months is an excellent match three. You can download the game box HERE.








Oh yeah, nearly forgot, the next Indie Royale bundle is now available called the Indie Royale Halloween bundle (minimum price at the moment is less than $4) which you can find HERE and the Indie Gala X is still available with 10 excellent strategy games HERE (they've added another game since last week). You can get all ten games for less than $6. There's a new Groupee's Halloween themed bundle called 'The bundle of the Damned. to get all game sin the bundle you p[ay around $4, or just for the main games you can paty as little as $1. you'll find the groupee's bundle HERE (Blindside, Anna, Post Mortem plus music and a movie). The Greenlight bundle has several games included. you can get the first four (Pixel blocked, Omegalodon, Startaxis: Light Hunter for as little as $1 or for $5 or more you'll find an extra five games including the excellent Dawn of Fantasy and a DLC for Awesomenauts. Click HERE for details. There's a huge SFI Super bundle (Strategy First) that contains almost 30 excellent strategy games such as 9th Company (based on the Russian film of the same name about a group of raw recruits that undergoe training then are sent to Afghanistan) Disciples II, Iron Warriors (tank strategy sim), Jagged alliance II, Emergency III etc. The usual cost of these games totals over $400; however, you pay only $9.95. You can find the SFI deal HERE. You need a discount code for the bundle. to get the code you need to be registered and allow Strategy first to send you news letters (If you are already registered you should have received an email about 2 weeks ago detailing the offer. Unfortunately I cannot post the discount code here. Also check out the latest game available on IndieGame stand HERE. You can pay as much as you want but no less than $1. The present bundle is Magabyte Punch that includes download links (once you've created a free account) for Windows and Mac versions of the game plus you get a Desura key. There are several $5 bundles available from the Indie bundle site HERE, each bundle has three games. There's quite a few decent deals over on Desura HERE Virtually all of the bundles mentioned above include a combination of Steam and Desura keys as well as DRM free copies or a combination of 1, 2 or all three. Sometimes you also get a choice of operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, android) .

Finally you'll find details of all the bundles still available over in the first two pages of the game discussion forums as well as several of the main game distributors that seem to have permanent sales HERE







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Problems:

If you have any problems with the game, either installation issues or getting the game to work check out the FAQ's section over in the Game discussion forums. you can find it HERE








If you are posting requests for help late in the day I would suggest posting in the main giveaway forums in the game Game Discussion . If you’ve installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn’t guaranteed). It’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them as well.




Request for Help:

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you’ve checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.


Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
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