Netflix TV Series Starring Anya Taylor-Joy Becomes a Mobile Game Clearly Focused on Chess: A Review of Challenge the Queen of Chess.
Chess Queen is definitely one of the most interesting series in the big catalog Netflix. It tells the story of Beth Harmon, an orphan girl who discovers that she is truly gifted at chess and tries to turn that passion into something more with her goal of becoming a world famous player.
Naturally, the topics covered in the show with Anya Taylor-Joy are not limited to the game and indeed cover quite controversial topics, from drug addiction to alcoholism, from loss to inequality. However, all this has no place in a video game available for free on iOS and Android for subscribers of the streaming platform.
So this is just a simulation? Answer in Overview Chess Queen Challenge.
Structure: from series to game
In essence, the Queen of Chess Challenge is… a game of chess. The characters and settings of the TV series are used to make progress, closely related to our ability to control the board that goes through a complete textbook and is quite focused on providing us with all the information, rules and strategies needed to advance our steps on our own.
At the beginning of the campaign, you can choose the level of difficulty by indicating your level of knowledge about chess, and therefore the training will go accordingly, really starting from the basics if you are an absolute beginner. In any case, those who already have some experience of the game will inevitably run into problems. trivial and boring tasks.
Simultaneously with the single-player campaign, which is characterized by the release of coins that can be used to purchase settings, avatars, banners and items, you can access various multiplayer mode competitive, which include a pass and play to use one device and of course online PvP, which, however, is not very easy to use effectively.
In fact, chess games can also last pretty long, and it is for this reason that the notification system built into the game will notify us with a message if our opponent has made his move, so that we can respond and continue the match. Of course, if you don’t know each other, you must consider the possibility that one of the two players will quit the game at the best moment.
Gameplay and vehicles
There is certainly a clear relationship between the technical implementation of Challenge the Queen of Chess and its gameplay in the sense that this type of experience required a particularly reactive and fluid interface, while in reality navigating the chessboard, selecting fields, and even pressing buttons characterized, unfortunately, annoying delay.
No shortage of options, thanks also to the ability to switch from a free 3D view, complete with rotation and zoom, to a 2D diagram for the best possible visibility. However, the mechanics are kept to what you would expect from a classic sim, in this case much based on the learning phase and taking into account the events of the series, which are limited to the background.
conclusions
Verified version iPhones
Digital Delivery
App Store, Google Play
Price
For free
Challenging the Chess Queen is inspired by the Netflix TV series to offer us a traditional simulation, after all very focused on the learning part (inevitably boring for those already familiar with chess) and with some good ideas inspired by the protagonist’s ability to imagine a chessboard and anticipate opponent’s moves. Multiplayer certainly has potential, while technically the game needs significant optimization due to the sense of “effort” the graphics convey even with simple menu navigation.
PRO
- Great for learning to play chess
- Large-scale campaign, various multiplayer options
- Some cool ideas based on the Netflix series
AGAINST
- If you already know how to play it can be boring
- Inexplicably “slow” graphics, need more responsiveness
- In multiplayer, it’s best to only challenge friends