Genre: Puzzle
Publisher: Freeverse Software
Developer: Strange Flavour/Freeverse Software
Release Date: August 1, 2007
Have you ever wished that you could take the timeless simplicity of a game of checkers, chess, mancala or reversi, and played them on your Xbox 360? Then dream no more; Spyglass Board Games is your wish come true. Basic instructions are included for each game, which allows you to play against the computer AI or a living, breathing human. In fact, the title also supports the LIVE vision camera so that you can see the living, breathing human against whom you are playing.
All of the game boards allow you to customize the appearance of the pieces, the playing surface, and even the background. If the grey cloudy background makes you said, then you can change it to a red cloudy background. Alternatively, you can change the red and black checkers to blue and silver. I have no idea what level of mundane detail you require in your digitized board games, but Spyglass will let you tweak them.
Each of the games includes a few little fact cards about how to play, so even if you're not a chess master, you'll be able to sit down and play accurately (and move pieces legally, as there is a guide for each piece that shows available positions). I've only ever really played chess about half a dozen times in my life, and even I managed to beat the AI, so don't come into Spyglass expecting Garry Kasparov-level chess. It's pretty simple.
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Checkers, as you may expect, is likewise just as simple. The only "gotcha" that I noticed in the game was the rule that if you could jump an opponent's piece, you had to jump it. I don't think I ever played that rule as a kid, though it could be an official sanctioned national rule, for all I know. It definitely made me play my game a bit differently, as what would have ordinarily be stalemate pieces were made into forced jumps to open up other parts of the board. Much like chess, checkers isn't exactly a huge challenge, so it's pretty easy to regularly beat the AI.
Mancala is the one portion of Spyglass that I was curiously anticipating, which is a shame because it's probably the most visually disappointing game of the four. The AI here is the least consistent of the bunch, as I would either lose tragically, tie, or win majestically. I play pretty straightforward mancala, but the computer was all over the place. I suppose it made me play a little harder just to see what kind of results I'd get, but it's like playing against a schizophrenic neighbor where you never know what is going to happen.
The reversi AI seems to be the most mathematical. The computer is more interested in capturing pieces based on quantity rather than looking for future moves and setting up border position pieces, which made it pretty easy to beat even by a point or two. One thing I like to test with most Othello-type games is what I like to call the "lightning round." I will place pieces randomly and as quickly as I can move the thumbstick around, just simply to see how and where the computer plays their pieces. It's not like a scientific test or anything, and I am easily amused — more amused than when I do the random "lightning round" test three times in a row and beat the AI completely due to chance.
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Spyglass Board Games definitely shows its age as a 2007 release XBLA title. It smacks of the kind of game that you'd write in your Games Programming 101 class at the community college. Everyone knows the basic rules of the games and programs them accordingly, but then Spyglass tries to personalize it with its color-changing background options and alternate playing pieces. It doesn't improve the games, and it doesn't make the AI better, smarter, or able to learn from your playing style. It's simply four board games umbrellaed into one downloadable title.
The early appeal of Spyglass Board Games is that it supported the LIVE camera, so you can presumably play with your grandma in Missoula and see her wrinkled brow furrow as your checker gets kinged. The inconsistent AI vacillates between being way too easy to soundly beating me — sometimes while playing the same board game! Add that to the mundane personalization abilities, and you'll agree that in today's marketplace, Spyglass delivers far too little for the 400 Microsoft points that it requires.
Score: 4.5/10