A
Chinese mathematician has once said, "Chinese chess is the gymnastics
of the mind". Now, with Xiang 1.5, you can exercise your
brain using your Palm!
Xiang plays
Chinese chess 
on
a PalmPilot. The image on the left displays the actual game screen of
Xiang 1.5, consisting of a standard game board and 32 (16x2) chess pieces.
To move a piece, just simply select it first and then click on the destination
grid. Of course, only legal moves are allowed.
A hint(=>):
To see the last move, click on empty space on the right side of the
board. Or select Menu - Move - Last (shortcut L). But one thing I'd
like to point out is when Xiang displays the last move, it will only
show the original position and current position of a piece as an instant
blink. It will be definitely better if the blink could last longer for
clearer indication.
You
may choose which side you wish to play (blue or red) by customising
the options in Preferences screen as shown. On non-IIIc Palms however,
instead displaying blue and red, it will show black and white for the
2 sides respectively.
Xiang plays
at 3 levels: 1 - Easy, 2 - Normal, and 3 - Advance. The Max
time per move is the time limit of each move for the machine player.
Do feel free to adjust this value to suit your pace. You may start by
120 seconds for level 1 and 2, 240 seconds for level 3.
You can
also enter the registration code in the Preferences screen. Horace
will send the code to you once he receives your registration request.
Another
interesting and useful feature that Xiang provides you with is the creation
of "can ju" or "chess puzzle" in the toggle
mode (select Menu - Options - Toggle Mode, or shortcut T). The images
shown below are the screenshots under Toggle Mode. They are similar
to editing screens.
You may
set the the pieces on the game board wherever you like. The icon list
on the right serves as a toolbar. You may place any piece anywhere on
the board to create the puzzle.
- To
erase a piece, use the Erase icon 
.
- To switch piece color, use the Switch icon 
.
After you
are done with your puzzle, you can let your friends rack their brains
trying to solve the puzzle! (evil! :)). However, I feel that if Xiang
had a "save" or "beam" function for the toggle mode,
it would be more convenient!
Xiang 1.5,
for Chinese only? Of course not! For those chess fans who do not know
Chinese, here is a piece of good news for you. You can still enjoy playing
the game, as Xiang 1.5 provides you with an international graphical
chess interface - Beijing font family for XiangQi, which looks like
the image on the left. Just select Menu - Options - Toggle Font, or
shortcut F to change the graphical interface. At first, it might be
a bit difficult to figure out the respective chess pieces in the graphical
interface, but once familiarity takes over, this doesn't become much
of a problem.
Anyway,
if you want to occupy your time on a bus or in a car, or when you feel
your lecturer is very boring(=<), you may think about playing Xiang
1.5 to refresh your mind and have some fun!
Anyway,
if you want to occupy your time on a bus or in a car, or when you
feel your lecturer is very boring =(, you may think about playing
Xiang 1.5 to refresh your mind and have some fun!
|
|
-
Nice
graphics and easy to play
-
Easy
to play
-
Graphical
interface for non-Chinese users
-
Ability
to create puzzles
|
- Game
timer is not running based on seconds
- Game
speed is rather slow
|
Type: Shareware
