Battle Chess
| Developer: Interplay | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Interplay | Sound: |
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| Year: 1988 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Chess | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 2 simultaneous | Rating: |
7/10 | |
Battle Chess is a sumptuous animated chess game presented in (fake) 3D. The pieces move and fight according to the moves dictated by the player (or the computer). Nothing in the genre has surpassed it since. It’s undeniably beautiful and entertaining—at least during the novelty phase. However, visibility is almost non-existent, especially for those playing black (since the board can’t be rotated). There is, of course, a “2D” mode: less flashy but more legible (and quicker). At that point, though, you might wonder what’s left of the appeal, given that the game engine itself is weak—perhaps due to sharing space with all those animations on a single floppy disk. It’s the perfect title to impress your friends for an evening, but hardly one for serious chess enthusiasts.
When I was a kid, my floppy disk must have been corrupted: the game would crash unfailingly whenever a knight was captured! As a result, I never got to see any of the knight’s death animations. This piece ascended to divine status—immortal, untouchable. It created a kind of six-king variant, where I had to constantly guard my two knights and those of my opponent, lest the game end prematurely…
[Untranslatable naughty pun. Move along. – Ed.]
A special edition, complete with a spoken tutorial and (atrocious) music, was released on the CD32 in 1994. Another “enhanced” version exists for PC (1992).
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