Battle Chess

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The game, as in real chess, needs strategy, patience and skills. What actually makes Battle Chess unique compared to the rest of chess video games is that the chess pieces come to life and battle one another when engaging; there are 35 battle animations for this awesome feature. Some battle sequences like “Knight versus Knight” or like “King versus Bishop” are direct references to the black knight fight in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” movie and the short fight sequence between Indiana Jones and a swordsman in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. The animations vary depending on the piece combinations. Some pieces, like the rooks, are castle walls that actually transform into a giant golem that moves around the chess board. It’s truly a very nice thing to watch! Note that in the NES version, all animated battles are done on their own screen (scene) rather than “live” on the chess board. Also, the action on this version is quite slow and you cannot skip the animated sequences, so your next move needs to wait until the battle sequence is finished. So we have a Battle Chess that’s rather slow paced but with some nice twitches!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Apple IIGS version features colorful graphics (16 colors) with detailed sprites like knights, infantry, etc in their full armor, and the animated battle scenes are smooth and cool to watch. Every pawn type has its unique way to kill i.e. the Queen uses magic power and by raising her hands fires lighting to the enemy challenged or the rook, for example, turns into a rock monster and kills a pawn by smashing his head! In general, the IIGS version looks great and similar in quality to the ST version with some minor differences compared to the Amiga (32 colors on screen). The sound features excellent sampled effects in the battle sequences! Battle Chess is one of the most impressive games in the 16bit home computers library.