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
Upon release, the Amiga version received critical reviews from magazines due to its fun battle sequences which were very advanced (for the time) in terms of graphics, animation and sound. It features nice colorful graphics (32 colors) with detailed sprites like knights, infantry and royals in their full armor and the animated battle scenes are smooth and nice to watch. Every type of piece has its unique way to kill, i.e. the Queen uses magical power and by raising her hands fires lighting to the pawn challenged or the rook transforms into a rock monster and kills an enemy by smashing his head! The graphics look better than the ST version (16 colors used) with no other major differences. The sound features excellent digitized effects during the battle sequences, almost identical in both versions. Battle Chess is a fantastic game that every Amiga owner should have in his collection.