Battle Chess is a video game version of chess, but with a twist. In this game, the pieces are animated. They fight each other when one piece captures another. This Windows version is the same as the original Battle Chess game that was released in 1988. This is the best version to use if you are running Windows XP or higher.
If you do wish, the game can be played in the traditional 2D top-down board view with no animations. But that just ruins this game, if you ask me.
Battle Chess is a video game version of chess, but with a twist. In this game, the pieces are animated. They fight each other when one piece captures another. This Windows version is the same as the original Battle Chess game that was released in 1988. This is the best version to use if you are running Windows XP or higher.
If you do wish, the game can be played in the traditional 2D top-down board view with no animations. But that just ruins this game, if you ask me. Especially for those who aren’t so fond of “plain” chess, the animations are what can draw you into the game. In the 3D view, the animations are very colorful and nicely drawn. Animation happens when the
pieces move and when one piece captures another—that is when they battle it out.
The battle scenes can be brutal. When a rook captures a pawn, the rook turns into a rock monster and crushes the pawn to death; while pawns stab their enemies with a spear. The knights will hack opponents to death with their sword. And if a king goes to attack the bishop, the bishop will flail his staff around, not paying attention to the king, who pulls out a gun and shoots him. This last move is said to be in reference to a scene in the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” where Indiana Jones fights a swordsman, who is slinging his blade around like mad, but BOOM, Indy shoots him.
You can play this game against a human (via a serial connection) or against the computer. The Artificial Intelligence of this game doesn’t have much intelligence. There are 10 skill levels you can choose to play on in the game. But there isn’t much difference in how the AI plays in those levels, except for it takes the AI longer in the higher levels to figure out what move to make. If you are just beginning to play chess, there is a tutorial in which the Queen will help you learn the game. If you are already well familiar with the game, you might want to skip along to level 10 if you want any kind of competition.
This is a great game if you are just learning chess, since the animations and battle sequences might keep you playing long enough to get the hang of it. Veteran chess players will enjoy the game just for its novelty. If you find yourself liking this game, check out the sequel Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess. Both games are well worth the download.
