The Retro Rad Review - Battle Chess
Ah yes, the game of Chess. As the board game we play now, it would be probably found in the lesser known
Renaissance Remarkable Review since the basics of the modern game got started back in the 14th and 15th century. However, this
Retro Rad Review will instead focus on the video game version called
Battle Chess. Released by Interplay in multiple versions on the PC, Apple, Commodore and Nintendo between the years of 1988-1994, it’s the game of chess as we know it, but it includes animation and battles between pieces. Basically, it’s chess, but more fun!
I had never played much chess myself when I was introduced to this game. I had played a little bit on my family computer back in the 90’s, but even though I knew the moves, the computer would always stomp me. Then
Battle Chess came into my life and the computer still stomped me, but I LOVED IT! It was just so much more enjoyable to see the pieces in human forms actually walking around the board and fighting over the spaces. Even the rook, which is always done as a castle tower, changes into a rock monster and stomps around the board, clobbering pieces into the ground. As another added bonus, there’s even a homage to
Monty Python and the Holy Grail in one battle and
Raiders of the Lost Ark in another. AWESOME!
The graphics were a mixed bag, depending on which version you played. For the most part, they were done well, making good use of the power provided by each respective system. The animations were fairly realistic, in some cases a little exaggerated, like in the Queen’s walk –va va voom!! The battle’s between each piece were nice to watch as well. The pieces all looked different and were easily identifiable. Some fight scenes even had a little carnage and gore, but it was still basically cartoon style.
The sound and music is pretty minimal. Just a little bit of shuffling and clanging of pieces as the move, a few grunts and screams, all mixed with a basic background music that you can turn on or off. Not a whole lot to say here. It was a pretty quiet game for the most part, but then again, it’s chess. They probably shouldn’t have too much distracting sounds, it may throw off your concentration.
There really was no controls to speak of. If you could move the control pad or mouse cursor, then you could play the game. It was as simple as you can get. No fancy button combos, or holding backwards for 2 seconds and pressing forward. It was all basic.
The gameplay is standard computer chess fare. In other words, unless you’re really good, than the AI will make you cry and tell your mom, who won’t care because she doesn’t want you playing stupid video games anyway. Even on the easiest settings, the AI is a beast. Hell, I don’t know, maybe I just suck at chess, but I only managed to squeek out a few victories in my times playing this game, but all the attempts were still fun to play. The idea of the game is where the appeal lies. Lot’s of people have a stigma about chess as being boring and a geeks game. This is all true, but playing this version makes it so much more tolerable and enjoyable that most people turned off of the idea, may infact start to get into it. In short, it may bring a bit of culture to today's youth. Wishful thinking, I’m sure, but in this day and age, we need it.
To sum up, I’d say if you’re a fan of chess, then you should play this if you haven’t already. If you’ve never played chess before, learn the basic moves and pick this game up. You’ll enjoy it immensely.
Battle Chess scores :
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Total score =
3.6
