Battle Chess is a computer game version of chess released for the 3DO, PC, Apple IIGS, Commodore 64, Amiga, Amiga CDTV, CD32, AtariST, Apple Macintosh, Acorn Archimedes, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Developed by Interlay Productions, Inc., the game was designed to draw people who did not normally play chess.
Battle Chess elevates the game beyond a mere cerebral one and into a full-fledged war with riveting graphics and animations that bring each piece to life. The objective is the same as the board game version--to capture enemy pieces and finally the King.
The animations are extremely entertaining and clever. The Bishop fights opponents by using magic and twirling a staff with retractable blades that resemble a martial arts expert. The Pawn performs wizardry and hits the ground with the butt of his lance that creates a large hole large enough to swallow the Bishop. The Queen uses magic to capture opponents, and also blasts them to pieces using bolts of energy. In one animated sequence, the Queen decimates the opposing Knight and blasts the Bishop with such force that only his skeleton remains!
The others have moments of glory too, and the Queen does not always dominate. For example, when the Queen throws her energy bolt at the Knight, the Knight can in turn use his shield to redirect the bolt back at the Queen and turn her into a small dragon. The Rook transforms himself into a large rock monster and attacks the Queen, swallowing her whole. The Rook also reduces the Knight to a helmet with feet by pounding the Knight's head.
The King also has a bag of dirty tricks. He takes a gun against the Bishop, strikes down the Rook with magic powder, and hurls a bomb at the Knight. When capturing the Queen, he embraces her passionately before hitting her with his scepter when she tries to stab him in the back with a knife.
When defeated, the King ends up resembling a deflated two-dimensional cartoon character. The Knight cuts open the King's robe, and pounds him into a two dimensional version of himself that looks as though he has been run over by a steam roller. The Pawn, with a flip of his lance, then takes the King's crown for himself as the King pounds the ground in frustration.
Battle chess attracted a large number of imitators but none matched the humorous animation of artists Todd Camasta and Bruce Schlickbernd. The game can be played with 3D animation, and there is also a version in 2D with no animation. There are a total of 30,000 different moves in the game's library. It can be played across 10 levels of increasing difficulty. The game can be played with a human opponent or against the computer. Another entertaining option is watching the computer play against itself.
