Amiga

King's Table: The Legend of Ragnarok

It is a good game which requires totally different tactics from chess (although the similarities are obvious – there must be some common ancestry here). You can play a human opponent or a computer one. In order to beat the computer and progress to a higher opponent you have to beat it twice, once as black and once as white. To enhance the game further there is an animation run whenever a piece is taken, which is fairly amusing in some cases (like when the dwarf takes a swipe at the giant who does a back somersault to avoid the blow, only for the little guy to pull out a gun and shoot him in the groin). The computer opponents also add the odd quip to wind you up.

Optisch werden Odins Mannen von einem hübschen Intro begleitet, zudem gibt's Kampfsequenzen à la "Battle Chess". Ferner winken Euch schön düstere Melodien sowie allerlei nette FX, und über die Maussteuerung kann man sich gleichfalls nicht beklagen. Freilich wirkt das Brett hin und wieder etwas unübersichtlich, und im Endspiel lassen die digitalen Widersacher auch mal taktische Finesse vermissen - aber das sollte keinen wahren Denker daran hindern, sich über die Anschaffung dieser neuen alten Grübelei Gedanken zu machen...

Two minor problems: the 3D viewpoint means it is possible to ‘loose’ pieces behind others. Also, the cursor, used to move pieces, has a habit of disappearing under players when there is a group, and you cannot always tell which player you are pointing at. Ragnarok is not dissimilar to chess and reasonably playable, although at £34.99 it is a tad expensive.

It all feels a bit crowded. With half the pieces encamped in the middle of the board, there's not much scope for varied strategies. If you're the one trying to get to a corner square, it's not so bad, but if you're the defending player, there's nothing much to spur you on. Falling between the complexity of chess and the simplicity of draughts, it could provide a short term diversion for hard core strategists.