Summary
A classic!
The Good
Battle Chess is an incredible game, an incredible experience. Even on a miserable XT with CGA display, this game rocked. It took the experience of playing a chess game (any chess game) on a computer to new heights, and it is still valid today.
The graphics are spectacular, starting with the intro screen and the board layout. The pseudo-3D approach was innovative at the time and very effective as well; the controls are excellent and even the AI is reasonable. The character animations are sometimes spectacular and sometimes hillarious (especially when a rook attacks the king), and are always fun to watch.
The game rocks!
The Bad
Unfortunately, something which was possibly a bug caused the game to run slower and slower on my XT, which means that after 20 or so moves the game would become literally unplayable and animations took forever to complete. This was unfortunate, because it meant I very rarely managed to complete a game.
The AI is not brainiac nor is it Chessmaster-level, but it is to be expected: this game was meant to be fun, not brain-melting.
The Bottom Line
An incredible classic. Play it, if only to watch the animations - they're beautiful!
