Battle Chess for Windows Download (1994 Board Game)

Battle Chess is a quite typical chess game, but it comes with a twist: all pieces are represented by small, realistic figures that walk around on the chessboard, and when one piece takes another, they both take part in an animated battle. There is a different animation for each permutation, depending on which pieces are capturing or being captured. You can also play in 2D without animation.

The game's opening library includes 30,000 different moves, ensuring a variety of games will unfold across the 10 skill levels.

Multi-player support can be extended to modem and/or serial port play.

EVERYONE has heard of Battle Chess, and many love it. It is by far the most popular chess game ever made for the PC and this is the Windows-Version.

So what is it that draws people to play the game instead of playing against a friend?

The wonderful animations. Nothing is as much fun as watching these little bricks come to life and kick the living daylights out of each other. Every fight is unique and ingenious in its own way. My personal favourite is when the King uses his royal staff as a baseball bat and launches a bomb towards the Knight. The expression on the Knight's face is indescribable.

On the gaming side, it also has a very good AI, so you get a good challenge from the game (even if you are a champ). That is actually all there is to say. It's chess with animation - but we all LOVE it!

5 points without a doubt!

Battle Chess for Windows is a little-known Windows version of Interplay's classic chess game. The game is identical to the original (1988) release of Battle Chess in every respect, except that you can now play the game in Windows, and there is a nice on-line help feature.

So, why is Battle Chess so revolutionary? The answer: it was the first "chess game for people who don't like chess." While you can play the game from the traditional 2D top-down view of the board, it is the 3D/isometric view that makes the game unique. In the 3D view, you move your pieces and then watch them walk to their new location, or engage in fights in colorful and very well-drawn animations. Knights slash opponents with their swords, stone rooks pound with their fists, and pawns pierce their enemy with spears. These little fights are what set Battle Chess apart from other chess games, but they are essential to making chess much more entertaining to the majority of gamers who don't play chess regularly.

One major downside of the game is that the AI in the game is quite horrible: there doesn't seem to be much difference in intelligence between a Level 1 computer player and a Level 9 one, except for the time it takes them to figure out a (usually mediocre) move. Good thing you can play against another human player via serial connection. And naturally, the animations will start to repeat after many play sessions, thereby losing their original novelty and appeal. All in all, Battle Chess IS a classic chess game for beginners, although it lacks helpful tutorials or other features of subsequent introductory-level games such as Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess - features that would have added much more staying power beyond cool animations. A top game, but one that you will find fun only once in a while after you have seen all the animations.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

People who downloaded Battle Chess for Windows have also downloaded:
Battle Chess Enhanced, Battle Chess 4000, Battle Chess, Monopoly (1999), Battleship: The Classic Naval Warfare Game, Chessmaster 9000, Monopoly, Risk 2