Medieval Chess: Check It Out

Interplay’s new CD-ROM-based “Battle Chess MPC” is a pretty fancy update of the company’s well regarded and wildly popular 1988 chess program. For $30 more, the multi-media version includes some nice animation, better sound and an amusing 30-minute tutorial.

On one hand, “Battle Chess MPC” is a good, challenging, straightforward, multiple-level chess program played on a screen rendition of a standard two-dimensional board. You can play the computer or play by modem with a human opponent. The game makers claim an openings library of 30,000 moves. The computer is a good player and this program is more than sufficient for most of us this side of Bobby Fischer.

What sets “Battle Chess” game apart, however, are its graphics and the game makers’ attempt to turn the metaphorical and highly stylized combat of chess into something approximating a medieval war. On the game’s 3-D screen, the pieces are transformed into actual characters: the armor-clad Knight, the comely Queen, the dottering King. They move over the board and engage in small, animated combats when taking other pieces.

The Queen, for instance, dispatches her foes with a magic spell. The Knight uses the principal tool of his trade to stab, jab and slice his way through the opposing army. And the Rook turns into the Incredible Hulk clunking and smashing his way row by row, file by file.

Beware, some of these animations are very gory!

Serious chess players will probably not be overly impressed, but we regular folks can get a kick out of this light effort to demythologize the game.

Battle Chess

Rating: *** IBM & compatibles; 3 megabytes RAM; CD-ROM drive; Windows 3.0 or higher with multimedia extensions. List: $79.95.

Computer games are rated on a five-star system, from one star for poor to five for excellent.