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Chess has been around for ages but it took Interplay to make it funny. Here, the pieces are represented by fully animated figures which stomp across the 3D board. When a piece is taken, a comic battle ensues, e.g. King takes Rook (a rock monster in the game): he pours out a potion opening a hole under the monster, who drops down and, after his clinging fingers have been stamped on, disappears!

To save time, the animation can be turned off, and you can switch to a 2D board. Games can be saved to disk and hypothetical positions created with the board editor. You can also take back moves, have the computer suggest your next move, or force the computer to makes its move instantly.

Amiga Battle Chess was a graphic showpiece that might have seemed unsuitable for conversion, but in fact Interplay have scored a hit.

The graphics aren't Amiga quality, but they're good, and the humour which made the original has been brilliantly reproduced.

Several hours can easily be spent trying out all the battle permutations. Once the novelty has worn off, you can switch off the animation, letting the pieces simply slide around in what must be the best presented chess game ever.

The first thing that strikes you is obviously the superb battle animation. I love the "Pythonesque" scene where the knight chops off his opponent's limbs until he's left hopping on one leg!

The disk accessing for these scenes is quick, especially considering the good many minutes the computer needs to think.

Overall this is a fine game, with brilliant humour. If this doesn't get you into chess, nothing will!

Presentation 90%
Plenty of options including save game, 2D board and two-player mode.

Graphics 92%
Brilliantly animated pieces in hilarious battles.

Sound 55%
Okay battle spot FX.

Hookability 86%
Trying out all the battle permutations is utterly irresistible...

Lastability 82%
...seven levels provide gradually increasing difficulty.

Overall 85%
Chess as Disney would've done it.