''Battle vs. Chess'' is a

computer simulation Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be dete ...

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

of chess developed by Targem Games and

Zuxxez Entertainment TopWare Interactive – AC Enterprises e.K. is a German video game publisher based in Karlsruhe. The company is best known for publishing the '' Two Worlds'' series developed by its Reality Pump Studios division. History TopWare Interactive w ...

and published by

TopWare Interactive TopWare Interactive – AC Enterprises e.K. is a German video game publisher based in Karlsruhe. The company is best known for publishing the '' Two Worlds'' series developed by its Reality Pump Studios division. History TopWare Interactive w ...

. Intending to target all major seventh-generation platforms as well as

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, Mac OS X and Linux, the console and computer versions were released in Europe on May 17, 2011, while the handheld versions were cancelled.

Lawsuit with Interplay

The game was not initially released in the United States due to a lawsuit by Interplay Entertainment for trademark infringement due to its similarity to their title ''

Battle Chess ''Battle Chess'' is a computer game version of chess with animated three-dimensional graphics. It was originally developed and released by Interplay Entertainment for the Amiga in 1988 and subsequently on many other systems, including 3DO Interac ...

''. The case went to trial by jury in the summer of 2012. In 2012, the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted a default judgment in Interplay's favor after TopWare fired its attorney and was unable to locate new counsel. On November 15, 2012, the parties settled with TopWare agreeing to pay Interplay approximately $200,000, plus interest. After the lawsuit, the game was released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

as ''Check vs. Mate'' to avoid the Interplay trademark on planned remake of ''Battle Chess'', through digital distribution networks including

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

Gameplay

Player move with the animated fantasy figurines in one of the six available environments. The white pieces are from heaven and the black pieces are from hell. The game has tutorial, multiplayer (on one device, over LAN or Internet), two campaign modes with 30 missions, the ''Battleground mode'' and various mini-games. ''Battle vs. Chess'' uses chess engine Fritz 10 to make its moves. The disadvantage is, that it has no setting of time limit, so at higher level than 6, the computer thinking tends to be long, at level 7 it can take about 15 minutes to think, at level 9 (ELO 3750) it can take few hours.

Reception

''GamingBoulevard.com'' rated the game 80%, ''Eurogamer.de'' 90%, ''Gameover.gr'' 90%, and on ''Metacritic.com'' it has rating 69%.

References

External links

Official website
2011 video games Cancelled Nintendo DS games Cancelled PlayStation Portable games Chess software Games for Windows certified games Linux games MacOS games Multiplayer online games PlayStation 3 games SouthPeak Games Video games developed in Germany Video games developed in Russia Wii games Windows games Xbox 360 games Multiplayer and single-player video games TopWare Interactive games Targem Games games {{board-videogame-stub