No. of Reviews: 21
Review 1
Purchased!
It is animated and has some nice looking graphics, but does not give you more
than one ai opponent and one chess set. No tools for rewinding your game to see
where you went wrong, or sugested opponents that chessmaster had. There are maps
to choose from but only one chess set, all you can change is the background. If
the oponent wins the game with their queen, she will bounce her titties. No way
to check where you rank, if you are improving or not. The tutorials are simple
to the point how peices move, no strategy. If your looking for animated chess
and dont mind using one chess set, there can be great fun in the various
challenges and play modes. Graphics are nice looking with fantastic animation
and sounds. If you are learning chess maybe you can benifit from the tutorials
to get you started, but this one is more for someone who is bored of the
traditional chess peices.
Also threefold repetition is not recognized.
Review 2
Purchased!
I was hesitate about the invasive DRM, however it was on sale, I like chess, so
I decided to give it a shot. Potential buyers you will be pleased to hear that
the invasive DRM has been removed (atleast for me). As for the game itself, it
is chess. It is what it is. I like chess and I wanted to have a little fun
watching animations. It is not the GOAT chess game, it is a chess game with
animations, straight up plain and simple and that is why i bought it to play and
little fantasy. The animations are great if you want to play in windowed mode
look into the cfg file, overall fun chess game. I recommend for the sale price.
Review 3
Purchased!
Stay away. Hardware based DRM. Terrible support. No real multiplayer. See
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1516.
I regret this purchase.
Review 4
Purchased!
Horrifically invasive DRM. I thought this level of "give us all of your personal
information and register immediately and have an active internet connection"
type DRM was gone... or at least publicized.
As for the game... it's a terrible Battle Chess wannabe. And it's easy to tell
why they were forced to change the name. This is certainly not in the spirit of
Battle Chess. No charm, no character, and the animations (which you can't zoom
in nearly close enough to enjoy) are canned and generic and the developers seem
to think that particles can replace variety. That's not the case.
I paid 3 bucks for this and I'm a bit upset about it. That'll teach me not to
check the reviews page!
Review 5
Purchased!
No idea what happened, but this no longer works on OS X. Until it is patched, do
not buy it. My game is forever stuck in the corner of my display at full screen
- won't run in a window, and going into the video settings in the options menu
causes the game to crash.
Review 6
Purchased!
The Linux version runs well, and the DRM that most of the negative reviews
mention looks to have been removed.
Review 7
Purchased!
Buy at your own risk. Check vs Mate offers a profoundly confused game concept
utilizing shoddy storytelling and nonsensical game modes to advance a single
gimmick, chess as warfare. Punishing optimism with an exposition that even fails
to accidentally tell a story. Without an active online community of players,
narrative, or strong chess engine Check vs Mate cannot compete with free
alternatives. Chess.com, Chesscube, Chess24, Redhotpawn and ICC are all better
for straight up chess. Or if you want a twist: Chessmaster, Fritz, Rybka,
Blitzin, Dasher(Stockfish/Fruit/Shredder/Crafty) and Battle Chess offer coherent
chess variants. Check vs Mate is lost somewhere between a wheel spinning
exercise in self deception and a text to speech app bugging on the phrase "Slow
Children at Play".
Review 8
Purchased!
AI on hardest difficulty takes 10 minutes to move.. and it's just the second
turn. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Review 9
Purchased!
Bought it to play solo vs AI. It's quite nice, with nice chess pieces that's
well animated, in beautiful environment. AI is challenge enough for a mediocre
chess player like me. So I'm quite satisfied.
However, I just read a bit more about the DRM in this game and you might want to
check this discussion out before buying this:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/211070/discussions/0/828924672535272934/
Review 10
Purchased!
Went looking for a modern version of BattleChess, found this. Was not
disappointed.
Review 11
Purchased!
I decided to try out this chess version while it was on sale, despite all the
negative complaints. The complaints were accurate and a fair representation of
this product. If you're looking for a Chess game, this isn't it. That is all.
Review 12
Purchased!
requires personal detail, multiplayer sessions do not work awful game.
Review 13
Purchased!
Selling of this title should be illegal, as there is no way to activate the
product after purchase, and thus, no way to play the game. Thank the heavens for
Steam Refunds!
Review 14
Purchased!
Cool game. It's not terrible by any means. I'm just struggling to figure out
which niche this game fills that isn't done better by a competing product.
It's designers obviously meant it to be in the mold of the classic Interplay
chess game Battle Chess, but it doesn't have even half of the old games charm.
In the old Battle Chess every piece had a different animation depending upon
which pieces were doing battle. Knight vs Pawn looked different that Pawn vs
Knight, for example. In this game, every piece has a generic "burn the other
piece" attack animation that's the same no matter which pieces are doing battle.
And that's the main problem with this game. There's far better chess simulators
if you just want a great chess game. The ONLY reason to play this one instead of
another is for the cool animated pieces and unfortunately they skimped on
creating unique battle animations. I would honestly recommend just buying the
original Battle Chess over this one if that's what you're looking for. Otherwise
just go with Chess Ultra.
Review 15
Purchased!
Bought this game 10 years ago, just now tried playing it again. Wow, even at a
sale price of $5 what a waste of money. If you enjoy Chess, there are countless
ways to play it on the PC without this overblown hunk of trash. Lots of pretty
graphics and animations, which are apparently so good, not only did the
developer NOT provide a way to skip those animations, but they actually provide
a pop up instruction every time you try, warning you that you must finish
watching said animations. Apparently a straight port from their xbox game,
there's no consideration at all for PC players, you have a static three options
for control layouts, because the dozy gits couldn't be bothered to allow the
option to define your own setup. Why? Because they couldn't actually be bothered
to optimize their sorry excuse for a game for play on PC. Literally any chess
game for the PC from 1990 is a better option than this. A sorry attempt to
pretend to be something it is not, there is no "Battle Chess" here, nothing like
it despite how the trailers and graphics try to make it seem. It's just standard
chess with flashy graphics. The campaigns are just mirror image sets of
artificial difficulty with limited piece options.
I imagine I realized what a mistake this purchase was, ten years ago, and then
forgot in the intervening years. Too late to get a refund now of course, so I'll
have to literally HIDE the game from myself, so I don't forget and try to play
it again somewhere down the line.
Review 16
Purchased!
Best Chest Game Ever.
Review 17
Purchased!
Really bad DRM which the developer should remove as soon as possible. Major
texture bugs currently make the game unplayable even if you are able to get it
activated.
Review 18
Purchased!
Finally Check vs. Mate (previously known as Battle vs Chess) removed the
intrusive DRM! Now I fully recommend this strategy game, especially if you're a
chess fan!
Review 19
Purchased!
Extremely invasive DRM. Had to provide my home address and phone number to
activate. Also this game can only be activated for one installation. If you need
to reinstall it, you will have to email the developers. Do not buy.
EDIT: Provided by user ThreeSon:
Please note that although this review was accurate when it was written in 2014,
the DRM has since been completely disabled.
The activation files are still present in the game directory, but they are
completely inert. There is no activation requirement at all, and I've personally
verified that you can play the game even while in offline mode.
There is no longer any third-party DRM in this game.
Review 20
Purchased!
Terrible game. Limited options. You can't save the progress of a game, and there
is no clock, nor any way to set up a position. Might be fun for a quick, casual
game, but not a good choice for chess training, or even for extended play.
Review 21
Purchased!
I like it, but I love chess. If you like chess, don't let the other reviews keep
you from trying it. It have interesting chess problems and puts a little twist
on the game of chess, but just enough. Graphics are superb and music is good.
Chess rules still apply. You can play regular classic chess or choose games like
the attacking piece becomes the opposite color. Also there are options of having
a mini type game or combat when fighting for over a square. I like the chaos
type mode where the board arrangement looks insane! Pawns scattered, sometimes
two or three queens. Black and white pieces are mixed up, kings unprotected and
it's very challenging to play.