66 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
66 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
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BATTLE CHESS II: CHINESE CHESS
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For those of you who own BATTLE CHESS and are considering an upgrade to
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BATTLE CHESS II: CHINESE CHESS, beware! BCII only features the Chinese
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version of the royal game. Needless to say, I was somewhat disheartened to
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discover that my Queen had been replaced with Cannons and Ministers, and I
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now had a river to cross before I reached the other side of the board. (This
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review is based on the IBM version.)
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There are certain similarities to conventional chess, however. The objective
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of the game is still to checkmate your opponent's King; Rooks play a
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significant role, and the board contains 64 squares. But there are many
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differences. Chinese chess is played from point to point (a point being the
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corner of a square), not square to square; certain pieces can't cross the
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river that bisects the board; the King and Counsellors must remain in a
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five-point area known as the "Imperial Palace" and none of your five Pawns
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can promote upon reaching the last rank! (If endings are your favorite part
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of the game, I have a distinct feeling you may have an aversion to Chinese
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chess....)
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Navigation of BCII is accomplished through a combination of pull-down menus
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and macro keys. The four menus are self explanatory and include the major
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functions that seem necessary to successfully operate the program: "Disk"
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loads and saves games; "Move" forces and takes back moves; "Settings"
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provides sound and music(!) support and "Level" adjusts the time allotted
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and playing strength.
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Like BATTLE CHESS, a unique feature of BCII is the capability for use in
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conjunction with a modem. Want to play a "live" game of Chinese chess with
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someone? All that's required is a copy of the program and a modem.
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Probably the principal reason for purchasing BCII, though, is for the
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entertainment value provided by the program's animation. All pieces resemble
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their names. For example, Pawns are foot soldiers that don't just move
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forward, they walk. Captures are particularly amusing, as Cannons shoot
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across the board and sword fights determine the control of a point!
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However, there is a rather steep price to be paid for all the "bells and
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whistles." That cost comes in terms of an often agonizingly slow response
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time to commands (which may also be due to my machine -- an XT compatible.)
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More significantly, BCII is the only chess program that I've had difficulty
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running. Machine freeze-ups during animation became commonplace.
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Program Requirements: IBM, Tandy, and 100% compatibles. Color monitor
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required; supports MCGA, CGA, EGA, and VGA. RAM: 512K for CGA/EGA and 640K
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for MCGA/VGA. DOS 2.1-4.1. Mouse and joystick support. Supplied on 3.5" and
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5.25" disks. Not copy protected.
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A glossy-covered, 32-page operations guide is included. It is clearly
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written and adequately describes each function. The majority of the booklet
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consists of instructional material and background intended for the newcomer
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to Chinese chess. Technical support can be obtained by calling Interplay
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Productions (who also have their own support area in the Game Publishers
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Forum [GAMPUB] on CompuServe).
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Assuming my performance problems can be discounted as due to a lack of
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sufficient RAM (despite having more available than the required 512K), I can
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only recommend BCII to devotees of Chinese chess or those who wish to try a
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new variation of the royal game. But if you buy BCII expecting to find an
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upgrade of the original BATTLE CHESS, you may be disappointed.
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BATTLE CHESS II: CHINESE CHESS is published and distributed by Interplay
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Productions.
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