Over a period of time Battle Chess spawned imitators such as Star Wars Chess and Terminator 2: Chess Wars. The German game magazine ASM, however, criticized the weak chess AI. Screenshot of Battle Chess (Atari ST)The Amiga version received favourable reviews from magazines due its comical battle sequences which were advanced (for the time) in terms of graphics, animation and sound. The game has an opening library from over 30,000 moves (which were not available for the C64 and Apple versions). The game could be played against a human opponent (by hotseat, or by null modem or over a local area network in some ports) or against the computer's artificial intelligence (AI). Digitized sound is utilized in the DOS version for all battle sound effects and is played through the PC speaker, without the need for a sound card, using a technique akin to RealSound. The game can be played in a 2D version with no animations, and the Amiga CDTV version features a fully-voiced introduction describing the movements of the pieces for the benefit of beginners. Some battle sequences like Knight versus Knight or King versus Bishop are direct references to the black knight fight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the short battle between Indiana Jones and a swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The rook, for example, turns into a rock monster and kills a pawn by smashing his head.

Amiga battle chess