I love chess, but this game ...

Optically it`s okay, gameplay wise, it has besides chess also some (chess)minigames and (chess)puzzles, but overall it somehow makes me not wanting to play it.

How to play this lovely user-friendly gem:

1) Install DRM client - Steam

2) Download the game

3) Stay in online mode / run it for the first time. You thought small little game like that would be ok just to use one DRM protection steam is? Think again...

4) First screen - enter serial number... Done? Not quite yet...

5) Second screen - activate your product or register you product online... What? Really after having it already protected by steam and serial number... Ok, let me try to use the registration button..

6) Third screen - Register. It says: "Please fill in the boxes below. All marked boxes must be filled in: First name, Last name, Address, Postcode, City Country, Birth Date, Gender, Email. Also the form takes technical info about your pc specs.".. What the fff!!!??? My bank didn't ask me for as many personal details when I was setting up my personal banking account... Thankfully there is an option to go back and have this cancelled.. Still I am asked to activate...

7) Fourth screen - Activate. On the next screen I am welcomed with this message: "It won't happen often, but you may need to provide your Internet connection information. To do this, just press the 'Connection settings' button.. At this stage I do not really believe.. What a piece of cra... DRM protection, serial key, activation and now this? This seriously must be a joke... But curiosity wins. That must have been the last screen.. I click through.. and..

8) Fifth screen - "Thank you! Battle vs. Chess product activation has been completed successfully." But.. but.. What is this... "Your access code is: 1234-5678-9012-3456. Please write down this access code for the future use". What access code? What future use? Have I already not used an external DRM protecion? Have I not given you a serial key? Have I not been asked to register and activate this piece of annoying yoke and asked for my personal infomation (that I declined to do) and my Internet connection? What is that bloody access code needed for? Seriously lads? What is wrong with you...
I would delete that piece of s by now but I am actually desperate to go through only so I can write this review... (and get steam cards maybe). I click OK.

9) Finally, It looks like I can run the game.. can I? Yes, it looks like I can...

10) "Funny" fact - Even if i refused to provide any of my personal info on the registration page and I skipped that screen, the game somehow knows my first name and logs me in with it without my permission. Nope, not the steam login/username, but my real name that is not publically provided. How and based on what information. You guess...

Avoid.

0/10

Get the serial number!
Give as much of your personal info, as you can!
Get your activation code! Write it down!
Activate! Activate more!

Serial code activation simulator 2012
1/10
Will not activate again.

The game is good and works well but I can't recommend it as it has 3rd party DRM with limited activations. This is totally not mentioned on the store page

For chess enthusiasts who only want to try playing the game in a different way this game would be a good buy. However, for chess players everywhere who wants a game to compete in then please stay away from this game, stay farrrrrr away.

Newbies in the game will have a fairly challenging time playing against the AI but for veterans in the art the AI will look like the ultimate morron you don't wat to play with. The game will be decepting initially as dozens of openings have been loaded in the program to make it look like the game actually knows how to play. Indeed if chess simply consisted of knowing how to move each piece and a set of opening move lists then it's a good game but sadly chess is not such a simple game. After the opening sequences the AI just fumbles about and you will later realize that the only real good thing in this game is its graphics.

No multiplayer in this game. I'm sure someone would defend it and say that there is but let's face the fact that without a lobby and a working matchmaking feature it might as well not have any. For something that's so dependent on multiplayer it's outstanding that the team that created this game greatly neglected the multiplayer interface. The only way you can connect with someone is by knowing their IP which means you can only play with friends and the truth is if you're here on steam playing chess, it pretty much means you're alone in that circle of friends with that same taste in board games. This means for most of the game you will be playing alone and you will get bored... a lot.

While playing alone there are mini games you can play. The classic chess, and other challenges like giving a checkmate with only a king and a rook. This is good practice for beginners while a good laugh for seasoned players. However, other than that, the other minigames are just bad. Other than the challenges I suggest you stay far away from the other minigames cause it will not help you get better at the game called chess and instead help you get better at mashing your head with your keyboard.

So for who can I recommend this game? If you liked the brutal chess matches shown in Harry Potter Sorcerer's Stone then you might want to try this one. If not, and you're just looking for a program to hook up with friends and strangers and play the game then please do yourself a favor and close this page because this game is not for you.

There are 300 layers of DRMs and registrations before you can actually play the game. At one point after I re-entered my serial key (copy and paste didn't work) they even wanted me to confirm my registration by giving them my phone number. I can't see how my gender, address and birthday are relevant to a chess game.
This game is secured under so many layers of register confirmations that I doubt you'll even be able to find people playing this game online.
If you want to play chess online just check chess.com or something.

PS: I only have 5.8 hours on this game because I got it on a bundle and idled it for cards. Avoid at all costs.

If you are looking at this game for multiplayer: Avoid. No reasonable multiplayer whatsoever. The only way to connect to another player is by direct IP address. There is no lobby, nothing.

For singleplayer, it's mediocre at best. Sure it looks great and battlechessy, but it gets boring quickly. Buy it on a 75-90% off sale only.

This game won't entertain you for long.

Positive points (DLC's within):
- Nice looking maps
- Much and nice gamemodes
- Not bad looking graphics
- Beautiful animations

- All in all a very nice game to play and for learning


Negative points:
- Server are down

- DARK KING IS TOOOOOOOOOO OVERPOWERED IN THE GAMEMODE "SLASHER"


Neutral points:
- Music is pretty nice but after a long time (normal by difficult matches) it sucks
- Sounds are nice but the dark pawn sucks if you plan something and mark him

- Campaign is long and challanging
- Campaign is on a few times to difficult


Finally review:
It is definitely a nice game with all this points. But if you want to play with your friend, you have to play on one PC or on a LAN-Party or you find "external" server like "Hamachi". But if you don't need it so, you can play with the Bots.
The game is for ~20€ to expensive, maximum for ~10€ it would be a good game. The DLCs are a bit to expensive to for ~7€.

Sorry for my "german-english" language! :)

A poor remake of the classic Battle Chess... The graphics were already very outdated when it was made, the animations are dull and ugly, the "kills" aren't funny, the camera interface isn't very interactive and it moves in a rough way and the CPU thinking is very slow. To make it even worse, the game is pricy and the multiplayer doesn't work at all. I'd recommend any free chess games you could run into...

It made me want to run Battle Chess on DOSBox or on the NES emulator... Those were the days... How I loved the Queen "kills"!

As many other have stated no good for multiplayer and this is really the only way you would want to play.

I played 6 or so games at a mates on the same pc and decided that I should also get it lo and behold very hard to match up for multiplayer.

Quite dissapointed and glad I only paid $5

Steam should really remove the multiplayer tag in the options area.