Chess Battle

Autumn is often a time for contemplation. A time, perhaps, for PSP owners to (momentarily) cast aside the bright, fizzy arcade adventures so suited to the summer months and instead check the release schedule for a great strategy game to play with a mate. How appropriate, then, that on PSP this year you’ll find Chess Battle (working title), a title which should get budding Kasparovs excitedly eyeing up their pawn collection and polishing their bishops in anticipation.

Everyone else should still be reading, though, because if you’re one of the people who think that chess is a tad boring, you’re in for a treat. Forget having to visualize the brutality and intensity of the battle a great game of chess can provide – here it’s all done for you in glorious 3D as the board comes alive through extensive animated clash sequences every time a key piece falls.

If that still fails to convince you of the game’s merits then consider the “unique story mode” also on offer – five types of chess sets representing five distinct ancient regimes (from magicians to servants of chaos, no less) fighting for supremacy… you get the idea.

Back at Chess Club there’ll be cries of utter joy at the fact Chess Battle takes things suitably seriously, too. Traditionalists can therefore revert to a standard stark 2D top-down view while experts should take great delight from the Speed Chess option, and both will no doubt welcome the game’s wireless play options, either in single match and online tournament (with worldwide ranking) form.