Chess Crusade

Chess Crusade

Developer(s) Slam Games
Publisher(s)
  • NA Destination Software
  • EU Zoo Digital Publishing
Platform(s) Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
Genre(s) Board game

Chess Crusade is a video game of the board game genre developed in 2008 by Slam Games. Chess Crusade follows the game of chess featuring animations between chess pieces, as these medieval themed characters confront each other on the chess board. As the pieces move around the board, they meet with intense animated combat moves in an effort to overpower or be trembled. The entertaining and creative artistic style makes Chess Crusade a game that everyone can enjoy.

Chess Crusades

Chess Crusade was never released, and was re-tooled into "Chess Crusades" and released in 2010 for the iPad.

History

This game Chess Crusade is based on a chess board game, which is a reenactment of the Crusades. This is a series of war fought primarily in the Holy Land usually between the Roman Catholics of Western Europe and the Muslims of the Middle East. Also, it was a medieval military mission performed by the Europeans to recover the Holy land from the Muslims in the 11th – 13th century.[1]

In order for a crusade to be ensured it had to be reinforced by the Pope first. In this case, you as a gamer are the pope and you are the official starter of the crusade/game. As an official starter, you can also pick which opposition you want to support, the Catholics or the Muslims. However, each side accompanies a different monarch. King Charles leads the catholic side and Saladin leads the Muslim side. These kings are alongside their queens, who are probably their spouse.[1] To further enhance their army, the king is attended with knights, rooks, and bishops, who are the king’s loyal henchmen. Finally, for the king’s defence, the pawns are asserted in a form of the king’s soldiers.

Gameplay

This game is a reenactment of the Crusades that occurred centuries ago but Slam Games did not emphasized on the history behind the war. They took the basic idea of the war and gave the game pieces a role of a medieval figure. Although, there is no medieval rivalry, there is an old school competitiveness of good vs. evil.[2]

Stereotypically chosen, the evil army is represented by the black colour and the good is symbolized by white. These cartoon-style medieval armies appear evil due to the role of the pieces accommodating the armies. For example, the bishops are witches for the black army and mages for the white army.[3] This game is played just like the original game of chess with the same rules but there is one little twist to this game. With every chess piece you takeover, the game cuts into an animated clip where one piece devours another piece in a creative yet funny way. This gives the game a meaning and a reason for the consumer to keep playing the game.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Myers P.V.N. The Crusades. Retrieved from http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/the-crusades.htm
  2. 2.0 2.1 Bailey, R. (2008). Chess Crusade, Warmaster Chess and No Chess. Retrieved from http://www.chess.com/blog/RooksBailey/chess-crusade-warmaster-chess-and-no-chess?_domain=old_blog_host&_parent=old_frontend_blog_view
  3. Destination Software. Metacritic. Chess Crusade Wii. Retrieved from http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/chess-crusade

External links