''Lego Chess'' is a

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

-themed,

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

-based

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Krisalis Software Krisalis Software Limited was a British video game developer and publisher founded by Tony Kavanagh, Peter Harrap, and Shaun Hollingworth in 1987 under the name Teque Software Development Limited as a subsidiary label (beginning in 1988) unti ...

, published by

Lego Media Lego A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund, Denmark. It manufactures Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks aro ...

, and released for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

in 1998.

Gameplay

The rules of the game can be changed to cater to many popular variations, though the most common rules of chess are the default rules. During a game, clicking on a piece will show the available places to move to. If a piece is captured, a short video plays showing the captured character being caught, with each different capture having its own video clip. These clips are rarely related to chess. Because pawns, knights, rooks, queens, bishops and kings all have separate video clips for catching other pawns, knights, rooks, queens and bishops, there are 72 clips total.

Story mode

In story mode, the player can pick either a

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

theme. After selecting the theme, a three-game chess tournament against the AI begins. In the first game the AI is at 25% difficulty, in the second game the AI is at 50% difficulty, and in the third and final game, the AI is at 75% difficulty. Before each match, a

cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

plays, ending with the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

s having a task to complete. In the western theme, a

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

is trying to capture three bank robbers, and in the pirate theme, a soldier is trying to beat some pirates to a treasure. After each match is over, another cutscene plays, with the protagonists either succeeding or failing the task, depending on the match's outcome. (Using the same example, either the sheriff catches a bandit, one for each match, or all of them escape.) After completing a story, a printable certificate is rewarded.

Tutorial mode

The tutorial mode teaches how to play chess, from the basics of movement for the different pieces, to advanced playing techniques. The player is taught by "The Chess King", a Lego King

Minifig A Lego minifigure, commonly referred to as a minifig, is a small plastic articulated figurine produced by Danish toy manufacturer The Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978 and have been a success, with over 4 billion produced worldwide a ...

who talks like

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, and who supposedly commands the white army. The Chess King slightly modernizes the explanations of the pieces. For example, it is said that the reason knights can jump over other pieces is that they ride BMX Motor Bikes. The King on his throne was also a Lego set, packaged with the first release of the game.

Versus mode

In this mode, the player can choose the difficulty of the game when playing against the AI. Multi-player mode can also be selected here. Alternatively, the player can watch the computer play against itself. In addition, a third, traditional chess set (though still constructed from Lego bricks) can be chosen, and all three sets can be mixed (pirates playing against western, for example). However, animations for capturing pieces are disabled when playing with mixed sets. Players can also remove or add pieces from gameplay before or during the game.

Reception

Lego Chess received favourable reviews from game critics, stating its creative way of using Lego pieces as a "fun and entertaining way of playing chess." Other reviews were not as positive, due to the bland style of the cutscenes and claims that cutscenes featuring the tribal drum noise were "creepy".

References

{{Lego video games 1998 video games Chess software Krisalis Software games

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games about pirates Video games about police officers Video games developed in the United Kingdom Western (genre) video games Windows games Windows-only games