Extremely invasive DRM. Had to provide my home address and phone number to activate. Also this game can only be activated for one installation. If you need to reinstall it, you will have to email the developers. Do not buy.

EDIT: Provided by user ThreeSon:

Please note that although this review was accurate when it was written in 2014, the DRM has since been completely disabled.

The activation files are still present in the game directory, but they are completely inert. There is no activation requirement at all, and I've personally verified that you can play the game even while in offline mode.

There is no longer any third-party DRM in this game.

Horrifically invasive DRM. I thought this level of "give us all of your personal information and register immediately and have an active internet connection" type DRM was gone... or at least publicized.

As for the game... it's a terrible Battle Chess wannabe. And it's easy to tell why they were forced to change the name. This is certainly not in the spirit of Battle Chess. No charm, no character, and the animations (which you can't zoom in nearly close enough to enjoy) are canned and generic and the developers seem to think that particles can replace variety. That's not the case.

I paid 3 bucks for this and I'm a bit upset about it. That'll teach me not to check the reviews page!

It is animated and has some nice looking graphics, but does not give you more than one ai opponent and one chess set. No tools for rewinding your game to see where you went wrong, or sugested opponents that chessmaster had. There are maps to choose from but only one chess set, all you can change is the background. If the oponent wins the game with their queen, she will bounce her titties. No way to check where you rank, if you are improving or not. The tutorials are simple to the point how peices move, no strategy. If your looking for animated chess and dont mind using one chess set, there can be great fun in the various challenges and play modes. Graphics are nice looking with fantastic animation and sounds. If you are learning chess maybe you can benifit from the tutorials to get you started, but this one is more for someone who is bored of the traditional chess peices.

Also threefold repetition is not recognized.

Finally Check vs. Mate (previously known as Battle vs Chess) removed the intrusive DRM! Now I fully recommend this strategy game, especially if you're a chess fan!

Bought it to play solo vs AI. It's quite nice, with nice chess pieces that's well animated, in beautiful environment. AI is challenge enough for a mediocre chess player like me. So I'm quite satisfied.

However, I just read a bit more about the DRM in this game and you might want to check this discussion out before buying this:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/211070/discussions/0/828924672535272934/

I was hesitate about the invasive DRM, however it was on sale, I like chess, so I decided to give it a shot. Potential buyers you will be pleased to hear that the invasive DRM has been removed (atleast for me). As for the game itself, it is chess. It is what it is. I like chess and I wanted to have a little fun watching animations. It is not the GOAT chess game, it is a chess game with animations, straight up plain and simple and that is why i bought it to play and little fantasy. The animations are great if you want to play in windowed mode look into the cfg file, overall fun chess game. I recommend for the sale price.

Stay away. Hardware based DRM. Terrible support. No real multiplayer. See http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1516.

I regret this purchase.

Buy at your own risk. Check vs Mate offers a profoundly confused game concept utilizing shoddy storytelling and nonsensical game modes to advance a single gimmick, chess as warfare. Punishing optimism with an exposition that even fails to accidentally tell a story. Without an active online community of players, narrative, or strong chess engine Check vs Mate cannot compete with free alternatives. Chess.com, Chesscube, Chess24, Redhotpawn and ICC are all better for straight up chess. Or if you want a twist: Chessmaster, Fritz, Rybka, Blitzin, Dasher(Stockfish/Fruit/Shredder/Crafty) and Battle Chess offer coherent chess variants. Check vs Mate is lost somewhere between a wheel spinning exercise in self deception and a text to speech app bugging on the phrase "Slow Children at Play".

Terrible game. Limited options. You can't save the progress of a game, and there is no clock, nor any way to set up a position. Might be fun for a quick, casual game, but not a good choice for chess training, or even for extended play.

**********NOTE******************

Battle vs Chess
Check vs Mate

Same game, but both will activate on the same account and both will be added as separate games. Both link to the same store page but are exactly the same.

If you own one, do not activate the other as it does not add a thing.


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So loading this game up required me to register a bunch of personal details... input cd keys etc.

The game itself can be normal chess, but you arent there for normal chess... There is a ddr mode for some reason, a few small minigames...

But generally you are playing the game for its combat which is pretty much a hack and slash. You control one of the piece and hack and slash on a battlefield whenever 2 pieces meet.

Ignore actual strategy in this game, its all about reflexes...


Now, if you wanted to play normal chess, you wouldn't care about the combat mode. You would just play normal chess. You are getting this cause of random fights.