Chess Runner Review

Play chess in a new way, one knight against the rest of the board. Don’t know how to play chess? That’s ok, neither do I. Chess Runner is easy to play with an interesting element of danger involved.

Danger, you ask? What could be dangerous about chess… unless it’s the great old school game Battle Chess, of course. The danger in Chess Runner is, if you don’t move fast enough, you will fall off the edge of the board. Built in the Unity engine, this appears to be the first mobile game for developer Dali Blue Games. In the game, you play as a knight chess piece and your goal depends on the game mode you pick.

Be careful as you play, the board falls behind you.

There are four different game modes in Chess Runner. The first is “Classic Chess Runner” where the goal of the knight is to get across the board safely while capturing enemy game pieces. The idea is to get the other game pieces before they get you, or at least get past them. In the second mode, “March of the Pawns” the knight must protect the kings. The third mode is a reverse of two, “Rook’s Row”, where the kings must be captured. The last mode, “The Spiral and the Cube”, has a spiraled board where you must reach the end to capture the king.

The Spiral and the Cube Mode

The modes give the game more replayability on top of the fact that each board in each mode is randomly generated. If you get tired of one mode, it’s fast and easy to switch to another mode. The variety gives the game a bit more intrigue. The best was definitely “The Spiral and the Cube” because of the challenge of the spiraled board.

Chess Runner is fairly easy and self-explanatory. If you click on a tile that the knight can’t go to, the optional tiles that the knight can move to will light up yellow to show where the knight can go. Even if you know nothing about chess, you will be able to play this game.

The pieces in the game are easy to recognize and Chess Runner is very easy on the eyes. There isn’t a lot to distract as it really is just the board and the pieces on a space-like background. It gets to the point quickly and has levels of difficulty in each mode. The game is a mix of battle and strategy, as capturing more pieces means more points, and you can be captured in return if you make a mistake.

March of the Pawns mode

For a possible first outing, this game is fairly nice. It’s simple and effective, and is a good way to pass the time. It’s free to play, and does have micro-transactions for power ups such as freezing pieces or slowing time. There are no ads, but if the player wants to respawn on a board rather than start over, the game will ask you to invite a friend from Facebook to continue.

Chess Runner is fun and quick to get into. Chess players may like this new form of chess, and people completely unfamiliar with the game will also find it interesting. It’s good for short bursts such as in waiting rooms where we all need distractions. One can win the game just by poking around and hoping for the best, but some skill and patience will pay off in the higher difficulties.