Battle Chess is a nice distraction, and might keep you busy for awhile, but don't expect too much.
Battle Chess is reasonably pretty for when it first appeared, considering this is a NES version. Your little chessmen are well animated and nicely coloured. The battle sequences are funny, but after you see a knight getting poked in the crotch for the 60th time, it'll grow quite old. Specific pieces are easily recognizable, so you don't need to identify them if for some reason you don't know where each piece goes.
Sound is mediocre at best, the occasional bleep and blip will accompany the semi-interesting battles. So if you're expecting a half-way decent collection of audio, well you're out of luck. Sound isn't the best it could be, considering that other titles within it's time had a refined arsenal of sound and MIDI music at best.
(If you know how to play chess, why read this?) Now, if you know how to play chess, you'll know how to play Battle Chess. You have a collection of chess pieces on the board, each piece can move in a set distance or direction. The objective is to annihilate the other side's king.
Any piece can overtake any other piece, but the game still requires strategy. But don't expect to become a seasoned general after playing this. Pawns can move two spaces forward at first, then only one afterwards. Whereas Bishops can move any distance they want, as long as it's in a direct diagonal line, and so it goes on for each piece. This game is certainly good if you enjoy the thinking man's game of chess and wish to play a little spiced up version.
Battle Chess is a decent game, but that's because chess is already a decent game (Yes). So if you like chess, enjoy it, you'll have a prettier, more interesting version of chess. If you don't like chess, then why're you reading the review for a game that has chess in the title? Of course, if you expect a short fun title, this is your best bet, if you're looking for something serious to draw you in, you might do better looking somewhere else. Battle Chess at best is a above average title, try it if you want, but don't expect much.