by Rainier Wong

Created on: June 15, 2008   Last Updated: June 23, 2008

Name of Game: Battle of Tiles.
Type: Strategic board game.
Producer: Bimboosoft.
Price: $4.95
Rating: 4/5.

Who says that boardgames are boring? Battle of Tiles definitely proves otherwise. This is a chess-like game where you can experience some real excitement while moving you pieces across the board. If you love chess, you may love this game too.

This games comes in five levels ranging from very hard to very easy. The one thing that captured my attention was the level known as normal. I wondered what this actually meant. Could it have meant a level that was neither hard or easy? The board is very much like those used for a chess game but more attractive in its color and design. The pieces consist of tiles 'engraved' with archers and knights or whatever you can find in a medieval army.

Playing this game is fun and easy. It is not as challenging as chess where you have to really think of which piece to move in order to win. If you are playing this game for the very first time, you have the option of viewing a well-written tutorial or going straight to playing it.

The game control is easy once you get used to it. You have the choice of more than one way to use your keyboard and the mouse the move your pieces. The only problem you may have is arranging you pieces in the best possible way to maximize your chances of winning. At first I had problems with moving my pieces into position as the arrow keys on my PC did not response. I tried on the arrow keys on the numerical pad instead and found them to be working well. It would be nice if this games allowed me to use the other arrow keys as well. You can move your pieces one by one or you can use the mouse to select as many pieces you like to move them all at once. If you wish to move all your pieces at once, you can also click on the select all button on the screen to select all them. If you are not happy with your performance, you can always restart by choosing the restart option.

This game also consists of some good innovation and creativeness especially in its animation. Unlike a normal board game, the game board scrolls along as you move your pieces along especially if you go beyond the boundary of your screen. As you move along, you will encounter more enemies. Your enemies only move when you move. Whenever a piece of yours is on an enemy, you can watch animation of arrow shooting, sword fighting, and other fighting actions. The game board also looks like a tiled floor.

The sound effect of this game is very good. You can hear battle sounds whenever you encounter your enemy. When I loaded the game I was greeted with military type of music that made feel very much like a soldier. The scoring method in this game is in money form. Although such scoring has been used in other games, I find it to be unique for a game like this. The enemies you 'kill' the more 'money' you get. Overall, I give this game a rating of 4 out of 5.

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