Cover art that over sold the experience

By Justin Towell
published

The box looked awesome, didn't it? Oh dear...

Battle Chess (Atari ST, 1989)

Box art suggests: Chess with the most beautifully-realised graphics you've ever seen. And the queen is hot.

The reality: Well... it wasn't awful. It was, however, extremely slow. Animations had to load and then played out for what seemed like an eternity. They looked good for the time, but it's hard to be as dramatic and naturalistisc as the cover art when you have to load a second disc just for the animations.

Above: The king looks ancient. If that's the queen... well, he's done well for himself

Justin Towell
Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.