156: Battle Isle '93: The Moon of Chromos

Number 156
(20 points)
Battle Isle '93: The Moon of Chromos
1995: 76

A turn-based strategy with a difference, this one is more console-friendly than others in the genre.

The screen is divided in two, one for you and the other for your opponent. You move your units, engage the enemy in battle and survey the landscape, all by using the joystick. This is a surprise on the Amiga, where strategy games are invariably mouse-controlled, but due to the game being played on hexagonal tiles, it works well and is very simple to pick up. The game chosen for the list is actually the second data disk for the original Battle Isle, so there is plenty more action to be had on the main game and the previous data disk.

I'm not usually excited to see strategy games turn up on the list, but I don't mind turn-based ones so much, and this one is really very simple to navigate. I'm surprised it was never ported to a console such as the Sega Mega Drive, as the joystick interface would make it quite a straightforward job. I didn't play this one much, but I might come back to it at some point, and I can see that there's a long series after it.

Recommended TOSEC disk(s):
Battle Isle '93 - The Moon of Chromos (1993)(Blue Byte)(Disk 1 of 2)
Battle Isle '93 - The Moon of Chromos (1993)(Blue Byte)(Disk 2 of 2)
Battle Isle (1991)(Ubi Soft)(Disk 1 of 3)
Battle Isle (1991)(Ubi Soft)(Disk 2 of 3)[bootable]
Battle Isle (1991)(Ubi Soft)(Disk 2 of 3)[bootable][updated version, Air-Land-Sea Strategy]
Battle Isle (1991)(Ubi Soft)(Disk 3 of 3)