Battle Isle

Battle Isle, the game that started an almost 25 year non-stop (jokey) argument between my brother and I. It was a turn based tactics game. There were two modes, vs A.I. or Multiplayer. It was released in 1991 by BlueByte.

So what caused the argument? The multiplayer mode could be played on the same PC. Two players would take turns in setting out their tanks and machines. The goal was to destroy all your opponents army before they destroyed yours. The issue was it was split screen, so both players could see both sides of the screen at once. This led to my brother constantly cheating by looking at my side of the screen. He’ll claim to this day that it was me looking at his side of the screen but we all obviously know I’m in the right and he’s the cheater…you believe me right?

The map was made up of a hexagonal grid. Each player would place units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, ships, turrets and so on into a sections of the grid. As the game progressed you would aim to take control of ammo and fuel transports, scout and radar units, construction vehicles, quite a number of types of unit actually.

The A.I. wasn’t brilliant in this game but did provide enough of a challenge for a decent campaign against it. But the fun really kicked it when you played against another real player (even if they looked at your side of the screen). It was sort of like a long complex game of chess with far more goals in it than just a checkmate.

Surprisingly you can still buy this game! There is a Platinum pack on Gog with three versions of the game in it right here.

Let me know

Did you play any of the releases of this game back in the day? Have you bought that pack and played it recently? Either way drop me a line and tell me what you thought. Did you find your very own Player 2 looking at your side of the screen?