Ogre Battle 64

"An epic to stand the test of time"

Ogre Battle is a strategy game, and thus not for everybody. If you are a fan of strategy games or have not tried them, though, dig right in! Ogre Battle is very addictive for people who haven't played Strategies much before, because of its sheer length, that all strategy games should have. It has a somewhat confusing setup system, but once you get used to it it will become second nature. And you will enjoy every minute of it.

GRAPHICS (9/10)
Yeah! The sprites have returned! The sprites have returned! Ogre Battle 64 uses clear, simple sprites for the characters, which nostalgic people will find as great. It is a really pleasant change from the average polygons. The amount of detail in houses and towns is great (you actually see the person opening the door!). The only real flaw I see is the lack of detail on the field-but then, who really needs it?

SOUND (9/10)
The music in this game is not the greatest music ever played, but the important thing is that the music never gets old. The music is fitting for the mood, a nice aspect for it. The sound effects are nice enough, but somewhat rare. Also, it should definitely be noted that the music is the same as the original, except improved greatly. Once again, nostalgic people will love it, especially those who loved the original Ogre Battle.

STORY (20/20)
The first part of the story revolves around a knight named Magnus graduating from a military academy in the central area and enlisting in the Southern Division Army, for some reason or another. The plot focuses on the poor people rebelling against the nobles, supposably making a world where there is no classes and everybody was equal in 'class', and Magnus's decisions on which path was right and who he should fight for. That's it in a nutshell... there is much more. It is extremely deep and interesting.

PLAY CONTROL (18/20)
If you haven't played a Strategy game, you may need time to learn how the Play Control works. However, after playing it enough, you will return to standard games and wonder how in the world you got along with such boring Play Control. There isn't much else to be said, except that you have no direct control in the battles. RPG fans may have trouble adapting to this.

GAME PLAY (30/30)
A little tough to figure out, but you pretty quickly get used to it and will soon love it. The game focuses not on you controlling the battles, but rather your setup for the battles and position of your men so all your units are equal in power. RPG fans (including me) will marvel at the fact that you do not have direct control over the battles, but you will soon realize the focus of the game is different and will accept this as a FACT OF LIFE. Strategy fans will fit right into the game, except for the occasional Final Fantasy Tactics lover who is expecting something along the exact same lines as it. There are people like that.

CHALLENGE (13/15)
While fans of the original Ogre Battle may think that the game is extremely easy, most people will find the game marvelously difficult. The difficulty is mostly found in frustration and all of the time you must put into the game. If you build a single of your 10 units, you are going to DIE. You really should build up all 10 units possible. This isn't as hard as one might think, especially if you use soldiers correctly. There is another point: random people will find soldiers completely pathetic and not use them. However, soldier use is the only way, besides recruiting neutral & story characters, to get new characters. Without them, you will have very few options, which sucks. Terribly. In the original Ogre Battle, there was a Liberation meter that screwed it up challengewise, a lot. That is gone now. The point: use the tutorial, and read the Hugo Report & instruction manual. You will die if you don't.

REPLAY VALUE (15/15)
There is plenty of replay value in this game. The first time through, you probably will suck. You probably will not get many story characters, and you probably won't know how the Chaos Frame works, and you will have a crappy ending. There are many ways to play through the game, including a secret level for those who play through a specific way as well as a ton of possible endings. You may play through and get all of the Zenobians the second time, and the third time skip the Zenobians and go for the secret ending. There is so much customization that it is a completely different experience each time through.

OVERALL (114/120) (95%) (rounded up because of personal love for the game) 10/10
If I did not make it clear before, this is a wonderful game that will take all of your free time away from you because of its length and intensity. While it isn't for the new freaks of Action and Shooting games, fans of RPGs and Strategies will enjoy it plenty. Everybody should at least rent it. If you enjoy it there, do not hesitate to buy it. It never loses its excellence.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/01, Updated 04/27/01