Ogre Battle 64

"This game completely destroys the"

Ogre Battle 64 is, in my opinion, one of the more under-rated games on the 64. This is not because it is a poor game, it just hasn't been played by most of the general public. Yet it most definitely is worth the time and money spent finding and purchasing a copy. Moving on...

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay in Ogre battle is... unique. While this is an RPG, it has a completely different feel then Final Fantasy or Breath of Fire. Instead of monitoring the growth of one group of four charecters, players in Ogre Battle can monitor the equipment and status of up to I think ninety charecters. These charecters are organized into units of up to five charecters a peice, which are then sent around the scenario map to do various things.

This set up is very, very cool. Why? Well, it is almost as complex as you want it to be. Don;t like messing with ninety charecters? Fine. The game can (and has) been beaten with just the main charecter. Or maybe you like complete control? That is also fine. Have a class swapping frenzy so that you can completely control the stats of every charecter.

Oh, and as too classes. That is another great feature of this game. The game features somewhere around one hundred classes. A ''class'' is much like a ''job'' from FFV. It is the role that specific charecter takes to help the team. These classes only become available once the basic equipment is available, somebode has the proper stats, and that same person also has the proper alignment.

Alignment is another good feature. It basically is a measure of how lawful your units are. For example, Paladins can only be created with a charecter that is highly aligned, or lawful (duh). And Berserkers can only be created from low alignment units, which are non-lawful (More duh)

Not only does alignment affect your charecters, it affects your ending. Different enemy strongholds have different morales, and only a unit with an alignment close to the morale can liberate that city. Any other unit will capture it. Why is that important? When a city is liberated, it raises your ''Chaos Frame'' (CF) When a city is captured, it lowers your CF. Your CF determines your ending. So alignment is important

IN SUMMARY:

Good: Class system, alignment, customization
Bad: N/A
Personal Favorite Feature(PFF): Class system

GRAPHICS:

The graphics in Ogre Battle are hand drawn sprites, and they only look four wyas when on the battle field: up, down, left, and right. While this can be a little un-nerving at first, it soon settles down into a quite comfprtable format. And the cut-scenes do look very nice, if a little cartoony. Spell affects also look cool, and some of the weapons look nice. However, if someone is looking for a graphical feast, this is most likely not their game.

Good: Spells, weapons, cut-scenes
Bad: Battle figures(at first)
PFF: Spells, definately

Sound:

Ogre battle has an OK sound-track. It is one of those that sounds nice while you play, yet isn;t memorable half an hour later. But spells do sound good, and so do the cut-scene sound effects.

Good: Spells, cut-scenes
Bad: Not really anything
PFF: Spells

Control:

Ogre battle has one nice feature that I LOVE when it comes to control: D-pad support. This is, without a doubt, the one thing that makes the control of this game so superb, in my opinion. However, there is quite frequently some A-button mashing, and the control is very diffocult to learn if the Tutorial is not used in the beginning.

Good: D-pad support
Bad: A-button over use
PFF: D-pad support

Plot:

Ogre battle has a superb plot. WIthout giving anything away, it is superb. That's all I can say, sorry :-(

Good: [Withheld]
Bad: [Withheld]
PFF: [Withhelf]

Overall:

This game is the single saving grace of the RPG genre on the 64, save for maybe Paper Mario. But since most people have played Paper Mario, I have to suggest getting this game. It is well worth the sixty bucks it will cost you.

CRAZY-IVAN: Hero to millions of Russian psychopathic-pyrotechnicians says, ''See you next time, kids!''

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/15/01, Updated 11/15/01