Ogre Battle 64

"A good RPG on the 64? That's right, it's no joke!"

I really love this game. A very good RPG on the N64 may seem impossible, but believe me, it exists. Ogre Battle isn't traditional; it is also a strategy game. It combines the good elements of RPG and strategy games and puts them together in a nice cartridge. If you're a fan of either RPG's or strategies, or a fan of games with tough challenges, lots of replay value and engaging story lines, then this game is for you. If you enjoy games that are hastily put together by what appears to be a toddlers' effort, then you won't like this game.

Graphics: 8/10

The over world where most of the gameplay takes place is low polygon with simple textures. This is no bother though, as strategies aren't famous for incredible backgrounds. The characters, on the other hand, are very nice. They are sprites, but are very well animated. The spells and attacks are beautiful to watch, with amazing particle effects and lighting. Enjoy the battle sequences and ignore the backgrounds. Besides, it's gameplay that counts.

Sound: 10/10

The sound effects are pretty good, but not perfect. Sometimes the screams of characters gets annoying, but usually everything else is pretty good. The sound effects deserve a thumbs up, but what really gives this category a ten is the music. Beautiful, well written and fully orchestrated music is found throughout every level of the game. The music is very good quality for a cartridge as well. I'm sure that if you purchase this game, many hours will be spent in the sound test listening to the amazing music in this amazing game.

Controls: 6/10

The game's weakest point. The cursor on the over world map isn't the easiest thing to move accurately. Often you have to try several times to click on a unit to tell them where to go. The cursor is jumpy, and difficult to use, even if you have mastered the game. Another difficult thing about this game is the menus. There are so many options and menus that it's extremely confusing for a beginner. Some may be turned off by the difficulty in the beginning and never give this game a chance, which would be a shame. After you get used to the menus, however, they aren't a problem any longer.

Gameplay: 10/10

Very fun. You get to build different units with a maximum of five characters in each unit. These characters will battle and gain experience, and, of course, eventually gain levels. Throughout the game you will find and buy items. You can equip your army with these items, whether they are armor, weapons, magic books, etc. The thing that really adds depth is the number of combinations of armies. You can choose from many different classes to put in units, you can choose how big the units are, where each character is placed in a unit, how many units you want, etc.

After you build up as many units as you want, you enter the over world. The over world is a large area with many towns, including your stronghold and your enemy's stronghold. You have objectives, usually telling you to capture the enemy's stronghold. Once you tell a unit to liberate or capture a stronghold, they head towards it. If they manage to defeat who guards it, then it becomes your stronghold. When a unit stays in a stronghold, they slowly gain health. This is why you want to capture or liberate the towns in a strategic area.

The battles are also good fun, yet some may not like them. When two enemy units meet each other, they battle. You only command what strategies your unit uses, (attack leader, attack strongest, attack weakest, autonomous) but you can't actually tell a specific character to attack another specific character. Each character has a certain number of turns. Some may have one turn, some may have three. Once all turns are used up for every character on both sides, the battle ends, so it isn't always a fight to the death.

Story: 10/10

Where to start? I don't know. I won't even try to summarize the entire story, as that would take a long time. Let's just say the story is engaging and interesting, as well as epic. There are many plot twists. This game's story is, well, let's just leave it at ''very good''.

Replay: 9/10

Getting all special characters and classes will take dedication, as you can't get everything going through the game only once. It is literally impossible, even for a master of this game. Creating different armies, leveling up to 99, and getting everything in the game is not only lots of fun, but it will take, at the least, 100 hours. This is the game that keeps on giving.

Buy or rent:

If you rent it, you will either steal the game from the rental store or you will go out and buy it once you return it. Save the yourself the trouble and buy it. Now.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/20/02, Updated 03/28/02