Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen

"One of the greatest games I have EVER played."

Ogre Battle - March of the Black Queen, truly one of the greatest things to ever happen to the SNES, truly one of the greatest things to ever happen to me, actually.

Story: The evil Zeteginean empire is conquering the countryside and subjugating it's peoples. The once peaceful Empress Endora now seems bent on controlling the world thanks to her adviser, the Archmage Rashidi. You are the leader of the rebellion, the last hope of the people. You, the seer Warren, and the Knight Lans lead your ragged band onward...to victory. But you must choose carefully how you seek this victory, because the people are watching, and they would not be very pleased to trade one tyrant, just to see another take her place.

Graphics: The graphics in this game are nothing short of beautiful. The overhead maps all look extremely well done, with day and night changing the longer you play on one map. The cities light up when night falls and even a little cottage up int the mountains will show a candle light from it's windows. The battle sprites all look awesome, each of them with their own battle animations and spells. And the graphics during character dialog are very, very well done (especially Deneb, very sexy).

Gameplay: This is a strategy war game with elements of RPG thrown in. You put together units of five and send them across a huge map to liberate towns and combat enemies. You do not control your units once they encounter the enemy. Once this happens the attack based on their class and their position in the unit. This may sound kind of odd, but you get used to it. Occasionally they'll level up and eventually change their class based on their stats and alignment. This lets you totally customize your army. All of the choices you make affect the way the people view you and whether or not certain characters will join your army, so don't go around beating up people a lot weaker than you unless you want to get a bad reputation.

Sound: The sound in this game is stunning. Sometimes you'll honestly believe that pulled together an entire symphony orchestra just for the sound track of this game. It's that great. I would actually buy a sound track for this game if I could. The sound effects are done very well, the ninja's rain attack actually sounds like falling rain.

Difficulty: This game has up to 30 stages (some you can skip and others you actually have to look for to find) each of which can take between 1 and 4 hours if you are shooting for the ''good'' ending. The evil path is much easier but far less rewarding. So, in theory, you choose the difficulty by your own actions.

Should I buy this game? I paid one hundred dollars for this game... USED! And I would do it again if I had to. Of course, it might just be easier to find the playstation version. Either way, get this game, you will not regret it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/02, Updated 01/16/02