Ogre Battle 64 takes place not too long after the original Ogre Battle for SNES. Off the borders of Zenobia this time around, players take control of young Magnus. After graduating from the royal academy, our hero joins up with the Central Division where a revolution is currently underway. Early on, Magnus sees both sides of the dispute, questions what it is he fights for, and makes a brave choice to battle for the greater good by joining the revolutionaries. This is the watered-down version of the first few hours of story of course, as the actual plot is much more elaborate. In fact its quite remarkable how good the story is - the pacing, development, and characters are so well done you'll find yourself hard pressed to put the controller down. With a storyline that engaging, its hard to imagine Ogre Battle getting any better. But it does...

Another wonderful aspect to OB64 is the graphics. With the only 3D being the battle maps, everything else is rendered in 2D - and the results are beautiful. Character sprites, from the main players right down to lowest grunt, are animated quite well and are characteristically detailed. Towns, fields, and other backdrops have small touches in them like grass rolling in the wind. Plus the aforementioned 3D maps, while not exciting, are clean and clear. To understand the effort Quest made in the visuals, all one has to do is power up the Nintendo 64 and watch the opening cinema. Even the most minute of details, like shadows, are taken into consideration and created according to what characters look like! It is this kind of painstaking effort that gamers will appreciate, along with every other aspect OB64 has to offer.

In the audio department, one will discover that Ogre Battle 64 is no slouch. Seeing as Quest was working with the N64;s limited sound capacity, it is remarkable that they produced such unearthly musical scores. Everything from the opening title music to smallest cutscene is filled with lively tunes. Ranging from huge trumpeting bravado to quiet sullen melodies, the soundtrack never disappoints. I'd even go as far to say that next to Final Fantasy Tactics, this is the best music I've heard in a RPG. However, considering cart limitations, something had to give somewhere. On the other side of things (read: sound effects), not all is well. Grunts, groans, and clashes consists of faded, squashed samples. Even though it doesn't ruin the game it is quite odd to engage in a skirmish with titanic music playing only to hear faded 'oomphs' and 'arrrghs' from the troops.

Thankfully no such blemishes reside in Ogre Battle's gameplay. Taking a nod to the original Ogre Battle, OB64's battle system is remarkably similar to its older brother. Fights take place along expansive maps, pitting unit against unit rather than character against character. Also similar to the original's gameplay is how battles are fought. All entanglements are handled real-time with only minimal output coming from the gamer. Though some may think that watching a fight isn't as fun as taking part in it, its really enjoyable on a whole other level. Anyone can wade through menus and win a skirmish, but it takes precision skill to craft units that can take out the opposition on their own. Also it is quite enjoyable to see the time and effort of upgrading characters and swapping classes pay off with victory.

Which brings us to another pivotal part of gameplay - character classes. When you first start out, only a handful of character classes are available but balloon out to an overwhelming amount of options. It is especially important to know which classes do what, since it can mean the difference between life or death. For example, some units work better at night, others gain bonuses depending on who the group consists of, and others mover better in the mountains or snow. Seeing as how all the same rules apply to the enemy, character classes add a load of depth into the game.

All in all, Ogre Battle 64 is a remarkable strategy RPG. The story draws you in and keeps you there, the gameplay livens things up, and the audio/visual department keeps the 'ooooohs' and 'ahhhhhs' coming. Definitely the RPG to get for N64 owners everywhere and a magnificent RPG in its own right, regardless of the console it's on.

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