When the Final Fantasy franchise migrated to Sony's consoles, Nintendo 64 gamers were left hurting for a decent role playing experience. Ogre Battle 64 did its best to fill this void by offering a deep and original Strategy RPG. Like many games of its era, Ogre Battle 64 is a decidedly expensive investment, and its recent release on Virtual Console means that it is now available to a brand new audience.

For an 11 year old game, I was very surprised at how modern Ogre Battle felt. The detailed spritework, dense musical accompaniment, and thought provoking gameplay all had a hand in pulling me into this game. As with many RPGs, the mechanics are where Ogre Battle 64 truly shines. Unlike grid-based strategy games, Ogre Battle allows players to direct groups of units across the battlefield however they may choose. As the player's armies march along their ordered paths, they will encounter enemy units, pursue objectives, and capture enemy strongholds. Battles play out automatically, so it is up to the player to do sufficient prep work and carefully pick which units will end up in battle, and that said units are properly equipped to fight. The role playing mechanics of Ogre Battle will hold your attention once mastered. There is simply something about creating a finely tuned killing machine that is extremely gratifying.

Ogre Battle 64 narrative shines, and unlike many games of this era, it doesn't make me wish I could skip story sequences, and even the opening scene had me intrigued. The quality story telling adds a feeling of relevance to the battles, and is often a welcome interlude between skirmishes. Some character sprites can be goofy, and this does detract from the game's cut scenes.

Ogre Battle 64 is a massive Virtual Console game, potentially containing hundreds hours of entertaining playtime. If you aren't interested in customizing a large army, or directing them in battle, this probably isn't the game for you. Then again, who doesn't want to do that?