SNES
The Vault

Super Nintendo
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:		 8.00
8.01
8.75
8.58
Votes: 79
Reviews: 3


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Reviewer: g_ographer Date: Dec 6, 2001
What can I say that hasn't already been said. When I first found this game at a rental store in North Carolina, I knew I had to have it. But, as previous reviewers have said it was so rare that it was impossible (in the pre-Ebay world) to get the game. So I did the honorable thing, I rented the game again and ""lost"" it. Paid the $35 lost cartrige fee and haven't regretted it since.

Graphics: 7
Not too bad in the graphics department, nothing awe inspiring, but good for what they need them to be. But the game definately isn't about graphics.

Sound: 7
Again...I usually played my SNES games on mute (except the FF series) and had CDs playing depending on the game. As a previous reviewer said, the ""fight it out"" was one of the first vocal injects into a cart, it probably took up a good swath of dataspace to put that measly thing in, but it was kind of shocking the first time I heard it. Sound was good, but not astounding

Gameplay: 10
Sweet mary, is there an 11 or 12? This game is so good in this department it puts most RTS games developed TODAY to shame. You've got an alignment system, non-linear plot and character development, micro and macro management of forces, and my personal favorite HIDDEN RANDOM POWERFUL ITEMS! I could go on and on, but lets suffice it to say that you need to get into the game to get used to all the things going on, but once you do...there's no turning back.

Overall: 9
Ebay for $200? That's cheap for what this is worth. If my SNES hadn't gone kaput about 2 months back after me sodering connections left and right to try to keep it working I probably wouldn't have sold mine as cheap as I did ($125 and 128 MB of SDRAM). I think game developers today need to take a good look at Ogre Battle and try to improve...they'll have a tough time.

Well, there you have it. Ogre Battle in a nutshell. Only improvement they could make...massively multiplayer online version. Hmm...I'd better call Verant.

 

Reviewer: Hawksun Date: Nov 5, 2001
One of the few real-time strategy game the snes has to offer, Ogre battle is a game you won't forget even if you only play the two first stages. Yes it's that incredible!

Graphics: 7
Outside the battles, the graphics are not using the potential of the snes' graphical chip to it's fullest extent and it shows; the characters representing your units are yellowish, the ground is not well done and sometime it's hard to distinguish a forest from a plain and there are only three types of buildings on the map. Inside the battles, the graphics are slightly better than chrono trigger's(the spells are not really great in Ogre, however) and the background changes depending on the type of land your fighting on wich is nice. Also during the game you will see that time passes from day to night and it's really well done.

Sound: 7
Not much to say. the music is excellent but the sounds inside the battles are far from good. one interesting thing to note is that when you are about to fight an enemy, you will hear a human voice say "Fight it out!" and it's really well done!

Gameplay: 10
Complex and confusing at first, Ogre Battle is not for the faint of heart. The tons of menu, the complex reputation and alignment system, the even more complex class system and the item system will probably discourage you at first but by experimenting with the various menu (like i did) or buying the strategy guide(like i did to get all the endings that i wasn't able to get) you'll be on track on no time. and the class system can be used to your advantage once you master it thus allowing to decide who will do what in the future. Always use the system to your advantage in a game!

Overall: 9
If you want a complex and complete strategy game, play this rare game.

Try not to be discouraged when you first play the game. Remember, you can always e-mail me if you need help.

 

Reviewer: Tuck Date: Jul 6, 2001
The one, the only, the myth, the legend...

This game is the stuff legends are made of. Ogre Battle:MBQ is one of the rarest, most sought after games in the storied history of the SNES game system. Because of its limited production and the subsequent bankruptcy of its American distributor, few copies of this game ever saw the light of day. Finding a brand new copy of the cartridge would be like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow: you might have heard stories of people doing it, but it's probably never happened. Hell, even used copies of this game are impossible to find. Those that are still around go for upwards of $60 to as high as $200 in some places, and most online game resellers have months long waiting lists for people to get their hands on it. Games like this are what emulation was made for: providing people who would never have had a chance to enjoy the game the opportunity to play it, and preserving a piece of video game mastery for everyone to remember.

The game itself is quite remarkable. The gameplay system used is totally unlike anything else of the time. You compete in an in-depth, realtime strategy environment. As the commander of an army, you choose which of your soldiers will lead individual units into battle, and you determine the makeup of the units themselves. The storyline is completely open-ended, and it is unlikely you will ever play the same way twice. Want to be the good guy who is revered for all times as the hero who ousted the evil villians? You can do it. Want to be the hated commander of the largest and toughest collection of pure evil the world has ever seen? You can do that too. The options are just far too many to list. I would encourage anyone who is a fan of RPG's and strategy games to download this game immediately, then go pick up a copy of its sequel for the N64, Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Calibur. You won't be disappointed.