(AfroGamers.com) When it comes to RPGs, the Nintendo 64 didn’t offer much to enjoy. If you enjoyed sports games, the console gave you something to gnaw on. Were you a wrestling fan during the mid-1990s and early-2000s? You were dining with the N64. That’s another article though, we’re going through RPGs and Quest 64 was one such title that stands out.
Quest 64
This game came out in 1998 and saw the player in the role of Brian, an apprentice wizard in the world of Celtland. Number one, Brian is a great name for a wizard in a fantasy land. Generally, when we visit fantasy lands in gaming or literature, we rarely arrive in that world’s modern period, so you know we’re in the middle ages or something here.
I’m lying. Brian is a horrible name for a wizard, a thief, a warrior, or an evil force in a fantasy setting. No disrespect to any reader and RPG fan named Brian. That’s a great name for a necromancer or NPC.
Number two, Brian the Wizard is embarking on some sort of quest—hence the name! Unfortunately, the game didn’t leave that much of a mark on me when I first played it that I would always remember the story. So, I played it over the weekend to give the fresh goods on this game.
Papa Was A Rolling Stone
In a nutshell, Brian is looking for his father—also a wizard—who happens to be after a thief who took a valuable artifact. I knew it was something along those lines because whenever a character has to go find their father in a game, their scrub grade pops is on their own quest in pursuit of something.
Exactly like…James Wanderer from Fallout 3. Yes, I named the father James Wanderer and he bounced on your character prompting him to go into the dangerous wasteland. Of course, that’s another article. At any rate, the whole game involves you chasing after your father who is on his own thing and didn’t really let family know he was leaving.
I guess wizards just abandon families. I’m not sure on that but what I am sure on is the actual gameplay. This game had great graphics for the late-1990s when you consider how jagged somethings on the PlayStation could look and how smooth things on the N64 often looked. The combat was rewarding depending on the effort put into learning the controls and attack schemes.
Where Quest 64 drops the ball is variety. On one hand, it’s 1998 and you shouldn’t expect the wheel to be reinvented. On the other, this is a game on the console that gave console gaming the shoulder buttons and analog stick. Quest 64 should’ve really delivered on all fronts—but it didn’t.
Verdict
Quest 64 is a fun game when you first start out but quickly it becomes super repetitive. That is this game’s only crime really, it’s repetitive. It looked great for its time, the music was solid, the controls did their job to a “T’ when it came to playing. The game just got boring quickly.
It’s a shame, really. Quest 64 should’ve been a breakout title that Nintendo continues to release today. Unfortunately, it’s middle of the road because of not enough work was put into making the overall experience interesting beyond the first and second dungeon. You’re just progressing across the land from dungeon to dungeon and forest to forest fighting enemies of different elements.
Personally, I feel that Nintendo should give Quest 64 another shot and reboot it. Today’s developers could definitely do a good job with the title. As it stands though, this isn’t a game that is recommended playing if you could find it.
Quest 64 is a game that you would forget about until you see the cover.
RATING: 5.5 out of 10 (It’s A’ight)
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.