Critical Reception
Martin Easterbrook began his 1977 review of Ogre (first edition) by saying "Be warned: this game could become a craze" adding that "the idea of the microgames themselves is remarkable enough in itself." He rated the game 8 out of 10 but criticized the game's title and "flimsy equipment, weak infantry".
Reviewing the first Steve Jackson Games editions of Ogre (after the designer had moved away from Metagaming), Tony Watson called Ogre "a legend in the ranks of SF gamedom, and deservedly so... as well as being a lot of fun to play, it's an interesting extrapolation on high-tech armoured warfare". It was noted that the rules had remained essentially the same in the new edition, and the most significant changes being to the physical design - with larger (still black and white) counters, and full colour maps by Denis Loubet. Watson also welcomed the retention of the original artwork alongside new pieces - "no one draws a GEV or Ogre like Mr. Chung."
Reviewing the combined edition of 1991, Allen Varney stated: " two simulation board games of armored combat on a future battlefield are among the best the field has ever seen: fast, elegant, and endlessly replayable." Whilst praising the production values of the 2-color playing pieces Varney found the box somewhat 'flimsy'.
In his 2007 essay, game designer Erick Wujcik said "I think success really boils down to four essentials: Ogre is fast, ... asymmetrical, ... open-ended, ... is a teaching tool. Ogre had restructured my mind pretty completely ... but it wasn't until 2002 ... that I realized how effective Ogre is at getting across so many important component mechanisms of play and design."
Read more about this topic: Ogre (game)
Famous quotes containing the words critical and/or reception:
“I know that I will always be expected to have extra insight into black texts—especially texts by black women. A working-class Jewish woman from Brooklyn could become an expert on Shakespeare or Baudelaire, my students seemed to believe, if she mastered the language, the texts, and the critical literature. But they would not grant that a middle-class white man could ever be a trusted authority on Toni Morrison.”
—Claire Oberon Garcia, African American scholar and educator. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B2 (July 27, 1994)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)