Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Tactical RPG
Players: 1
Blocks: 19

Introduction

Finally another great new game in the fire-emblem series. This game is the third fire emblem for us ( and the 9th for Japan by the way ^^ sniff... ) and the first one to be 3D! The game is made by Intelligent Systems who also makes the advance wars games and paper Mario games ^^.

The story

The story begins and revolves mainly about a boy named Ilke. He lives with his father (Greil) and his sister (Mist). His mother died when he was young. They aren't an ordinary family; Ilk’s dad has formed a mercenaries band called the Greil Mercenaries. So because of that they live together with some other people and earn their money by doing the assingments that people give them; like getting rid of bandits.

Anyway the story begins with Ilke training with his dad because he want to be part of the group. Ilke finally gets in and after a few 'training missions' the story gets more interesting. A member of the band comes back from a journey and has some important news. Daien (neighbour land) has attacked crimea (Ilk’s land) and has declared war towards all country's. By pure luck they come across a young woman that claims to be the princess of crimea. She hires Ilke and company to bring her to safety. And so their story begins.

GamePlay

You have to think of this game as chess. You move your people like chess pieces across a map. The game is turned based as well. But it fits the game very well. You have to think very strategic and think your moves out very well. For an example; there is a weapon triangle; swords beats axes - axes beats lances - lances beats swords. The same triangle goes up for magic; fire beats wind - wind beats thunder - thunder beats fire. It's just like rock, paper and scissors! There's also a danger. Once a unit reaches zero HP the unit will be gone forever and will never come back. So you have to pay more attention then in advance wars. This aren't machine's but are real people; each with a unique face and personality.

The rpg part in this game is the fact that every time a unit of yours destroys a enemy he/she will get some XP that's being stored in a bar. Every time when the bar reaches 100 XP or over it the unit will level up. And will get some stats increases. In this game there are different 'classes. Ilke has the Ranger class and Boyd for an example has the fighter class. Each class his own unique stats. Once a unit reaches lvl 20 and has enough xp to evel up again they won't level up to lvl 21 BUT: they will promote to a other class. A fighter will become a warrior. And will be much stronger.

There are some new units in this never seen before in any FE game. They are called the Laguz and are half human - half animals. You can divide them among different animal classes. They are a little different compared to the other units. They can't fight in their human form... However hey have a bar and once it's full (every turn it will go up a little and also when they are attacked. they will transform to their animal form and when that happens they will be very strong. However every time you attack it goes down a little and after a while to transform back again to their human form. It's a cool add-on and they are really nice to have.

Exclusive to this game is also that you can earn bonus XP and divide them to your units to level them up. This is very handy when a unit can't keep up with the rest like healers. They also added skils with these your unit can attack twice as an example or when a enemy attacks them they can strike first. A nice addition as it let's you customize your unit's a bit.

Sound

If you played another FE game you know what to expect. Nice little themes and so nice music. I really do like the music in this game. When there's danger you will hear the correct sound to go with it. And when there are happy moments the same. Really great music

Graphics

Like I said before this is the first FE that has 3D graphics! I like this style but don't expect too much. It's okay but nothing special. You can judge by yourself when you look at some screenshots of the game ^^ There are some movie's that show up during the course of the game but there aren't that many but... they are nice tough!

Ending

If you like rpg's and/or tactic games you need to at least try this out by renting it. It's one of nintendo's best games and you can compare it with the legend of zelda and mario ect if you ask me! ^^ So BUY THIS NOW!

Score: 90/100







This post has been edited by crazyboychris: Jan 15 2006, 09:20 AM

I own the game so I'm going to share my opinion on this. It is indeed a good game but a challenging one as well.

Great RPG game

I agree with you- it is an excellent, challenging game that will provide many people with many hours of enjoyment.
The characters are extremely well-designed, and the storyline is fulfilling. :]
I love Fire Emblem as a series, and I can't wait for FE10 8D

This post has been edited by Umbre: May 5 2007, 08:17 PM

Great game and series .. good review too thanks for taking the time to type it out =)