Quite possibly the BEST GBA game ever created (Fire Emblem (GBA))

Member Name: Hydromancer

Product:	Fire Emblem (GBA)
Date:	15/10/08 (264 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: top-notch gameplay with smooth battle mechanics, superb storyline, lengthy and appropriately complex

Disadvantages: places too much weight on the story so may not be up to everyone's taste

Fire Emblem offers an absolutely amazing, unforgettable game play experience. Everything about the game is compelling and fun, and keeps you begging for more; one very well-done aspect of the game is the plot. Many RPGs are known for their excellent plots, and Fire Emblem certainly doesn't disappoint. The player takes on the role of an apprentice tactician, and helps a young girl take vengeance on the people who ruined her life. The storyline is predictable at first, but soon grows far deeper as you progress through the game. One of the most memorable and enjoyable aspects of Fire Emblem is the fantastic characters. Each character is given a distinct personality, and is developed throughout. This is quite a feat when you take into consideration that there are a good 30-40 characters that will join your party throughout the game. In addition, the script is superbly written. The text and conversation really drives the story, and it does so wonderfully.

However, Fire Emblem would be naught but a short story were it not for its fantastic game play. The deep, enjoyable battle mechanic holds the game together and offers a great time that will last until the very end of the game. Fire Emblem plays through like many other turn based games, but also offers some interesting twists on the genre. When it's your turn, you move your units on the map. Units can perform several different key actions; mainly, that of attacking. When you're next to a unit, you may choose to attack, and a battle is initiated. Aside from this core feature, Fire Emblem is significantly different from other turn based games you'll play. RPG elements are thrown in, and provide to make the game far more enjoyable. For example, the concept of experience points is present in Fire Emblem, and allows huge amounts of customization of your characters. The variety and strategy of weapons is also a feature that is exclusive to Fire Emblem games. There are three main types of weapons in Fire Emblem: lances, axes, and swords. Likewise, there are three main types of magic: anima, dark, and light. There is a triangle between swords and magic, and it acts like a big game of rock-paper-scissors. For example, in the weapon triangle, lances best swords, swords best axes, and axes best lances. This concept is great in theory, and Intelligent Systems did a fabulous job of incorporating it into the game. The triangles add a huge amount of strategy to battles: if you attack with a weapon that goes against the grain in the weapon triangle, you're at a huge disadvantage. Having the right weapon is often the difference between losing and winning battles in Fire Emblem, and trust me: you won't want to lose.

In typical RPG fashion, all characters in Fire Emblem have a certain amount of hit points. If one of the three main characters' hit points are reduced to zero, you receive a game over and must restart the chapter. However, the difficulty arises when a normal character is felled in battle. When this situation occurs, you are not given a game over. Instead, if a character dies in battle, you can never use them again. Ever. Thus, you are forced with an incredibly tough decision to make if a character dies: proceed without them, or restart the chapter and lose hours of game time? In the end, you'll likely decide to restart the chapter. This is due mainly to the excellent storyline and character development. Fire Emblem manages to do something that few games can do: it truly attaches the player with the characters. Thus, you'll restart the chapter, because you really don't want to see that character go.

The largest amount of character development occurs not in the main story scenes, but in something called support conversations. Each character has a certain pool of other characters that he or she is somehow related to. If you have two similar characters stand next to each other for a certain period of time, you will trigger a support conversation; the characters will have a short discussion. While it doesn't seem like anything special, the support conversations are actually one of the most rewarding aspects of the entire game. The support conversations provide backstory on all your characters, and are what cause you to become so emotionally attached to everyone in your party. In addition to providing emotional value to the game, support conversations also greatly increase the replay value in Fire Emblem. A log is kept of all the supports that you've earned, and you'll likely be motivated enough to earn all of them.

What with all of its complexitiy, Fire Emblem initially seems like a very difficult game to master. However, Intelligent Systems does an excellent job of easing you into the game. Fire Emblem offers a tutorial of sorts at the start of the game. The first 10 chapters introduce you to the mechanics of the battle system, and allow you to learn the ropes. You are introduced to key aspects of the game one by one, and are allowed to get a good feel for them. What's most notable about the "tutorial", though, is the fact that it doesn't seem like a tutorial. It actually supports a good story and likeable characters, which show up again later on in the game. It may teach you how to play the game, but it's also really fun. If you're afraid that you'll be able to blow through Fire Emblem in a day or two, don't worry. The reason Fire Emblem offers such a lengthy tutorial is because the game is very challenging and very long. It offers a good 20-30 hours on just one file. However, thanks to aforementioned support conversations, it's entirely likely that you'll play 10+ files by the time you're done with Fire Emblem.

In addition to length, Fire Emblem sports a fabulous difficulty level. In a world of such easy games, Fire Emblem stands out from the crowd as a game that will have you grinding your teeth in frustration. The AI is greatly done and completely unforgiving. Though the game is tough, none but the most casual gamers will be turned off. You may continually lose the same chapter over and over again, but the game is still ridiculously fun.

Fire Emblem delivers hugely in the core game necessities, but also offers qualities that round out the overall game play experience. Possibly the most notable of these features is the fantastic music that's present in Fire Emblem. There are 100 different short tunes in the game, and they're all very well done. They're used based on different situations; for example, a certain type of music will roll while you're fighting a boss, and another when you're in a village. The music perfectly complements the rest of the game, and actually increases Fire Emblem's value. The graphics, while less-than-perfect, are also quite good. There are three different types of graphics in Fire Emblem: the story-scene graphics, map graphics, and battle graphics. The map is sub-par and pretty bland. However, the battle graphics are quite an improvement. While they're very repetitive, they're also quite nice. Everything runs smoothly, and is fun to watch. The story-scene graphics feature 2D pictures of characters. While they're nothing spectacular, they are also well-done. There's a strong graphical sense throughout and overall it really contributes to the quality of Fire Emblem.

Fire Emblem is arguably the best RPG on the GameBoy Advance to date. What makes this unique strategy/RPG hybrid so astounding is that there's nothing wrong with the game. There's an excellent story, fantastic game play, catchy music and nice graphics. In addition, it offers tremendous game play value, and ensures that you're getting your money's worth. Fire Emblem is an absolutely phenomenal game, and should be present in every GBA owner's library.

Typical price: £8.99 from Amazon Marketplace

Others in series:

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS)
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii)
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GCN)
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA)

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Summary: a compelling, character-driven epic with strategic gameplay that is both challenging and satisfying