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Review

Fire Emblem (GBA) Review

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You might not know it but the Fire Emblem series is not new its been around for a while but only recently has it ventured out of its quiet hiding spot in Japan. Luckily for us Nintendo has decided to release the game for the rest of the world give Fire Emblem a go in the west on the Gameboy Advance.

As Fire Emblem shares many of the same game mechanics as Advance Wars the same people make after all you should know how the game plays to an extent. Unlike Advance Wars were you control an entire army Fire Emblem puts you in control of a rag tag team of characters. And unlike Advance Wars, it involved leveling your characters up and also has a good and often funny story line to go with it.

You’ve already heard this once and your going to here it about 5 more times before the review is done however the graphics are another section were it borrows heavily from Advance Wars. Not to say that’s that a bad thing but the battlefield, sprites and heck even some of the menus are too much like Advance Wars for my liking. For Example on the battlefield view you can have up too 25 or so character on the screen and there is no slow down and it is always easy enough for you to know if you character will be in danger. Also the battles are played out in a little cut scene of sorts were one person attacks and then does the other.

The Character animation is both fluid and detailed and the battle effects are also rather good with Golden Sun type effects happening with it. But probably the nicest looking graphics belong in the games storyline narrative. The Backgrounds and Characters are superbly drawn and well detailed. The Interface before the game starts is also pretty good but the in game menu sound and look like AW exactly and it shows. Intelligent Systems have gone a wonderful job writing some brilliant music for this game.

Its not Bippy and Boppy like some other so called Next Generation Games. You really have to put in the Headphones for it to really shine as it is in stereo and if they are high quality headphones they sound so nice it’s like watching a movie. The sound effects on the other hand…. Well there’s no voices at all which I would of like to of seen also the attack effects (here it is again) sound like Advance Wars all over again.

Not all of them but some of them do and it disappointing that since they did a good job with the Music the same cant be said about the FX. Hazza! Here’s the magic phrase again… Just like Advance Wars. It is but it isn’t sure the you could say the same thing about Star craft to Command and Conquer but Fire Emblem uses lots of the Fighting Structure, Moving and Battles in the same way as Advance Wars. Which too be honest is not a bad thing, and also there is some new things as well and it’s not a direct rip-off.

One of the major things different is Fire Emblems RPG structure (levelling up, classes) As you play along and battle the characters you move and fight with level with every time they do job. For Example every time your thief steals something or unlocks something he gets more experience and better at what he does. Also the same with the healers as they heal unit there experience gets more and more. Eventually they get to a point and then they Level up to the next class and begin at the bottom of that ladder of points.

And it is important you try and level up because as you continue in the game the characters come back in later missions and if they sucked back then they suck now. There is also Items and Powerups with can upgrade you Characters power for a limited number of rounds or battles. The first 13 or so chapters of the story are told in Tutorial Form with the game showing you what do and if you’ve played Advance Wars or other Fire Emblem games you should know were to start. After the tutorial chapter is over there is still lots of help provided with an old hag giving you tips of what to do. Nintendo have worked well to make this game different from Advance Wars but it still feels like an Add-on Pack for it. Some people will love it some people will hate it but what you going to do.

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Graphics 8.0

Gameplay 9.9

Sound 9.9

Tilt 9.0

Value 9.0

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About The Author
Daniel Vuckovic
The Owner and Creator of this fair website. I also do news, reviews, programming, art and social media here. It is named after me after all. Please understand.

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