You will change all of your pre-concieved notions of tactical RPGs.

Fire Emblem
Developer: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo
Platform: Gameboy Advance
Genre: Tactical RPG

Let me preface this by saying "one month ago I would have PUNCHED YOU in the face for saying I would one day be a tactical RPG fan." That's the honest truth. There were few game genres that I genuinely disliked as much as the tactical RPG genre. Sports games I still can't stand, simulations bore me to death and I will never be a fan of card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! Tactical RPGs, however, have now wormed their way into my favor, and in one fell swoop.

How is this possible? How could I go from genuinely loathing tactics RPGs to suddenly loving the genre like a new puppy? Two words: Fire Emblem. This single game has completely altered my perspective of tactical RPGs, so much that I have completely re-considered giving Final Fantasy Tactics another chance after having played it once in 1997 and hating it.

I picked Fire Emblem up mostly because of all the hype surrounding it. For those of you who don't know, the Fire Emblem game that America has recieved recently is the 7th or 8th game in the series. The Fire Emblem saga has been producing a steady supply of titles in Japan for over ten years, and it is one of Japan's most popular RPG franchises after Final Fantasy and Namco's Tales series. Why have we only recently recieved our first westernized FE game? Because Nintendo apparently enjoys punishing us sometimes.

So, just how good is the game? Phenomenal. For anyone that has played the Intelligent Systems tactical RPG series Advance Wars, you will find some great similarities in the interface and design of Fire Emblem. However, where Advance Wars set the foundations, Fire Emblem has reached above and beyond those original frameworks to create something extraordinary.

Story

The world has enjoyed peace for hundreds of years. Before this peace was a great war referred to as The Scouring. It was in this war that the tenuous, multi-millennial peace that mankind shared with dragonkind was shattered, and the world of men went to war with the world of wyrms. The dragons, defeated and humbled in the great onslaught retreated from the world and have not interatced with humanity in hundreds of years. Now, hundreds of years later, evil forces have arisen in the world that are intent on reviving the power of the dragons, pushing the world to the brink of possibly another Scouring War.

Gameplay

The story of Fire Emblem revolves around a large cast of characters, the pivotal members being the Lordling Eliwood (who might actually be Roy from Super Smash Bros. Melee), the axe-wielding brute Hector and the vagabond Lyndis. These three characters form the central basis for the plot's momentum, and as such, they are indispensable. Literally. If one of the three falls in combat, it's game over, forcing you to restart the mission.

The remainder of the characters are not so integral. They are important to the plot, but not so much as to warrant automatically restarting an entire chapter. The deal with the battle system is this: if a character dies, he dies. There are no "Phoenix Downs" or 'Life Potions" to resurrect fallen companions. If a character loses all of his or her HP, that's it for them permanently. Your only option at that point would be to either continue the game in their absence or restart the mission in the hope of not repeating those same fatal mistakes. Personally, I'm a Nazi when it comes to character management, so if a character falls that's a re-do for me. Others might not be so patient and might wish to just continue in the absence of one of their archers or seemingly ineffective Pegasus Knights.

The battle system is extremely inuitive and takes very little time to understand the basics. However, like all great games, the simple interface opens itself up to worlds of complex strategy. For example, there are basically two different "combat triangles" in the game that use a sort of "paper, rock scissors" format for superiority and weakness. The Weapon Triangle consists of the three main types of weapons in the game: swords, axes and lances. Swords destroy axes, yet are mauled by lances. A similar triangle is used for magic. Anima magic (elemental magic) works wonders against Light magic, but gets it's ass handed to it by Dark magic.

On top of that, there are a number of other factors to take into account regarding weapons and map positions. For example, there is a fourth weapon class in the game, that being bows. Archers use bows to strike targets two squres away from them, however they are useless in face-to-face combat. However, bows work wonders against aerial enemies such as Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Riders, bringing down an airborne foe with devastating force. There are numerous types of terrain in the game, ranging from forest squares that provide extra evasion points to forts that regenerate a unit's HP at the beginning of every round. So, with proper positioning, even the most overwhelmed of units can overcome dire obstacles.

There are a plethora of different units to utilize in battle, from heavily armored Knights (my God, thse guys annihiliate) to horse-mounted Cavaliers to non-combative Clerics that mend your units' wounds. You need to use the utmost of strategic thinking in order to protect certain units. Mages, for example, can engage in melee combat with their spells, but they are so poorly protected that it should only be attmpted in the most drastic of situations. Clerics, Bards and your single Merchant character are completely incapable of defending themselves and must be kept away from the fray at every turn. Archers (as I mentioned before) cannot engage in melee combat at all and must be blocked from attack by tougher units like your Cavaliers or Paladins.

The game also uses a very interesting feature in which the game pak automatically saves after every single turn. This can be both kickass and frustrating. It's cool because if you suddenly need to stop playing due to battery drainage or other circumstances, you can just turn your Gameboy off and be started right where you left off. The downside is that whole character loss issue I mentioned earlier. Because the game automatically saves after every turn, there is no option to make an auxiliary "backup" save in the middle of a battle just in case you lose a unit and wish to restart right before you lost the character. If you lose a character, and you want him back, you have no choice but to restart the entire chapter. Like I said, it's both cool and aggrivating.

Graphics

The graphics are actually very well executed. Each of the character classes has a very distinct design, especially in the combat turn close-up screens. The three central characters all have unique designs, while the secondary characters have slightly less-customized designs. In the close-ups, the characters are very well animated, especially when one of your units unleashes his or her badass "kill the enemy 1,000 times over Super Attack."

On the map screen, the environments are colorfiul, well designed and very suited to strategic movement and formations. Patches of forest litter the plains, forts are constructed in random places, stunted mountain ranges and high peaks cut through the battlefield, rivers divide the area into regions and numerous other environmental structures are used very well.

There are also a number of rather impressive special effects in the game, usually confined to spell effects (very impressive particle effects on the Fire spell) and special attack effects (like Lyndis' disappearing/reappearing ass-kickery).

Sound

I always love being stunned by Gameboy Advance music. The handheld has extremely underwhelming sound capabilities, but it always amazes me to see what some developers can do with what little they have. The soundtrack to Fire Emblem consists of mostly orchestrated tracks, all very dramatic and fitting to the game's medieval atmosphere. There are also a number of very well integrated sound effects such as horse hooves on snow or a sword clanking against a Knight's nearly-impenetrable armor.

Flaws

In all honesty, the only thing that aggrivates me about this game is that whole character loss issue. Like I said, I'm a Nazi about keeping all of my characters in the pink. So, restarting one of the lengthier chapters all because I accidentally placed Florina too damned close to a fucking Archer is an instant headache.

Overall

Like I said, this game has completely overhauled my impression of the tactical RPG genre. After I complete the game, I most certainly intend to pick up Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and give this genre more credit. Fire Emblem is a phenomenal game, and I eagerly anticipate the upcoming Gamecube FE title. Anyone thathas ever considered giving the tactical RPG genre a chance, but has hesitated for one reason or another would be doing themselves a great favor by purchasing this game. It will completely alter your perspective. Guaranteed.

Score: 9.5