Fire Emblem: Awakening has finally been released for the Nintendo 3DS this month. This game series has quite the loyal following and is basically adored all over. But to the loyalist's dismay, the game has had numerous and back-breaking shipping delays for the retail version. Anyone looking to snag a hard copy of the game is basically shit out of luck and will have to wait until someone can get their shit together and fix the issues at hand. If you however do not mind downloading the game off of the Nintendo eShop, then you are in for an engaging and true RPG experience for your handheld system.
Fire Emblem has had a very humble beginning in America. Most people had only heard of the title because of the inclusion of Marth and Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee back in Dec. of 2001. No entry in the series had been released in the states until late 2003 (despite having 6 previous entries in japan since 1990). Still, audiences were intrigued by the overhead strategy RPG that had a charming anime aesthetic and a fairly customizable experience. Since then, 5 additional games had been released in the series with all but one of them seeing American localizations. The game has garnered quite the following, and the most recent release for the 3DS might be the series most ambitious title yet. If fans can ever get a hold of it, lets see what they are in-store for.
Story:
Fire Emblem games have always presented their story in the same way. A Lord of the land seeks aide from friends to stop an unfathomable end from consuming the world around you. It's generic, but quaint, and it also happens to have a fairly enjoyable demeanor throughout the entirety. You start out creating your very own avatar to represent the tactician of the group. Considering the kind of game it is, you have a surprising amount of control to how your character looks, options in gender, body build, hair style and color, and voice actor/actress creates a pretty intriguing aspect. Your characters traits alter both the in game model and the conversation portrait for the spoken/written dialogue. It is a small touch that speaks volumes when trying to create an engaging experience. After you create your tactician, you awake in a field with amnesia (of course) by the Lord Chrom, and his merry band of men named "the Shepherds". You then begin your adventure proper after a few tutorial worthy maps to engage the global threat that terrorizes the land. The story isn't perfect, but is experienced with an ungodly amount of characters that you can engage in relationships and cater to your battle needs and preferences. Also the amount of influence the tactician has to the story is pretty intense. Usually characters like this are pure throwaways aside from a few lines of dialogue. You wouldn't find this story winning any awards as a novel, but it is most certainly Fire Emblem and holds true to the experience expected.
Gameplay:
While at the helm, the game feels no different from any other Fire Emblem title. You command your army from an overhead, turn-based field through fields, castles, and forests in order to slay your enemies and protect the land. Each unit has a specific set of skills, advantages, weakness, and movement capabilities that all need to be kept in mind in order to succeed. Units are not expendable and will be gone forever if you let them die (unless you turn on casual mode...fucking casuals). This means that strategy and forethought are of the utmost importance in order to maintain a healthy army. Units gain boosts and team attack capabilities by being near each other, and the longer they cooperate in combat, the closer they become in the social ranking system. Not only do the buffs get better, but you get to enjoy fun dialogue between units and you can even develop marital status between them. They can then have children who will grow up and fight for the cause (with attributes shared from both parents). This can lead to strategic weddings between compatible units, or just the bastard children of fun relations. Either way, it is a welcome addition to the engaging world, and an enjoyable side attraction from combat. Anyone who is a fan of the series thus far will not be disappointed by the gameplay as it hold true to the formula.
The game offers up some streetPass interactions by allowing customizable teams of character to enter each others world. You can purchase items, or fight to earn experience and team members. There is also a local multiplayer feature known as Dual Tag that lets you join forces to defeat common enemies for various loot. DLC, both via SpotPass and the in game eShop, is currently available with plenty on the way in the form of more maps and characters. The characters are from various other titles, although the SpotPass DLC is completely free, the eShop will cost additional money to download. Many of the characters you can recruit are available via both options, the only real benefit to buying them is new artwork and new levels. The first map is free of charge until March 6th of this year, so you can see for yourself.
Presentation:
The game looks and sounds great. There is beautifully rendered cutscenes with full voice work along with full 3D in game models. The art style is inline with previous entries to maintain an anime look and feel. Story in game is told with character portraits and text boxes with small one word vocals added to (think persona 4) spice up the emotion and personality of each character. Unique character movements based on attacking, being attacked, supporting, etc. add unnecessary but appreciated immersion into the colorful world. The soundtrack is epic, and appropriate. New tracks along with rehashes of previous ones create a true Fire Emblem experience throughout each chapter. All together, the package looks and feels great. The limitations of being on the 3DS are of course apparent, but the style and grace of the execution more than makes up for it.
Result:
A game that has pleasing visuals, a great soundtrack, fun gameplay, decent story, and is convenient to travel with? Sounds like a winner to me. There are clear weakness to be addressed of course. It can feel very repetitive if tactics based RPG's are not your game, the DLC is ridiculously priced, and the multiplayer functionality is pretty mediocre. But not enough to detract from the package as a whole.
92%
+ Voiced and rendered anime aesthetics
+ Killer soundtrack
+ In depth character relations
+ Customizable experience
+ Easy to put down due to stellar bookmark system
- Pricy DLC add-ons
- Repetitive gameplay
- Its a game for the 3DS
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