Reviews

Fire Emblem Awakening

fire-emblem-awakening

The Fire Emblem series while not making its way to the West until 2003 on the Game Boy Advance has been a popular Nintendo franchise in Japan since 1990. There was a great deal of hype and anticipation around Fire Emblem Awakening before it was released.

Story & Presentation

As this is an RPG I am sure you have guessed that this is a very story heavy video game. The story of Fire Emblem is quite a hard one to describe as there really is not a great deal to it, but at the same time it actually did keep my attention the whole time. The basic idea of the story is that a ruler of a neighboring city is acting kind of weird and suspicious and you have been sent into to see what the deal is. You do this and all hell breaks loose and you find yourself fighting off what appear to be zombies all the while trying to save the world. The story is not perfect, but it does make you want to find out what happens.

The graphics in Fire Emblem Awakening are just jaw dropping. I would go as far to say that this game is one of the best looking games on the Nintendo 3DS. I think that the great graphics and the impressive way the characters have been designed are in a way what made the story more interesting that it really is. Fire Emblem Awakening can be enjoyed with the 3D turned off, but this is a game that has clearly been designed to be played with it on. The 3D effects here are amazing and some of the best that the Nintendo 3DS has to offer.

Gameplay

The game play of the Fire Emblem series is that of your typical strategy role playing game. Fire Emblem Awakening does not really stray away from the formula that fans of the series have come o expect and love. The game sees you taking your unit of warriors and moving them across a series of tiles encountering an enemy and putting them firmly in their place. The battles in this game are really pretty epic and while there is a great deal to understand, it does explain its game play mechanics very well. As well as fighting various enemies sometimes you will be required to capture an item. The game may not sound all that exciting, but it is one of those games where you tell yourself you will have just one more go and still be playing an hour later.

Now you can progress through the game only doing things that relate to the games main story. But there is a ton of side quests that you can take on. These are great for scoring some new items and leveling up you characters, but I found them to make the story get a bit out of hand and sometimes it can be hard to know exactly what is going on.

Final Thoughts

Despite me having a great time with the game, Fire Emblem Awakening is a really tough game to recommend. If you are a fan of the series then without a doubt this game will be a must buy for you. But if you are not too keen on strategy role playing games or have never played a game in the Fire Emblem series before then this is a game that you will want to try before you buy. If the game does not grab you in its first hour then chances are this is not a game for you. But if it does hook you then this is a game that has over 50 hours of game play to keep you busy with.

You Might Also Like

Leave a Reply