Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Fire Emblem, where we all learned (well some of us.) to love medieval-type strategic battle game on the GBA, and various other older system. Though we haven't heard of tons of them because they never really were imported. Well they made another one... for the Gamecube. "Fire Emblem:Path of Radiance" is the 9th installment (YES, THERE ARE NINE OF THEM) in the Fire Emblem series, though all of them have different stories. This game, doesn't suck for one thing and is actually very enjoyable for another. I'll get into it the more this review advances.



You start off as Ike, the protangonist of this story. See, Ike is a mercenary who works under his father Greil... who owns the Greil Mercenaries. One day, Ike was sent on mission as the new mercenary. Ike thought this was gonna be a normal mission where they all finish it and go back for a cup of tea. But no! They run into a bunch of evil soldiers who are part of a kingdom called "Daein". See "Crimea" is a good and fair kingdom but these evil bastards called "Daein" have this diabolical plan and they invaded and completely obliterated Crimea. Ike, after the battle discovers the Princess of Crimea who no one has heard about and that's when your story starts where you go on this adventure, and gather help along the way. The story is kinda good and there are a few plot twists but for some reason, I wasn't Wowed by the story. I kinda felt along the way that I've heard these types of stories tons and tons and tons of times before. The ending was very cheesy, I kinda laughed and thought to myself "Wow, what a cheesy ending...mmm cheese." Overall, story = ehhh ok. Though, it did have it's dramatic moments.

The Gameplay on the other hand is excellent. They offer you tutorials that aren't as annoying as many other games out there. This game is basically chess.(More complex, fun, and people most likely won't call you a loser.)You have certain units that have certain stats and certain movements. Like a Paladin will go far into the level while a Knight has 1/4 of the movement a Paladin has. The Weapon system and Magic system are those "This weapon does better againest this weapon but gets sucky againest this one. Sword beats Axe beats Lance beats Sword. For Magic, Wind beats Fire beats Thunder beats Wind. Though, every weapon you get isn't immortal. They can definitely break. Say a Steel Axe has 35/35 next to it's name. This means you can use that axe 35 times before it breaks and you have to buy another one. This means those One-of-a-kind weapons or All-Powerful weapons should be used in a tight spot... OR ELSE. Like the other games, your characters can level their classes but unlike the other games, you level them up by making them reach level 21 and viola! That Lance Knight has turned into a Paladin. There are ALOT of items to collect and there are TONS of characters you can get, all you gotta do is talk sometimes and get lucky. Believe it or not, most of these characters that join you bring alot to your table of warfare. Oh, and one LAST important thing. If your characters die, they're gone forever. This means you can't rush a mage into a group of soldiers expecting him to reappear next level after he gets owned. Gameplay rocks and is the best thing this game has going to it.



Sound and graphics. Ok, the soundtrack has alot of songs that somewhat make you get in the mood of the game and story. This game doesn't have a HUGE soundtrack availible and you'll find that they repeat a few of the songs on alot of stages. But amazingly, I didn't shut off my volume once while playing. SFXs on the other hand might need working on. Sometimes, swords and axes sound alike and alot of time spells sound alike too. They really needed to work more on the SFXs. I wanna hear my sword slice differently from my axe...thank you. Voice overs are horrendous. I had tons of respect for Ike until one of those rare cutscenes appeared. (There are only 6 in the game.) Ike sounds like a manly women. The voice overs are just plain sucky. They are also kinda hard to hear and I just hate it. Now, on to graphics... it's gamecube graphics and it's good. It's in that anime style that youngsters love these days. Somepeople object againest these graphics but hey! Is it really graphics that determine how good a game is? no it isn't.



I like this game. It has alot of replayability because like me, you can replay trying different things and training different people. My second play through, I made Ike godly. If you like Stragetic Medieval warfare then be my guest and play this game. You can rent it if you want but I recommend you buy it if you really want to dedicate your self to it's development.
This game gets a 3 out of 5 because story felt overdone and the soundtrack could've been better.

3 star(s) out of 5

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