This game lives up to the expectation set by the series to be the best in portable strategy gaming.
But I digress... This game is not for everyone. If you do not like chess, if you do not like to think about what you do before you do it. or if you do not like to be utterly frustrated with a game at times, this is not likely a game that you would enjoy. If you do enjoy strategy games, then there is no greater bang for your buck that this game. I have played for just over 100 hours, and I have at least twice that much left in me before I finish the hard campaign mode and clear the overwhelming number of war room maps. It is hard to describe how much there is in this tiny little cartridge.
There are eventually 27 COs to choose from to lead your army. Each of these COs has their own strengths and weaknesses, special abilities and powers, and can utilize new powers as you use them and level them up. You can combine these characters in a seemingly limitless number of ways to adapt to whatever situation you're faced with. The campaign is 28 maps long, there are 49 other maps to play for a rank in the war room, as well as 138 maps in the versus mode for mulitplayer or to play against the AI. There are challenge modes to clear maps with limitations on the number of turns you have, how much money you can spend, or how much time you're allowed. There is even something of an action-oriented mini game to pass the time when you feel a little burned out on the larger, more difficult maps. Bottom line: I can't imagine getting any more game to play on a portable.
If you are a follower of the series, the graphics and sounds are largely unchanged, and I will admit that I was a bit disappointed about this initially. However, the graphics grew on me, especially after playing Fire Emblem on the Game Cube. Intelligent Systems is not in the business of cranking out graphical powerhouses of games, so I must commend them for exerting their efforts toward the development. It would be nice for the followers of the series if we could get some new sounds eventually... I've heard the theme songs of the original cast for hundreds of hours at this point, so I find myself turning the volume off at times to maintain sanity. This wouldn't be a problem for newcomers to the series though.
This is the most balanced game of the series. It has the best campaign mode of a "wars" game to date, and it definitely has more game to play than any other installment of the series. The tone of the game still shows its Japanese roots as the characters and dialogue are a little over the top at times but. even if this is a problem for you, its hard to let it get in the way of such a well crafted game.