FE:LE brings back the good FE core gameplay with new features and worthy additions.
I'll be reviewing this in comparison to FE.
What's the same(or brought in with little improvement)?
-the tech tree is still divided into the same 3 branches and much of it is the same.
-same 8 races and factions (2 new nations that were in War of Magic re-entered, completing the set) + the races have been tweaked.
-Monster areas still exist, where once you level up your hero party you can go kill the bosses for massive XP and to rejuvinate the land.
-Faction creator is still the same, you can create your faction based off of the same 8 races, you can't create a new race, and your hero creator is the same too. There have been additions/modifications. Most of the old talents/skills/profession from FE have returned and some new features have been added. But overall, same old same old
-campaign (the scenarios) is still "meh". Playing random games or multiplayer is still the way to go.
-same 2 factions, empire and kingdoms.
-same magic schools with some additions
What's been drastically modified or new?
-New leveling up system for your heroes/leader. You can now pick between 5 paths: assasin, defender, commander, warrior, mage.
-New method to recruit heroes. No longer do you roam the countryside searching for them, they come to you once you make sufficient prestige. You gain prestige by raiding monster homes, doing quests and making certain buildings. You have a limited choice of 2 at a time in the matter but the choice is good.
-New heroes that you can recruit, including heroes that don't belong to any established race. You get a hero spirit/paladin thing and a hero ogre for instance. But there may be more.
-the upgrade mechanic for your troops works well. This encourages you to keep your early units alive as they rank up more and more xp. Each unit in your main party is now almost as important as your leader/heroes, instead of being dispensible.
-neat random events that can really put a dent in your "peach perfect" plan.
The downside?
I personally find the paths unbalanced. Assasin is ok, but it's not really as good as you think. Warrior is great and I find it to be the best path. Defender is ok. Mage is bad early on and ok later in game, can be useful and commander is plain useless early on and ok later on when you upgrade him. But he isn't worth a slot in your army.
Talking about paths... of course it comes down to the faction you play. I do recommend you go for creating your own faction. Now this may be a bit unfair to the game, but personally I found magic-heavy factions to be much weaker than any other faction. Especially if you go for a very oriented melee faction or even a pretty balanced one. Ranged weapons are also pretty useless.
Also the game is still falls the "Heroes of Might and Magic" trap where you want to use just 1 party to clear up everything. You basically have your main hero party that grows imba powerful, you use it to clear everything out and steadily build it up, upgrading your units and equipping your heroes with the best weapons you can find. Now I'm not against this, because it's ok, but the problem is that if you play on very large maps, it can get fustrating sending your units from one side of the map to the other early on. Later on you can make roads and that helps a lot with logistics, but it does impede early expansion and the ability to successfuly blitz your enemies with several well developed stacks if you're going for conquest victory.
All in all, the game is enjoyable. If you liked FE, you will love FE:LE. And don't forget, there are mods that can add value to the game. Every game that is heavily moddable, FE:LE is, gets a +1 rating from me. So the score is 8 + 1 = 9 :). Enjoy the game