As good as the critics say? Read on to find out!
I'm honestly not sure how to begin this review, so I guess i'll start with this: Hello there, i'm Caz, and Fire Emblem is one of my favorite series of all time.
My gripes with certain entries and the fact that over half of the games remain unlocalized aside, to me, Fire Emblem represents a perfect balance between tales of romance and tragedy taken right out of classic fantasy and strategic gameplay with social interaction that helped further develop characters and complimented the story, making for a greater overall experience than one normally sees in a tactical RPG. Now, after four years of waiting for the next title and one remake that missed our shores, we now have the newest release in the series, Fire Emblem Awakening for the Nintendo 3DS.
So, does Fire Emblem: Awakening live up to those burning sky high expectations? Let's pair up and find out.
Now this review is going to be a bit different than usual, as we'll save the story for last. For now, let's get the presentation out of the way. Fire Emblem Awakening is much stronger in sound than it is visually but by no means is it anything less than fine in either category. The game's graphics are good, they're just not great in my eyes. Fire Emblem and 3D have never really gotten along, so while it is the best-looking 3D Fire Emblem, it's not what i'd call a feast for your eyes. The models themselves are fine, they're well rendered, detailed and they move fluently, but textures for hair and clothing look low quality and environments lack the same attention to detail. Also, the 2D sprites, while appreciated, look out of place when you have these characters designed in the third dimension. Speaking of designs, the art design, both in-game and promotional, has shifted from the more traditional designs of previous entries to a more anime/manga look to it. I guess that's what happens when the character designer of No More Heroes, Yusuke Kozaki, draws your Fire Emblem characters. Yes, the same guy who designed Travis Touchdown also made Chrom. Now, despite Kozaki-san being a good character designer, I feel his overly Japanese style is a terrible match for Fire Emblem. To be fair, all the artwork is really well drawn and the CG cutscenes are absolutely gorgeous to look. They're exquisite looking and make the art design more justifiable, but I still think him being the art designer is not a good choice for the series, especially for the redesigns of older characters.
On the sound side of things, as you'd expect at this point, not a single part of it disappoints. Sound effects are standard for the series but the music is absolutely perfect, right down to the last note. Hiroki Morishi*a (apparently Gamestop thinks his name is a curse word) as the main composer and Rei Kondoh of Okami fame are a perfect pair for Yuka Tsujiyoko's style because they did an amazing job with the score, composing some of the best tracks in the series since Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. They set the tone for each moment, each map, and are just downright fantastic to listen by themselves.
This is one soundtrack you'll be proud to own.
There's the option to switch between the original Japanese voice and the English translation which is always appreciated, but the English voice acting is surprisingly well done in cutscenes, with veteran voice actors from the Persona and Tales series giving very believable performances.
The voices in battle and other conversations however get really annoying. Fast. You will never get more irritated hearing thank you in such a short amount of time. Thankfully, you have the option to turn it off, but it's a shame that such talented actors are are wasted on typical grunt noises and repeat the same three lines over and over instead of full dialogue sequences for the entire game.
To sum it up, the game looks good, sounds fine but the wonderful orchestral score puts the rest of this great presentation to shame.
Onto the gameplay. Fire Emblem: Awakening can be best described as a best of Fire Emblem, taking elements from nearly every instalment but still coming off as fresh with some new ideas and classes of its own. The most comparable of titles would be Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones due to its overworld map and Risen encounters. However, Awakening improves upon The Sacred Stones design by balancing out the overworld encounters and the campaign without running of manipulating these encounters into a grinding session. Even after beating a few enemies on the map, the game will still provide a hearty challenge, yet still comes off as the most accessible entry to newcomers thanks to the addition of a Casual mode, which removes the perma-death entirely, and can let you go through the story without worrying about your every move being the end for a character you've really grown attached to. Supports are changed once again, though unlike Radiant Dawn, it's a change for the better. Every character can have as many supports as available and not only are these conversations as interesting as before, if they reach the new S rank, characters can get married and have kids who inherit their parent's skills like another game in the series which we'll get to in a moment. There's so much added in to this game and so much more depth in place that it's astounding how balanced it all is for newcomers, yet challenging and fresh for veterans. However, it's not all additions. Weapon weight and constitution are removed as is the Trinity of Magic. In fact light magic is nowhere to be seen. Some weapon names are changed in the name of fan service and certain staple items have disappeared. Attributes and the Pirate class are gone and rescuing is no longer an option... Sort of. Though the Rescue command is no longer available, it's replaced by a similar option called Pair Up but adds far more depth to battles than just protecting weaker units and instead gives your units an ally and an advantage in battle. Which leads into the biggest new addition, teaming up and attacking with two units which the game calls Dual Strike. Ah, clever. You can have two units act as one, giving each other stat boosts along with support, launch a powerful attack and, if you're lucky, protect one another. You don't even need to be paired up in order for this to happen, you just need two units side by side and you'll be attacking and defending like you would in pairs. This is the defining mechanic of Awakening and it brings a refreshing new layer of strategy to an already deep tactical RPG series. Though your opponent never uses it, it makes you think about every unit's position on the map and opens up a ton of possibilities to route your foes and let romance quite literally bloom on the battlefield, or even serve as a way of protecting your weaker units until they get strong enough to face foes on their own. All of this makes Fire Emblem Awakening the most advanced title in the series thus far and best of all, this game has an extensive amount of content to go through that can eat away at your time without you knowing about it. From Paralogues to Xenologues, challenges, Streetpass and Spotpass battles, multiple playthroughs, multiplayer, there's so much to do that it is easily the most packed game available on the 3DS, and that's not taking into account that the game will take you around 25 to 30 hours to beat or the upcoming DLC. However, like all Fire Emblem games, you mileage will vary depending on what i'm sure many of you are wondering why I haven't brought up yet, the plot.
Now, I'll be honest with you, as much as I was looking forward to actually playing a new Fire Emblem after four years of waiting and a remake that went unlocalized, I was dreading the story every waking moment, what with the customizable My Unit being an essential character instead of an addition, the Spotpass being blatant fan service, and of course, the possibility of Marth being a character in the game. I was worried they would use this as an opportunity to merely glorify Marth as a grand compassionate hero that puts the legendary Anri to shame with his heroic adventures saving the world from Medeus even though we only got one of his adventures here. And... I was right. Now don't misunderstand me, it's actually quite a good story that avoids my two biggest concerns, they don't glorify Marth and the Avatar actually gets some personally injected into him in the well-written support conversations and the characters are spot on. But that's it. The story on its own is not great, it's not up to series standards, it's not suspenseful or gripping in the slightest. What it is, is predictable, something I never thought i'd say about a plot in Fire Emblem. Admittedly, every Fire Emblem title had their share of RPG clichés here and there, but they also had unpredictable twists and touching moments that made you feel a connection to these characters and their world outside of support conversations. Even Radiant Dawn, to its credit, did have some genuinely shocking moments. Here, there's only one moment that got any sort of reaction from me, and admittedly, it was one of the most tragic, yet emotionally effective moments in series history. I saw so many "plot twists" coming either from obvious dialogue sequences or just common sense in storytelling. Like your character has amnesia because it's an obvious plot point later on. I don't want to spoil anything, but it felt like something was missing that made this tale less engaging than the ones that came before it. Thing is, there is potential in this story to be right up there with the best in the series that Awakening just never achieves. Again, the story we get is good, but I feel there are two major issues that it back from achieving its maximum potential. The first would be that there is no overworld dialogue. There's not even an opening detailing the background history of the land of Ylisse, you're thrusted right into the action in the first scene. Here, all details are given between characters before and after battle and nothing else. It really made me value how something so simple as detailing a world or a character before going there or meeting them and seeing them for your own eyes with what you learned. Here, all you have to go by is the main characters and the villains and it doesn't work as good as it should have as the story goes on.
In the first half, it works since we're being introduced to the characters like the Shepherds, their adventures and their leader, Chrom. However, the pacing can be a bit too fast between early chapters for what needs to be established during that time. In the second half, the culprit is there's no overworld dialogue to give any clarification or details about the land of Ylisse.
Maybe it's just me, but I enjoyed hearing this omnipotent narrator detail characters and events that happened throughout the region from a non-bias view and see how you'll react to what you see in what happens in the chapters. Awakening did make me appreciate how the other game's made the world feel more lively and grand and all the more worth saving its inhabitants from whatever threat may appear, but only because of the lack of such here. And number two, it seems like the plot's latter half was meant to differentiate itself from the other marriage Fire Emblem title. Ah, I finally get to talk about this one. To long-time fans, Fire Emblem Seisen No Keifu is the pinnacle of the series, localized or not, due to the introduction of the weapons triangle, skills and lover's system which lead to a dark, dramatic and mature plot that spanned over two generations. Though I have yet to play it myself, I have read about some of the concepts and the premise and it sounds amazing. I'd love to see it brought here in the West and apparently, one of the designers, Masaki Tawara would like to remake it as well, but i'm getting off track here. See, there's an argument that can be made against all the titles that have been localized that they try to replicate and trump Seisen No Keifu both in terms of design and story by constantly borrowing mechanics and themes from it without actually succeeding in doing so, but it's much more apparent here than it is with the others because of the multi-generational mechanics. Without spoiling anything, instead of doing what Seisen No Keifu succeeded in, it tried to put its own different spin on a dual-generation plot with much less success. That opportunity to reach its masterful predecessor (which it was clearly inspired from) is missed and what end up with is a story that had the potential to be something truly special, but instead rests on the level of just good. Fire Emblem Awakening does have a more mature tone throughout its 28 chapters, which is nice to see the narrative evolve, but it doesn't change the fact that, for the most part, the story's execution just doesn't live up to its potential. And there's nothing truly wrong with that because the plot is well written and the characters are just as excellent as ever. It's just a tad disappointing that the overarching plot connecting them all doesn't hit as hard as they do. This year marks the unofficial tenth anniversary of Fire Emblem in the West, 23 years in Japan and 9 years elsewhere. And even though it wasn't meant to be, Fire Emblem: Awakening does come off as a best of Fire Emblem while still adding in its own twists to make itself one of the most refined and accessible entries to date. I admit, I was incredibly critical of Awakening for its faults, but I criticized it harshly because of what I loved in it and how much I enjoyed it. And there is a lot to love about this title. Now is it the best Fire Emblem game like the critics and everyone else are saying it is? No, it's not, it's really not. The story lacks the same punch to it you'd expect for the series and the art style did bother me, but that's minor in the grand scheme of things. For what we get, it's the best values on the 3DS to date, one of the most newcomer-friendly entries and one of the best games in the series, only beaten by Path of Radiance and the original Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem: Awakening fully deserves a nine out of ten. It is an absolute must-own for any 3DS owner or lover of strategy RPGs. And newcomers, you're getting quite the game to introduce you to the series.
However before I end this review, allow me a moment to clarify myself if you will.
Ever since Nintendo announced Fire Emblem: Awakening via Twitter, i've been constantly hounding them for how poorly they've treated the series in the past. But things have changed in those last nine months. Fire Emblem: Awakening has been shown at numerous press events and Nintendo Direct conferences. In fact, the last Nintendo Direct announced a crossover with Shin Megami Tensei of all things. Heck, they finally listened and gave Fire Emblem: Awakening a proper commercial. Way better than "trust no one" from the last one. True, they messed up the shipping for tons of retailers, but being Canadian, I got it a week before everyone else did, so I can't complain. What I can complain about, or bring your attention to, are the crazy ideas that they had for the next title before Awakening was made. Originally, they wanted the next Fire Emblem to take place on Mars in the future in the distant year of 2011. But as they said, that's not what Fire Emblem is, it's a fantasy tactical RPG series that perfectly complements its story and gameplay and is finally getting the respect it deserves from its company. Well, I guess, when a series is so good but so mistreated, you have a passion to see the series grow and improve, and for others to experience how great it is. And because of all that happened, I felt the need to voice my opinion on the matter because of this great series not being given its dues by the Big N. So for that, I guess I have the talented folks over at Intelligent Systems to thank for their quality titles being so good that they deserve that treatment. So, thank you Intelligent Systems, thank you for these great games. Final Verdict: 9/10