One of the best strategy games I have ever played! Will the Revolution be able to download the original Japanese games?
User Rating: 9.8 | Fire Emblem: Souen no Kiseki GC
Being from Australia, I usually have to wait a couple of months more than you guys over there, but this game was definitely worth the wait. A little more moody than the other two English Fire Emblem games, but fantastic nontheless. For once, you don't play as royalty and become, not start off as, a Lord. Ah, well. The story involves a young mercenary called Ike, and his band of friends, the Greil Mercenaries, led by his daddy, the legendary swordsman, Greil. Also new to the series are the laguz, the hated, half-breed humans who can turn into various animals at will. These include the Beast Tribe of cats, tigers and lions, the Bird Tribes of ravens and hawks, and the Dragon Tribe, of red, white and black dragons. The island continent of Tellius is where the beorc (humans) and laguz live currently in relative peace. But, the second most powerful nation on the continent, Daein, attacks and conquers an unsuspecting neighbouring country called Crimea, where the Greil Mercenaries live. Ike and his discover the secret princess of Crimea, Elincia, when her guards are ambushed and killed in a roadside battle on their way to the biggest nation, Begnion. The Greil Mercenaries, with the princess in tow, attempt to enter the Beast Tribe nation of Gallia, where Greil, in a massive fight to the death with the most powerful of all Daein's armed forces, the enigmatic Black Knight, is defeated. Ike, the now leader of the Mercenaries, swears to hunt the Black Knight down to the end of the earth. The story goes on from there...
Gameplay is what made the Fire Emblem games so unique when they first came out was the grid-based combat system and a rock-paper-scissors styled advantage system for lances, swords and axes. Magic users and healers must always be protected, and you need to watch how much longer a laguz can stay in animal form before becoming human again. Mounted units can move further than walking units and knights in armour with superior defense, can be used as barriers while bowmen strike from a distance. Every unit has a face, a back story and a reason to fight for you. If a unit falls in battle, they're dead forever. No Revives, no Phoenix Downs, no nothing. Just death, which makes you think twice before moving any units. Someone asked me, why are there just six full cutscenes in the game, and the rest are just 2D artwork with words along the bottom of the screen. Well, if characters die, and can never come back it would look dumb for them to be in a cutscene.
The music is spectacular in the game, genuinely creepy in places and heart racing in others. The backgrounds look amazing, and the magic effects, spectacular. However, a few things the Black Knight says during his fight with Greil never come up again in the story. I hope there's a sequal, because it could tie up those loose ends and make everything perfect. You'll enjoy this immensly, sogo buy it now! 
