Fire Emblem fans have been waiting for a next-gen version of the series, and Path Of Radiance doesn't let them down.
Of course, for those players who have played many strat/rpgs, Fire Emblem will certainly open thier eyes to how great the genre can be. While i'm not dissing Nippon Ichi by any means--one does get slightly bored after they have played three clones of Disgaea.
Comparisons aside, Path of Radiance is an outstanding game. If only because it delievers the series great storytelling and realistic fighting to the home console once again.
The story is very sound, although I felt it did drag on a bit in some cases. Still, the 'midevilish' setting of the series has always been a nice ground for story, and Path of Radiance doesn't stray from that formula.
In fact, Path of Radiance doesn't stray far from anything. While there are new features, such as the Wyvern riders and an animal-morphing people called Laguz, the gameplay is almost exactly the same as its predessors.
Not that that is a bad thing. The gameplay is smooth, allowing you to customize your fighters to the pinnicale of strength. You get a fair amount of varied battle senarios, and a nice band of warriors to aid you in your strife.
The characters are one of the very nice qualities of the game. Every character has a strength, specialty, relationship, motive, and life. They all have different styles and actions. I found myself becoming drawn into the characters in spite of myself--especially a certain red-haired paladin. Also, in case you didn't know, allies that fall in battle--fall for good. Yup, they die. Total death. No raising, no 'pheonix down'. Dead. Due to that realistic factor, battles must be gaged with more thought--especially if you don't want to lose one of your favorite warriors.
The graphics are standard, nothing awful, nothing amazing. Although, I did enjoy the rare cutscenes. The battle field is from the overhead view, like previous games, and this make the battle graphics seem 'small' or perhaps less impressive than most games. Still, when you actually engage in a battle the camera zooms in to show you in action. The animation is fluid and rather detailed.
The sound is one of the view draw backs in my opinion. I feel that the GBA incarnations even had better sound. Much of the music is set to a 'battle-esqe' theme, and some of it is even the same music played in battle. It gets a tad repetitive. There are no voice overs-save the cutscenes--but that isn't always a bad thing. I'd rather have no voices, than have horrific voices--Baten Kaitos--cough-cough.
All in all, Path of Radiance is a MUST for Fire Emblem fans. I also highly reccomend any serious strat\rpg gamer to play it as well. You'll become immersed, trust me.