Even better than the original fire emblem game for the GBA.
User Rating: 8.9 | Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones GBA
The Sacred Stones is the second fire emblem game to come out on the GBA, and its makers took what was good about the original and transferred it to this game, and took what was bad about the original and fixed it. The addition of new enemies and a set of entirely new characters, as well as new maps, weapons and classes, makes this game a must own for people who enjoyed the original fire emblem game as well as people new to the series, as it is also easier than the original. GAMEPLAY: 9 The gameplay in this game is nearly flawless. All of the character classes are fairly balanced, the interface is good, and the turn-based combat is perfect. The only quirk i have with the gameplay is that #1 a lot of the characters aren't balanced, making some obvious choices to play as and others complete outcasts, and #2 some of the maps require a rediculously powerful team to beat, and others are quite simple. For instance, one level will be incredibly hard, yet the next will be a walk in the park. Other than that, the gameplay is awesome. In the old game, the entire game was linear, with some hidden missions here and there, but other than that it was mission after mission, no stopping for supplies or anything (you had to buy stuff and level up all of your characters in-game). In The Sacred Stones, there's a map, so in between missions you can go buy some items in this town, go fight some monsters in this map to go level up, etc. It makes the game much funner and the missions much more bearable. The game's "if a character dies they're gone for good" is still there, which makes the game all that much more difficult. GRAPHICS: 8 Same old, same old. This game uses the same graphics as the last game, and as such seem not as good. The animations for the character's attacks are smooth, but repeated from the old game. Some of the animations are also seriously lacking, like the berserker's class. Yet others are the COOLEST thing you will ever see. The new class's animations are all extremely cool, and after almost finishing the game i haven't turned them off yet because i still like watching my people attack all cool-like time after time after time. The maps consist of different terrains and not too stunning, and the cutscenes consist of well drawn backgrounds with the character's upper torso and heads showing and their mouths moving. Not the greatest graphics around, but still pretty good and better than average. SOUND: 8 A good musical score and excellent sound effects. It sounds so good to hear your rapier pierce through a stupid axe-weilding enemy's flesh and hear the familiar "wowwwn" of them dying, but after a while they can get tiring. Better than average sound effects and an average musical score add up to some pretty good sound. VALUE: 8 About half as long as the original game (not counting the extra story on the original), but with the extra battles you can do it feels longer than it actually is. The game is split up into chapters, each chapter containing a battle against an enemy and some dialogue. After chapter 10 you can go 2 routes, erikia's route or ephriam's route, and they both meet back up in chapter 15, so there's actually something like 25 missions compared to the original game's 36. After you finish the game once you might want to go back and play the other character's route, but you may not feel like it after already beating it, and so after that there's the multiplayer, which seems sort of tacked on but quite fun if it's evenly matched. One story with last you at least 20 hours, however, and that's if you're going fast, so the game should last you a while. Going at a steady pace like i did, it shoud take you about 40 hours (30 minutes to 1 hour per chapter and about an hour for buying stuff and training between missions). TILT: 10 An excellent sequel to one of my favorite games for the GBA, and as good if not better than the original. Even if you are remotely interested in this game get it, you won't regret it. 
