Fire Emblem: Awakening review

Fire Emblem Awakening

The Fire Emblem series was always one that never got the recognition it was owed in the west, it was a bold mix of RPG goodness and Advance Wars type battles that was as refreshing as it was fun. We western peasants never got to experience the joys of the franchise until the series hit the GBA In 2003 over here, mostly due to interest sparked by series protagonists Marth and Roy being Super Smash Bros Melee.  

Awakening is the sixth title in the franchise for us English speaking gamers, and instead of bringing the tried and tested formula to the 3DS, it serves as an invigoration the series actually didn’t really need, but damn, does it work.

The story this time around, subjectively, is not the enthralling twisted tales of swords and sorcery that was entwined into the last few Fire Emblem games. Instead we are given our very own character, complete with full customisation options, who (shock horror) has a dreaded case of amnesia. Despite the generic story ploy, the amnesia serves as a useful way to make your character the tabula rasa that you can gradually project yourself onto. The other plot theme revolves around this, with character Chrom and his band of misfit heroes quelling an uprising of evil across his land. Standard themes like warring nations, evil dragons and mad kings pop up once again, but they only really serve as a backbone for the characters to work through, who, like with past games, are the main crux of the game, with plenty of rich backstory and support conversations to delve into.

Fire Emblem: Awakening is a strategy RPG. Simply put, you are given a map for which you are tasked with defeating the boss or taking out all the enemies on the screen (sadly, less mission types than past games). In order to do this you pick the characters from your army that you wish to use, place them on the field and move through the grid based map decimating every foe you see. As its also an RPG, the game features your typical leveling up, plus a reworked class system, allowing characters to be passed through different classes earning lots of stat boosts and new skills, which opens up creativity options throughout the 30+ hour campaign.

In past games, when your character died, they stayed dead. No phoenix downs, no max revives, just pain and anguish. This always led to the hard choice of either leaving a character you’ve brought up levels upon levels and let them die, or restart the map all over again, losing the progress you put into the last 40 minutes of the story. It’s a harder choice than it sounds, but fortunately Intelligent Systems have implemented an easy mode, which turns permanent deaths into temporary ones. It’s not an option the majority of us will use, the latter three modes (hard, lunatic and lunatic+) will still push you to the edges of your sanity, but for those just getting into the series the feature is sure to be welcoming.

Customisation is the biggest feature added to the game, which is all centered on a new marriage system. Characters can now get married providing that they have the required support perquisites, which consequently leads to offspring (this is explained through the game, don’t worry) that carry the traits of their parents. Naturally, customisation options become available and the chance to really craft the army you desire becomes apparent. This idea of support between characters adds onto another brand new feature, dual striking. This being that when two characters are stood next to each other, there is a high chance that both characters will attack the foe together, which gives rise to all sorts of new strategies.

StreetPass is featured rather well, when data is passed between consoles, the passer by will receive the other’s team, which can then be battled and the main character can be recruited (the opponents in game avatar). SpotPass is superbly implemented and massively increases the amount of gameplay through free downloadable characters, weapons and maps. This is not to be confused with the premium DLC, featuring a whole host of brand new maps and storylines, which are well worth the money for the DLC packs that are released every Thursday.

Sadly, the lack of a true online multiplayer is somewhat of a let down, it doesn’t detract from the game, but with all the character and army customisation, there would have been massive potential for a brand new online experience.

Awakening definitely spares no expense in presentation, with polish to the highest standard and graphics that are on par with the Vita. CGI cutscenes and battle scenes are presented with beautiful 3D models of characters, the former being pre-rendered and breathtaking to watch, despite the seldom use of them. The smoothness of the visuals ease the gameplay a lot and make the devious maps that much more enticing and immersive.

The sound design is what you would expect from the series; full of jaunty battle music, emotional concertos and the odd despairing tone. It works perfectly with the game and its top notch presentation, and is arguably one of the best soundtracks in recent history.  No voice acting is present, apart from in the few CGI cutscenes, all other dialogue is voiced with small grunts or one-word catchphrases, which is odd but the lack of talking does not impact on the overall greatness of the game.

What can I say? It’s just perfection in portable form, well worth the 100+ hours I put into the game with my plethora of playthroughs, a large number of hours I am sure any other gamer is likely to put into Awakening over time. Stop wasting time and just go and play this game already, it is more than worth it.

Play it. Now.