Review: Fire Emblem (GBA)

Review: This game is pretty old and has become fairly rare but it remains a great game nonetheless. Fire Emblem is the first entry in the series to make it outside of Japan. This game starts with an integrated tutorial centering around Lyndis, a young swordmaid, and her exploits to regain her throne which has been stolen by her great-uncle. It does a good job of introducing the basics but it takes a lot of time and effort. I liked it but it might not jive with everyone. After you complete Lyn's story you are thrown into Eliwood's story. The story reintroduces characters that you met in Lyn's story along with many others.

The game mechanics is where most people will find issues. The game is turn-based strategy, so it might make some people shy away. For example if you ever let a character's HP hit zero he (or she) is gone forever. The map will continue but you will not be able to use the character again. It does however provide immense joy when you finish a map without losing a character.
All Characters will become stronger with battle experience and will level up in 7 categories. The game's map's are grid based (similar to Advance Wars style). This makes it easy to size up your opponent at a glance.

The strategy needed to defeat this game is deep, so those who just like to shoot things need not apply. But for those of you who like to think when they play this game fits the bill. Just be assured of this: You will probably have a few more gray hairs after all is said and done.

Here is the overall scores for some of the games key aspects.
Music: 8.5/10, The music was well placed and fits the situations nicely.
Controls: 9.5/10 Excellent, tight control is what you will find here, no complaints.
Story: 9.0/10 Very well done plot where evil is more deep than at first glance.
Presentation: 9.o/10 Featuring beautiful hand-drawn portrait stills and great art style FE is wonderfully presented.
Game Mechanics: 8.0/10 Like I said this game takes a lot of thinking to get through but it is fully worth the effort.