Full Review for Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance by jvonm

Introduction

A must buy. Start this game by watching the main menu cutscene, it gets you pumped for your first time playing. Then watch the prologue cutscene and do the battle. Now, the first battle is nothing. This game is all about strategy and hard choices. The first few battle involve zilch of both. However as you progress you will find that fire emblem is an extremely likable, addictive game with a nice plot. If you have never played a fire emblem game you will be impressed by it's fancy chess-like gameplay. You will love it.

Graphics

Not the best they could be, but for a fire emblem game, and for a gamecube, this is great. What is awesome about this game is that there are absolutely no glitches, and trust me after playing a good game a long time it is annoying when you find that your character disappears in a certain area of something. On the battlefield, characters are distinguishable with info on them when you select the space they occupy. There are a few cutscenes in the game that are marvelously detailed including the main menu one, the prologue one, the one with the meeting of the laguz nobles, and the healing of serenes forest.

Sound

The music for this game is awesome, and extremely catchy. It fits well with critical hit clash effects, level up "whoopdedoo" sounds, etc. The music is usually pounding with a deep rythm and stuff that is chilling during boss battles but there are lots of nice melodies for the game itself.

Gameplay

Awesome. The one thing about fire emblem in general is that it is unique. It is like chess in that characters have movement ranges, and chess masters will like adapting to this more intense game. You first select a character and then move with it then perform and action. its hard to describe, i may have done it more in the other parts of the review. you attack by going near, picking weapon, viewing battle, getting xp, then bla bla.

Lastability

With a wonderful plot and increasingly difficult battles, you will be excited to complete a battle. One of the thrills of this game is the characters. There are tons of characters, probably like 35, and they have classes, specials, stats, biorythms, etc. But that has nothing to do with lastability, right? Returning fire emblem players will know the one little change from most games that is an extremely realistic and exciting trick. Once characters die, you can never use them again. In fact, if the main character, ike, dies, the game is over. Players will be compelled to replay the game to try the new difficulty settings, unlock characters they didnt on their first (or second or etc.) time around, and try using them. My first time playing I let my healer die very early. On my second I saved him and he proved very fun and useful. After playing for a little you will feel a desire to play this game unlocking all of them without letting any die. Sorry pal, that will be tough.

Overall, lasts as long as you have it. Problem is like with Pokemon games you will get stuck on some part and put this game aside and forget about it. I encourage you: don't give up. If you are only using your powerful meelee fighters, loose up. Try winning with numbers. Sometimes it's okay to let a few weak dudes die, you never use them anyway. Keep trying and trying new things and new strategies.

Overall

My favorite game. Play it yourself to see. Only a few more things to say: as I said in lastability, try new characters. But also try new things. Give bonus experience to different characters. If you try you can make a powerhouse out of the units you used to never use! You are always craving to beat a level because you want to see what new characters you can get. And returning FE players, i'll put it simply. You liked the first one. You liked Sacred Stones. You will definitely LOVE this beast of a game. No downsides to it if you can deal with the 3d graphic style.

Final Score: 94%