"One of the best RPGs for the GameCube."

INTRODUCTION:

First, I know many of you are wondering: MARTH & ROY ARE NOT IN THIS GAME. Marth and Roy, from Super Smash Brothers Melee, are in the Fire Emblem series. Marth was in Fire Emblem 1 and Fire Emblem 3, released only in Japan. Roy was in Fire Emblem 6, the first Game Boy Advance Fire Emblem, but was also released only in Japan. The United States Fire Emblem, starring Eliwood, Lyn, and Hector, is Fire Emblem 7. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, starring Eirika and Ephraim, is Fire Emblem 8. That would mean that Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is Fire Emblem 9. Now, onto the review!

GAME PLAY: 10/10

The game play, like Fire Emblems before it, is a strategy RPG. The maps are essentially grids. Each of your units, or characters, can move a certain amount of spaces per turn and attack enemy units. What makes each unit special is that instead of each unit referred to as "Infantry" or "Gunmen" (don't get me wrong; there are no guns in Fire Emblem- it is kind of medieval) each unit is a person with their own name, class, and personality. For example, Ike is a Ranger, Oscar is a Lance Knight, and Boyd is a Fighter. There are many classes- from sword, axe, lance, knife, and bow using classes (or classes that can use more than one weapon) to Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Riders to magic-users such as Sages and Bishops to a new addition to the Fire Emblem: laguz. Laguz are essentially normal people that can turn into animals to fight. Each laguz can only become a certain animal, but to do this they must wait to fill up their transform gauge. When in their animal form, their transform gauge goes down until they become a person again. There are cat, bird, dragon, and more kinds of laguz. Each unit gains levels as they fight, which is how it is also an RPG. There are 3 game modes: Easy, Normal, and Difficult. There are missions from killing all the enemies to seizing a base to defending your own. The gameplay is awesome.

STORY: 9/10

The story is great. It would've gotten a ten, and it does seem like it could happen, but some things just seem like filler for the main story. I can't spoil too much, but a boy named Ike wants to join his father's group of mercenaries (Greil's Mercenaries.) I'll leave the rest for you to find out.

GRAPHICS: 8/10

Definitely not the game's best point. Although the characters don't look great, they look solid, and you won't see them up close very often except in combat animations. Of course, these aren't great either, and you'll probably end up turning them off after a couple of chapters to speed things up. The terrain isn't spectacular either, but it's fine as long as you don't try to find its flaws. What keeps the graphics from 7/10 are the amazing CG cut scenes. There are 6 in the game, and they look spectacular. Everything is vibrant and alive.

SOUND: 8/10

Through the 1st half of the game, the music is not very good; it is decent. However, after a certain plot point (hint: Lord) the battle and map music becomes great. The music that plays while the story is happening is awesome and reflects the theme of the game: war.

CONTROLS: 10/10

All of the controls fit together perfectly, and though it's not needed, the controls are always shown in a handy diagram. You can zoom in and out and you can do everything that you could in the Game Boy Advance Fire Emblems. There's not much more to say about the controls than this, though.

REPLAY VALUE: 8/10

There's not much replay value, but the game is long- about 15-20 hours on Easy Mode with the animations turned off. That's about as short as it gets for your first time through. Then you might want to play on a harder mode with some extra bonuses that were unlocked. It will take 15 playthroughs to unlock everything, but I got 2 or 3 (one right after the other.) It might be more tempting to play after you stop playing a while, though- I'm on my second play through, and I started my first right after Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. There's also some more extra things to unlock by connecting Fire Emblem or Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones to the GameCube with a Game Boy Advance Link Cable. It's not great, however, and some of it you can probably find these bonuses on the Fire Emblem official website.

OVERALL: 9/10

This game is great. If you like RPGs, strategy games, or are a fan of previous Fire Emblems, I highly recommend this great game. Even if you don't, this game is still worth a rent to see if you'll like it or not. The GameCube is sorely in need of great RPGs; Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is one of the few good RPGs for the GameCube.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/16/06