Fire Emblem Path of Radiance Game Review

Fire Emblem - Path of Radiance

Game Review

It may have been the excitement of the situation, or all the Belgian chocolate I had just eaten, but my hands were trembling as I flicked through the options. To my left were a group of soldiers bearing spears, mounted sword wielders on my right, and a pack of humans who had transformed into animals lay straight ahead. I gritted my teeth, bore down and guided my Paladin into battle with a wolf. My knight, bringing up the rear as usual took on a sword carrier, against whom his lance was strong. This was only a fraction of the battle playing itself out before me, and I was a long way from victory. But, like any other Fire Emblem game I have played, I was enjoying my attempts to get there.

Since this is my first video game review, let me give you a little background. I was a dedicated gamer from seven to age sixteen. My first experience of owning a home console came when I received a NES for Christmas one year. Actually, it was slightly after Christmas before I got my hands on a black and grey controller. A Scalectrix set had actually been my Christmas present, but it had broken after two hours of play. With this in mind and the fact that towards the end of the two hours I had begun to get bored, my dad had returned it in favour of a Nintendo Entertainment System and a copy of Super Mario Brothers. From then on I had at least one console until I sold my PlayStation - the first and only non-Nintendo console I ever owned - and the game which it had taken me over one hundred hours to complete, Final Fantasy VII.

I had spent days completing role playing games in my teens and hoped to renew my acquaintance with the genre when I bought a Gamecube on eBay last year. However, I found that my gaming tastes had changed. Now I can't get through about half an hour of any RPG before endless random battles, levelling and plot exposition leave me rolling my eyes every time my forward movement is impeded and continually pressing A to advance the story. I think the main reason for my migration though is that most RPGs do not actually require a lot of skill. Keep levelling up for long enough and you're bound to gain higher stats than any enemy. Its an exercise in determination more than anything. This is why my new favourite genre is the turn based strategy game. Guiding a whole army of characters into battle requires infinitely more thought than completing yet another fetch quest.

Path of Radiance was the only Fire Emblem game released for the Nintendo Gamecube. The idea behind the games is simple. You are given control of a group of individuals which you must use to fight against, and ultimately defeat, your enemy. Victory can consist of wiping out all enemy forces, seizing a specific spot on the map, or beating a certain character. The player also has chances to gain new allies along the way to add to their existing army.

I had played, and become addicted to, the Advance Wars and Fire Emblem series on the Gameboy Advance, and was expecting to have to clear my schedule for this installment. I wasn't wrong; I really had it bad for this game. I remember one particularly worrying occasion on which the game had made me twenty minutes late to meet a friend. That's right, the game did it. One of the downsides to the game is that it is not possible to save mid battle, and I had invested forty five minutes of my time already. So, putting on my coat while the computer was taking its turn, I slowly edged from the room while still holding the controller. I eventually had to admit that it was a choice between my friend and the game, so ten minutes later I capitulated and paused the game while rushing out of the house. I would blame my lateness on a delayed train. That's the problem with junkies; you can't trust them.

For me, the appeal of the Fire Emblem series lies in the planning. On later levels a good twenty minutes can be spent mapping out exactly where each of your cohorts will move before actually executing any strategy. Sending a warrior one space too far can leave you resetting the console whilst mumbling obscenities, because once a character dies, they're not coming back, and if you lose a key unit (or even one that you feel *sigh* an emotional connection to) you're going to want to play the stage over. If you've played the first non-Japanese Fire Emblem game (on the GBA), you'll know how difficult that game was, especially in the latter stages. To experience the same challenge, you'll need to crank this one up to hard mode. Anything less can be breezed by pretty handily.

I cannot overstate how much fun this game is to play. The rock paper scissors weapon system (axe beats lance, lance beats sword, sword beats axe) is the series mainstay, but as compelling as ever, and the addition of the half human-half animal laguz tribe is a nice touch. They become an ally early on, and although they're useless in human form, once they transform they're as powerful as any unit on the field. I have read reviews bemoaning (laguz aside) the lack of new ideas in this game, but it really is a case of things not being broke. The game is simple fun and there was a chance that adding new elements to the mix could have left the game bloated with unnecessary extras (e.g. Yggdra Union for the GBA).

Even though it still costs £20 to £30 on eBay, which is at the high end for a last gen console, try to pick up a copy of this game to see why its the best thing since sliced RPG.

9.5/10