Fire Emblem
SCORE: 63
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance on the Gamecube is the latest installment of the long running Fire Emblem series that has found the most success on the GBA up to this point. Fire Emblem is a strategy RPG which means it is a grid based battle system and if you haven’t played a game like it before, it takes some getting use to. Once you do though, the game is enjoyable enough to play, as long as you don’t mind doing the same things over and over again.
The graphics of the game are really well done. Most of the game is done in a 2D hand drawn style and is very colorful and enjoyable to look at. The characters are all done with great detail as is the whole environment. Even the females are designed very well with no stereotypical dress that many games like to fall back on. When fighting enemies, there is no worry about violence because once you beat the enemies, they kneel down and disappear. The only violence in the game was the attack animations between characters but you never see any blood or gore.
All of the sounds in the game are done very well also. The music is never overbearing and really sets the mood of the game. The sound effects are crisp and clear and never become annoying. The voice acting in the game is very minimal so most of the time you are reading text. There are a few parts in the game where a word is used that is a rewording of a curse word. It is only a few times luckily and the game never blatantly uses any curse words.
Any extras in the game are something that you won’t find in this title. During the game, you can choose to open treasure chests though you always know if there are any on the map. There is no real exploration since you can clearly see where the treasure chests are. Also, there is nothing extra to do once you beat the game. When you beat the game, there is nothing to go back to.
The gameplay itself, while not necessarily bad, leaves something to be desired. During the game you go through the process of having a story sequence, preparing for the next battle, having another story sequence, then actually doing a battle sequence. It wouldn’t be so bad but doing that exact same process over and over for 30 hours tends to get old. The story sequences were nothing more than reading text with no real interaction and the battle was a little slow for my taste. Since you only get one turn at a time per character, the battles dragged out longer than they really needed to be. I know many people enjoy this style of game but for me, it was just to slow.
As far a family
friendliness, there were only a few minor issues that came up during my
review. One of the bigger ones was the reference to a character in the
game as the apostle. She is a princess of a kingdom, and it is never
explained why she has that title. The other issue I found was an item
called “occult”. It is an item that adds a skill to your player though I
did not see any reference to any real occult. Finally, there are a few
times in the game where the characters reference a goddess. It is
usually in a passing comment and no one is directly shown worshiping
her. These were all minor grievances but they were in the game none the
less. Overall, anyone in the family should be able to enjoy this game,
as long as you are a strategy RPG fan. Everyone else may want to give it
a rental first.
- Chris
Graphics: 70%
Sound: 66%
Replay/Extras: 60%
Gameplay: 60%
Family Friendly Factor: 60%
System: Gamecube
Publisher: Nintendo
Rating: 'T' for Teen
{Fantasy Violence}
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