Hooked Gamers - Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Review

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

November 16th, 2007 by AlmightyMax

Classes

The other half of the fun comes from figuring out how to use each of your characters. Each of them has its own distinct class; and each class has its own list of unique abilities. You’re given a solid set of characters from the start of the game; your Light Mage, Micaiah, can attack from either one or two spaces away, allowing her to attack soldiers or archers without fear of a counterattack. There’s a Fighter who relies on the brute force of axes to bring down his foes. There’s also a Rogue, which is like a thief, only he can take care of himself; you’ll use him in hand to hand combat as often as you’ll use him to loot chests and steal from foes.

More important than class abilities, however, are the weapons. Much like classes, weapons have varied characteristics which make sure you know each one’s strength and weaknesses. For example, the weapon triangle which appeared in pretty much every other game is intact - swords beat axes, axes beat lances, lances beat swords. While you will come across weapons that don’t fit into the triangle (knifes, bows, etc.) you’ll mainly use the main three types. Knowing what beats what will be crucial to victory. The magic triangle from Fire Emblem 7 also makes its triumphant return; light mages are no longer the weak link because they can best dark magic. Dark beats anima (fire, thunder, etc.) and anima beats light. Any way you look at it, you’re getting an incredibly deep strategy experience for your cash.

Gamecube Quality

Easily the worst aspect of the game, the presentation looks and feels like a Gamecube game for its entire (40 hour plus) duration. Intelligent Systems has decidedly taken out waggle, IR, online multiplayer (the game is played with the Wii remote on its side, but you can use a Gamecube controller as well): in short, anything that would make this a Wii game. And that really is sad. While some fans say Fire Emblem any other way just wouldn’t be Fire Emblem, to me, it just feels like either laziness or cowardice on the developers’ part. Look at what Nintendo has done to some of its other franchises! Two years ago, we would have shuddered at the prospect of Mario or Zelda with waggle, or StarFox with stylus control. But Nintendo has managed to pull them all off beautifully! Even Intelligent Systems themselves have made a Wii game into a Wii game with Super Paper Mario. So it’s not like they’re inexperienced or anything. Super Paper Mario did have waggle/IR, if only minimally. It could be distinguished as a Wii game, where everything in Radiant Dawn would hardly make the Gamecube break a sweat.

Yes, everything. If you’ve already seen the screenshots, you will know Radiant Dawn features graphics which do absolutely nothing to push the little white box. In fact, in many instances the game hardly excels over its predecessor, Path of Radiance (which was, you know, kinda ugly). Some texture problems have been fixed, the battle animations flow a lot better, the FMVs are simply breathtaking, and the character portraits have been much improved. But still; there’s nothing here which couldn’t have been done on the Gamecube.

For the Hardcore. Only.

If you’re one of the hardcore Nintendo fans who feels the Big N has deserted you in favor of simpler games for simpler gamers, then Radiant Dawn is for you. It’s easily the most hardcore game I’ve played on the Wii thus far in its lifespan. And despite the mild ranting above, it’s one of the most enjoyable games on the system. But casual gamers, be warned: this is not a good entry point to the hardcore world. If you’re looking for a hardcore Wii game, I’d definitely suggest Super Paper Mario, Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3 or Super Mario Galaxy over Radiant Dawn; they are much more forgiving in their difficulty and you actually may complete them! But if you’re already an established tactician, there’s no reason not to pick up a copy of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.