Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
For Gamecube

This is my first experience with a Fire Emblem game. I know people who like them seem to rave about how great they are, so I decided to give it a try. My first impression of the game was surprise. This is a Gamecube title, and Gamecube isnt really the system known for its graphics, but this game opens with a very nice cell shaded cut scene, and the graphics were really nice. The second thing I noticed about this game was that when my people died, they died. Most RPGs have some sort of a revival item for when your characters die. Perhaps its a phoenix down; it could be revival beads, or whatever. But usually you can bring your characters back from the dead. Not in this game. The first time one of my characters died, I was like, hey, why is everyone so sad. All the other characters started talking about loss and such. Then in my next fight I realized, yup, that little dude was really dead, as in never coming back dead. The first of my many restarts occurred here. I liked this aspect of the game, but for a player like me, it really caused a lot of grief. I became obsessed with finding the perfect way to clear a level without anyone dying. Its not too terribly easy. The game play is very strategy based. You have a board with squares, your characters can move so many spaces and there is a rock, paper scissors order about who gets the attack advantage over whom. You have mostly human characters to deal with, but there are also Laguz. These characters are part beast, and they take so many turns to turn into beast form, then their attack is formidable. There isnt any exploring aspect to this game, you move from fight to fight. But there are shops, after a bit you can buy things from your base, and you will need to as weapons will break after so many uses. I thought this was a fun game, and if you like strategy RPGs youre in for a treat.

4 out of 5