I'm trying not to be bias here, as Shadow Dragon was the first Fire Emblem game I ever played. I'll keep this intro short. Overall, I have enjoyed this game, although I've yet to actually beat it. (I'm very close, though.) However, does it live up to the brilliance of the other Fire Emblem games, or does it fall short of glory?

  Graphics: I'm not too familiar with how good DS graphics are - I've only played a few games on it. In my opinion, I thing the graphics look pretty good and the cartoon art style they have really looks great in this type of game. I have seen better graphics, though, so I give it a 9/10. For what it's worth, it's good.

  Sound: Again, like most Fire Emblem games, the soundtrack is excellent.  The battle music gets you pumped every time one of your characters gets in a fight and there's a decent mix of different types of music in the game. There is one problem, though, and that's the fact that, while the songs are good and catchy when you're playing the game - or fresh out of playing the game - you don't really remember them later on. Again, great soundtrack, but it only sticks with you while you're playing. 9/10

  Addictiveness: The game is fairly addictive for the first two or three months after you get it, but, at least, in my case, it gets less and less prominent in my list of games to complete as time goes on. To be honest, before I started playing it again yesterday, I never even touched the game for about a year and a half. 8/10

  Story: The story is fairly good. Without spoiling anything, the basis of the story is that you're playing as Marth, the Prince of Altea, who was forced to flee his homeland when it was invaded by the forces of Gra and Dolhr. You hvae to play through the game and build up an army, before finally freeing Marth's land. Yes, it is the 'lost prince trying to reclaim his kingdom' cliche, but I think it works. The fact that it's a rather prominent cliche does subtract a bit from the story value to me, though. Also, the characters are a bit... bland. They're giving decent personalities, admittedly, but most of them go through very little development, with the exception of occasional character development on Marth's part. There isn't as much emotional attachment to the characters like in other FE games. It's a (good) cliche story, with little character development, yet still manages to be enjoyable. 8/10

  Depth: This game does take forever to finish, but unlike most Fire Emblem games, there isn't too much replay value. The story and lack of character development, as mentioned before, definitely take away from the game's depth. There are extra chapters, but they're only playable if you have fifteen (I think) or less characters. So, if you want to see new characters, but have over fifteen already, you'll have to kill some off, which sucks. However, it does add to more the game has to offer. But that's about it. 8/10

  Difficulty: Oh boy... If you play Radiant Dawn or Sacred Stones, then immediately go into Shadow Dragon, it's like a huge slap in the face. This game can either be easy (Easy Mode), difficult (Medium Mode) or DMC3 DMD difficult (Hard Mode). Anyone who gets that difficulty reference is my new best friend.  Basically, this game starts off okay in the difficulty section and gradually gets harder, as any game should... And then you get to the final chapters, where you enter Rage Quit Mode. The final chapters, more so on the higher difficulties, are extremely difficult (I lost some hair do to those chapters). Granted, I do appreciate the challenge. However, I don't appreciate that I have to spam warp staffs to defeat the final level! 8/10

  Overall, I give this game an 8.6/10. I still find it a good game and I appreciate the challenge, but the story and characters are lacking a bit and the final chapters make me want to throw my DS at a wall, repeatedly smash the remains with Mjolnir, then throw the rest into Mt. Doom as if it was the Ring of Power.

I don't usually comment on reviews, but this one impressed me enough that I will. While it perhaps could have been fleshed out a bit more, it's a quality review for it's length. Now, to my comments on what was said.

Graphics - Yeah, I agree. Considering that this isn't exactly a new game (it was made in 2011, if memory serves), the graphics are good. Perhaps it could have been a bit smoother, but I have a suspicion that they were also looking to appeal to a more retro crowd with this game. If so, the more pixelated view would make sense.

Sound - Yeah, that is one of the reasons I got so addicted to Fire Emblem. No matter the storyline, you can always count on fantastic music that is relevant and enticing. I used to just let my GBA SP (gosh, I sound old when I say that) just sit on my bed with the volume maxed as I listened to FE7 music and did whatever.

Addictiveness - Heh, again you hit the nail on the head here. When I first got the game, it was after about 3 months of tracking it down, ordering it from distribution plants, etc. Obviously, I was stoked when I got the game. Now, I haven't played it in months. lol!

Story - This alone is why I have never thought of it as highly as the other FE games (at least, any other game released in the US). The story, while not bad per-say, just doesn't have that book-like feel. When I was playing other FE games, especially from the GBA (more specifically 7), the games were almost like a playable book that had amazing music and addicting gameplay. Being the avid book-junkie that I was, that book-like feel to the games really quickly enticed me to the point of addiction (I was spending over 100 hours per playthrough on FE7, and played it many times). Sadly, they didn't deliver that to the same degree in FE11 (Shadow Dragon). This is why Nintendo didn't bring the next FE game to the US. The lack of an enticing storyline meant less sales, which meant that the numbers just weren't in Nintendo's favor. Thankfully for us FE fans, Awakening blew expectations away. That means we should have an FE14 in our future (and are already seeing a crossover between FE and Shin Megami Tensai [note, I failed that spelling]).

Depth - As I was saying with story, it just felt a lot more lacking than previous FE games to me. Thankfully, Nintendo forced the developers to up their game with Awakening.

Difficulty - To me, the hardest part of this game is definitely having to kill off characters that you get. Each character has so much potential, it's hard to let any of them go (just ask my current save file in Awakening - I have yet to see anyone who can best even just one of my players). However, it's necessary to kill them off to get those extra side quests. I always like to 100% FE games, so I end up killing people off. I usually start with killing the Jagens (pre-promoted units - think Marcus or Seth), as they have less value later on. It's much harder at first, but in the end it's totally worth it. Other than that, I've played FE enough that it's not a challenge for me. I can win any FE game (that I've played) with ease, lol, because I've played it enough to learn the strategies of FE.

Dang, I didn't mean to go into each category like that lol. Anyway, good job on this review! It's only your second post, yet you're already impressing me lol. Keep it up!

mrfe : Thanks for the feedback! I agree with the whole book feel to some FE games - I'm still a complete book junkie XD. As for a Fire Emblem game I've put WAY too many hours in, that would be FE8 (Sacred Stones). I don't like sacrificing any of my characters, either, which really spoils some fun for me in this game when I'm trying for a complete play through. 

  Is Awakening really that good? I own the game, but my 3DS isn't working so I haven't been able to play it yet. I've been avoiding walkthroughs and such as to escape any spoilers about the plot... 

XD I wish I was, lol. Recently, I've just been busy enough that reading hasn't been a high enough of a priority for me to continue with it very much. :/

Haha, I easily have put hundreds of hours into FE8 as well lol. When I get into an FE game, I play it until I can't play anymore lol. I absolutely agree about sacrificing characters (which has to happen in some hacks which would otherwise be amazing), it really just takes away from the game for me. I wish it wasn't like that for me, but it is. :/ Hopefully FE14, assuming there will be one, will just continue to improve like FE13 did.

If you're comparing Awakening to Shadow Dragon, there is no comparison. You don't have to kill off characters, you have an amazing character base complete with unique back-stories etc. It really seems like a return to the amazing depth that FE7 and 8 had, and if you liked either you'll really like Awakening. I don't know if I'd say it's the best game in the series, but it's a huge rival to any given game in the series. Definitely play it asap, you won't be disappointed. I pre-ordered it, had to wait an extra week cuz Nintendo didn't send enough copies to my Gamestop location, and still wasn't disappointed at all. I followed this game before it was announced for Japan, lol.

mrfe : Hopefully, there will be an FE14. I don't see it happening too soon, though.

  I'm planning on getting my 3DS fixed soon so I can play Awakening, but there's no stores (I'm not surprised) that knows how to/can fix whatever's wrong with it. I have to send it into Nintendo. When I do get to play Awakening, I'll take your word for it and go in with high expectations.

I'd expect an FE14 to be released in Japan in late 2015, announced early next year, and it come to the US in 2016 probably. It's a while away, but that's realistic I think. :/

Eesh, what kind of issues are you having? Though, it might be better to have that conversation via PM lol, to stay on topic here.

I went in with high expectations lol. I worked for a week to preorder the game (I don't have a legit job, so I did yard work and stuff when I could), and waited way longer than I was supposed to for the game. Yet, 5 DLC maps and 5 playthroughs later, I'm still not bored of it. I think that says something, especially when I've invested enough time into one of those slots so that I can literally solo the entire final level (and I did) with one person and have that person take less than 20 damage the entire level. Yeah, I OP'd Nah a lot lol. Protip - read up on obtaining children characters a lot. It's 100% worth it.

mrfe : I'll admit that I'm not too knowledgeable about issues with game consoles - especially handhelds. Basically, whenever I try to do something - get into the apps, play a game (specifically Awakening), try to update - it'll freeze and say an error has occurred. The only thing I can do on my 3DS is play originally DS games and they don't work all the time, either.

  Is it just me, or is there always one character in a Fire Emblem game that, if leveled up enough, can pretty much go solo for the final level? I've done that twice in FE8 - once with Ephraim and another time with Neimi.

I really liked your review, and I must agree with you on the part with the story of the lost prince trying to reclaim thing, it I really like how fire emblem did the games with that kind of story to it. You have good ratings for the game, but a 9.2 would be more deserving then an 8.6. Great review!