Fire Emblem for the Gameboy Advanced. Just Fire Emblem. But actually it's Fire Emblem 7 in Japan. But this is the first game us...Non-Japanese got. Two more were released for the GBA, and they are both playable in the RGR. But for now we're focusing on FE7. This game...blew me away, to say the least. But now it's time for me to go more in-depth to why this game is great.

Graphics: 8/10

  The graphics have a few layers of effort done into them. The maps themselves all look nice. But there are a lot of reused sprites. Making each map look alike, albeit structured differently. It's not the worst visuals though. The intro, and all the still images in cutscenes look amazing, however. You can tell tons of time and effort went into them all.
  Each character has a few different sprites. One for how they appear on the map, one for when they are talking, and one more for when you select them on the map. Each class of character shares a similar map sprite. Only your team's sprites will be colored in to look like the characters they represent. Everyone else just has a red sprite. Each class has their own art depicting each class. It's relatively pointless, but neat.
The dialogue sprites are basically close ups of each  character from mid-waist up. These are impressively detailed. Like, seriously, these are some amazing examples of spritework. Anyway, one of my favorite details here are mouth movements. I don't know why, but I like how it all syncs up.
  The sprites that appear next to each unit's name is just a rough version of their dialogue sprite. Nothing special really. Actually, it looks a little shabby. But what can you do?

Each sprite, along with each character, looks incredibly unique. You can easily identify classes, along with who's who with just a glance. Which is really helpful seeing as how the actual gameplay is going to take up most of your focus.


Sound: 7/10

  The music for this game are pretty great! Although there's not the widest selection of music in this game. There's a few different songs for a different variety of levels. And they are actually pretty nice to listen to. Albeit a bit forgettable. It all sounds like the music you'd expect for a fantasy setting large scale battle. The three tracks you'll hear most are the themes for when one of your units starts a battle, when an enemy unit starts a battle, and when victory is near. It makes you feel hyped, like you're in danger, and all sorts of excited no matter what! Unfortunately there's not much in the terms of sound effects. There's a sound effect for when you get hit that sounds like the one from Kirby Super Star. Or there's a critical hit sound effect that sounds dramatic. Then...there's just a generic sounding click for going through menus. This one will be what you hear the most. It's not bad, per-say. But it does get a bit repetitive.

Addictiveness: 10/10

  This game really should come with a warning label. This is dangerously addictive! Whether you're just casually playing, going on a no-deaths run, or even if you're going through *gulp*...hard mode. You'll be almost unable to put the game down. I think it's almost on how unique the gameplay is, and the fact the game is portable. Which means you have little reason to not play it when you're bored. 
  Anyway, with hard mode, or just wanting a no death run, that can cause a ton of replay value to anyone. It certainly does for me anyway. It's highly challenging, and very addictive.


Story: 8/10

  The story is pretty long. But it can ultimately be boiled down to a Mr. Niceguy vs Satan Mc Puppystomper type of struggle.
 The plot goes like this. Spoiler free, of course. Long ago dragons and humans lived side by side in peace. But for vague reasons, the two races of beings waged war on each other. This conflict ended in the human's victory, and dragons being driven away from the land, and sealed away. (In another dimension prehaps?) A few thousand years have passed since then. And a sorcerer has began to crave their power, and plots to bring dragons back to destroy the world!
...Now help Lyn get to the castle of her long lost grandfather and stop a conspiracy to usurp the throne? What, that intro? Nah, that's not important right now. We'll get to that later after Lyn's story.
  Eliwood's Story is where absolutely any of the intro to this game comes into relevance. There are even a few good twists and turns here and there. It really kept me interested the whole way through. And if anyone says that Nintendo isn't ever dark, mature, or serious, really should give this game a try. Prepare to have that assumption crushed painfully. But with it's darkness and maturity. It doesn't try to be WAY over the top edgy and serious to the point of campiness (i.e Shadow the Edgehog). Here it feels more natural. Like a manga, or a comic book. Or just a really good fantasy movie. This game feels fight at home among well done fantasy stories. It genuinely kept me interested and engaged the whole time. Even when the story deviates a bit from the overall plot


Depth: 7/10

  This game is pretty long. A bit over 30 levels. Which seems like not all that much on paper. But these levels can go from really easy and short, to really long, and really difficult. Making their completion time range anywhere from 5 minutes, to an hour or more! So there's quite a bit to do in each level.
  Another thing to depth is the sheer amount of items and weapons there are. One thing you'll notice is if you put your pointer over an enemy you can view their weapons. This will come in handy when considering who to send to fight said enemy, and with what weapon. With all the varations of each weapon, and there are lots, they fall under certain categories. Swords, Axes, Lances, Bows, Earth Magic, Dark Magic, and Light Magic. And basically, the strategy to weapons is basically a simplier version  of Pokemon. Swords are stronger against Axes, but weaker against Lances. While Earth Magic is strong against Light, but weak against Dark. While Bows are just a ranged weapon all to themselves. But they are super effective against flying units.
  There are also a lot of classes too. Each with various strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes it's higher stats, or just being able to use certain items or weapons. Each is good for something, and with so many classes and weapons, you'll eventually find a combination and team that'll work just right for your plans.

Difficulty: 8/10

  This game gets progressively difficult. But after awhile it feels like you've gone way past the deep end. A few chapters come to my mind right off the bat. To simplify my feelings about it...Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies lied to me. 4-12 guys can, in fact, not completely destroy an army with no trouble. The difficulty in levels mainly comes from bosses, lucky crits the enemies land on you, or just facing off against better weapons.
  Another thing here is what strategy you take. The earlier chapters are a bit more lenient on it. But as you progress, you'll need to take a lot of time into developing an inpenetrable defense, or an unstoppable offense. The enemies can and will rip through any holes you make, or pick off your weaker units. So in order to make sure everyone gets back safely, and to stop your enemies. You'll need to quickly become the expert tactician they need!
  An interesting mechanic here is...When someone is killed on the battlefield, that's it! No coming back from it. And they all have such sad deaths too...So it's probably a good idea to play this with save states. Or at least a lot of resetting....
  The controls however are fairly easy. You use the D Pad move your cursor around the grid. And hit A to select characters and options. And B to go back. You can use R to look at more in-depth details. But this isn't really crucial to gameplay.

  This game grew on me from the minute I started playing, until now. And I think I'll always be a fan of this series here on out! The characters are pretty likable, the gameplay is interesting and makes you think, and it's always either tons of fun, or infuriating. I love it!
  But if strategy games aren't your thing, or you get frustrated easily, this may not be a game for you. I'd suggest you try it out for yourself and see how you like it. It seems to be a hit or miss kind of game. Who knows, maybe you'll end up with a new favorite game. 

Overall: 9/10

I actually own a copy of this game...I did end up finishing it when I was younger, but I had to abuse glitches and grind for hours to be able to beat it. I'm thinking of going back and beating the game legitimately, without any of that stuff.

I haven't really been reading most of the reviews you've been making up until now, but I can tell you this is one of the best reviews I've read on this site. There really isn't anything I can think of to improve it. Keep up the good work.

To be honest I have never played a fire emblem game before. It sounds similar to final fantasy games but I may be wrong. This review is great user as always you explained well of how the game is. Like I just let things come naturally, and it will be ok. I look forward to your next one  

Fire Emblem is indeed a very underappreciated series.  So much of its appeal comes from the relatable characters and solid, balanced gameplay.  Thanks for sharing your reviews with us!  It reminds me to pick up my pace  I suppose I should be less of a perfectionist, but I always want to be very content with what I write before I publish it.  This has led to frustration in many aspects, but also a bit of success.  However, the mental anguish of poring over every detail to perfection probably isn't worth it.  Perfection will come gradually, in time.  I should sit back and enjoy writing reviews more again.  Maybe that will allow me to imbue my reviews with a more relaxed tone, like what you've done here.  I enjoy reading a review that has a relaxed tone.  It lets its readers go at their own pace.

NovemberJoy : I actually had no idea about the glitches until recently. I may just abuse them in Hard Mode. I've already made it so far without them. Haha. But thanks for your input! I put a lot of effort into my reviews. You can expect more reviews from me!

Eniitan : They are pretty fun! A few are in the RGR in fact. The characters look like Final Fantasy characters, and act like them too. But gameplay-wise it's more like Final Fantasy Tactics. And thank you! I'll tell you when the next one comes out.

supernerd: I went through a few rewrites of a few sections. But keep up the good work yourself too! You'll eventually get a style of reviewing that won't leave you second gussing yourself so much. And relaxed reviews, like FE, are pretty underappreciated. It's all about the angry reviews. While we are like...Secretly cooler than those guys.

Yeah it looks like a really funny game since I didn't really grew up with the game. I only played what my brother had sadly. Maybe one day I'll get to play the game and see what I think.

I've been hooked on every Fire Emblem game I've played, but this one is the first I've played, and my favorite. The combat animations are so much cooler than the newer ones. I love how they move slightly to avoid things, and do ridiculous stuff when you get a critical. In the Gamecube game, they just run over and swing the sword... Maybe they'll do a spinning attack, but it's nowhere near as badass. (Not sure if I can get into trouble for saying that word... I've used it a few times, and no one has said anything. I know it's a curse word, but I'm not using it in a derogatory manner... Just wondering. XD)

   It's also the first game I played that had an autosave feature, I didn't know the GBA had those. This would happen to me a lot. I usually play on the harder difficulties, and I always reset when someone dies. So, what I'd do is play a really tough level, get really far, then someone would die, I'd rage quit, and leave it alone for a few days. Then, I'd start it back up again thinking, "Why did I stop playing this?", and when the load it up again, the very first thing that happens, is that character dies. Sometimes I'll just turn it back off again and wait a few more days. XD

   Very detailed review. Keep it up.

Fire Emblem; now THAT is a series I have wanted to try for a long time, and your review and convinced me even more of The "necessity" of it! It is well-structured and you give enough details (without spoiling) to say what The game is about. You have talked about The addictiveness factor a little more (are there many sidequests?), but it is still worth a 4 .