Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii, 2007)

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for the Nintendo Wii is the latest installment of the Fire Emblem series that has developed over Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy, and other systems. It is a turn based tactical/strategy game where you move your characters across a map and battle enemies to accomplish one or more of several goals. It could be as simple as defeat all enemies on the board, or as complex as defeat all enemies and seize a certain location in a limited number of turns, or something inbetween. As you progress through the story, not only do your characters gain experience and level up, making them stronger in battle, but you also gain new companions along the way. But you have to be careful when choosing what characters to move where, because if an ally falls in combat, they are gone for good, and you won't be able to get them back! Choose your moves carefully! If you are someone that likes battle strategy games, then Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is a great game for you.

Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn is hands down the best Fire Emblem game yet. For anyone not familiar with Fire Emblem it's a turn based strategy game where you command you unique amry against the opponents. In Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn almost every single character for the game prior to this one, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, returns stronger than ever. Plus many new ones. The most exciting change I'd have to say is that a third class or characters has been added. By third class I mean. Say you have a mage unit, the unit reaches level 21 or you use a master seal on it and it class changes into a more powerful sage. In the other 3 Fire Emblem games that unit would have to remain a Sage but in Radiant Dawn... Now lets say that sage reaches level 21 again or you use a master crown on it then that unit becomes a Arch Sage. This is true for just about every unit. Your swordsmaster can become a trueblade, your sniper can become a marksman, your lance paladin can become a silver knight. The graphics have also been moderately improved since the last 3D Fire Emblem game. This is also the longest Fire Emblem game. 40 chapters give or take one or two if you do or don't count the prologues to each part. There are multiple parts to Radiant Dawn. In part one you are the Dawn Brigade trying to rebuild the country Daein and free it form Begnions' rule. After part 1 you go to part 2 where you control a completly different army trying to complete a completely different task. Throughout the game you will have to face a different army. In one chapter the Dawn Brigade will have to face the Greil Mercenaries. Haven't quite part four yet but I know will be extreme. Radiant Dawn is hard even in easy mode, it will take you at least two days worth of play time so you won't beat it too quickly. Careful not to let the members of your army fall in battle cause if they do there gone forever. There are many new weapons and all the old ones in Radiant Dawn. Wind magic got a lot better, so did fire, although thunder did get worse, knifes increased greatly in variety and power. There is also a premier edition guide for Radiant Dawn. Stunning cinematic cutscenes throughout the game. One of the best features about this game is the absorbing storyline. Unbelievably strong story, but if your not in to talking you can easily skip it. Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn brings back even more of you favorite furry fuzzy and scaled friends the laguz. Laguz are half human half animal people who almost no one on the continent likes. This hatred may lead to war in the game. So Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn is one of the best Wii games yet without a doubt, got a 9.5 in Nintendo Power Magazine, you should defandently get it, don't got a Wii yet? Better hope you get one for the holidays.

This game is the 10th installment of the Fire Emblem series. The Fire Emblem series is well known as one of the best turn based strategy series. Only four of the ten games have been released in the United State. What makes this game different from the other Fire Emblem games is that it is the first true sequel. All the other games kept the same basic game play but had a different storyline and characters. In Radiant Dawn, it is a continuation of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.

This game keeps the same general game play. You take a select amount of characters onto a battle field. You move them over a grid to combat your opponents. You use the terrain to your advantage as well as support between characters such as healing or rescuing. There are also many talents that can be assigned to characters in between levels that give them randomly activated skills during combat. There is one way Radiant Dawn strays from the usual set up. Instead of controlling one group, your characters are split between two armies. After a certain point in the game the armies combine and allow you to divide them into three groups. Overall, the game play can be very challenging on certain levels.

The story in Radiant Dawn can be very captivating. It's highly recommended that you play Path of Radiance for the Gamecube before playing the Wii game. Although you can learn the game you will not have an understanding of many of the characters. This game tells you little about the characters and their background because you are expected to have played the other. However, you don't have to have played Path of Radiance to understand the basic story.

Overall this game is one of the best for the Wii right now. It is perfect for anyone that loves strategy games. It also offers a challenge to anyone looking for a fun game.

Radiant Dawn is a solid entry in Nintendo's Fire Embelm series, but balance issues prevent the game from really being great. The game is a direct continuation of the story in Path of Radiance with the ability to carry over clear data to boost your characters. Gameplay is largely what you would expect from the Fire Emblem series. A new tier of classes allow characters to become even stronger than previous games. Unit leveling can be problematic. Game progress makes it difficult for early units to become strong enough to be useful later in the game. Leveling Laguz units is particularly difficult. They rarely receive significant experience unless they counterattack in human form, which is when they are extremely vulnerable. Most players will end up using mainly beorc characters for this reason. Since Radiant Dawn is meant to complete the story started in Path of Radiance, I would recommend players complete that game before considering Radiant Dawn. If you enjoyed Path of Radiance, you'll likely enjoy Radiant Dawn as well.

Fire Emblem is an excellent strategy/RPG game, and is one of the better titles for the Wii. I have always been a fan of RPGs and strategy games and if you do not like these kinds of games then Fire Emblem is not for you.

Fire Emblem is a great game that focuses on strategy in battle more than character customization. While there is some amount of customization, it is much less prominent than it is in other strategy games. You can equip your characters with weapons and other items (like herbs for healing), but you do not equip them with armor. Fire Emblem uses a rock/paper/scissors approach to determining damage. Axes deal extra damage against units with spears etc. You can also equip your characters with skills that they can use during battle.

In addition, if one of your characters falls during battle, they will be gone forever. This may sound like a bad thing but it forces you to strategize and think more during battle. Most of the battles are huge and sometimes feature around 100 units (including your characters and allies), so they can be pretty long. Luckily you can save the game in the middle of the battle if you don’t have time to finish it.

As far as the story goes, I thought it was entertaining but the gameplay is really the best part of the game. Fire Emblem is a great strategy game and is highly recommended to fans of the genre.

Pros:
- Excellent turn-based strategy game
- Stages are huge with tons of enemies
- Challenging but fun

Cons:
- Combat can get repetitive