Apparently EB Games is allowed to sell Fire Emblem: Awakening a week early and honour its pre-orders after a message was sent to all Canadian branches of Gamestop, also known as EB Games: http://www.screwattack.com/news/canada-eb-games-releases-fire...

Call em' up and see if they're selling! Why? well, being a Canadian who pre-ordered it, I got my hands on it and it's pretty dang good! There's a ton of depth in the strategy (like you'd expect), the support system is changed for the better, not the worse (Radiant Dawn, cough), a reference to Advance Wars in a new gameplay mechanic (I'm not kidding, guess which one?), and the overworld map issues from The Sacred Stones are fixed! The plot, thus far, has a few predictable moments and twists along with some pacing issues, but still, establishes a lot and has some great characters (favourites including Sully and Virion).

Anyway, if you got the game early, what do you think of Fire Emblem: Awakening so far? Mad that you didn't get it? Have no clue what the Fire Emblem series is? Sound off! I know I will be when I reviewing it as usual.

Oh, and for the latter of those three, perhaps this can get you more familiar with the series:

What were the issues with Sacred Stones' map and how was it fixed? I didn't finish that one or Fire Emblem Gaiden, but I like the idea of a map in FE.

Well the map system was clunky and respawning monsters made grinding possible, making the game much too easy for a Fire Emblem title. Here, it works much better.

I love the game, but skip all the cut scenes and most of the dialogue. I just enjoy the gameplay and don't care much for the story at all (it's my first Fire Emblem game and I'm not a big RPG fan)

Predictable, maybe, but it's a decent story thus far.