Thought I'd head this one off since I downloaded it and read the ops guide this morning before heading into work. Keep in mind I've not actually played the game yet:
Looks like a straight-up remake of the original with hex-maps, turned based combat and multiple units. This is more akin to an Avalon Hill wargame than Fire Emblem - definitely not for casual players from what I can see and reading the manual is a must or I expect you to end up not understanding why you're getting your ass handed to you.
Multiple units, each one representing a "squad" of up to 8 members, with infantry, multiple tanks, "aircraft," transports and fixed artillery. Goal is to eliminate all enemy units or the enemy base. Units have zone of control, reinforce each other for defense/offense. Factories produce new units or repair existing ones; if you have an adjacent transport you can produce multiple units: one straight into transport and other on the field.
Terrain affects combat depending on type and orientation to target, i.e. attacking from a position above your opponent. Graphics look decent with 3D for units and terrain.
Multiplayer is basically the same as single player, but the game has a fixed time limit (probably to ensure servers are available, cue complaints about lack of peer-to-peer networking on Wii) and will end regardless of objective completion with the winner being the one with the most points; points scored by destroying enemy units. There are ranked and unranked battles with leaderboards. Special multiplayer unit is the Commander which can be upgraded and has effects on other units up to three hexes away rather than the standard 1-hex zone of control. If it's quality I expect the online community to outlive most others owing to the dedication of fans of this kind of game and lack of any similar titles on the Wii (if only Star Trek Conquest had been like this!).
I'm handling the review of this one so I'll be playing the single player game tonight, with tomorrow focusing on multiplayer. I'll likely be online sometime in the early afternoon between 13:00-15:00 GMT and then again between 21:00-22:00 GMT, so watch for me (if there's handles I'll be SEAN or SEAN_A as in other games). I'll post my friend code tonight if I get the chance.
Other than graphical overhaul, 4-way multiplayer and online this appears to be a faithful remake of the original, which is good and bad. Biggest issue for me is lack of information: nowhere are the units named or described; the manual gives you a description of different types, but you won't really know that a Rabbit has anti-aircraft capabilities until you're actually presented with one and a target to shoot at.
32 single player maps against a single AI opponent: 16 Normal and 16 Advanced. AI isn't super clever, but it's not completely stupid, though the difficulty is often via stacking the deck by giving the AI aircraft and the player only a few units capable of taking it down. Pretty solid single-player experience overall with some challenging missions.
3 maps available for 2-player games 1 each for 3 and 4-player matches which also have option of team play. No custom map option and no option to choose your own units is pretty disappointing; adding those features and either doing a full disc release or a more expensive WiiWare title would have been nice. Online works well, but matches are either joined or hosted which seems pretty poor for a random link-up; I expect clans and such rather than random matches. I did manage a game against someone yesterday (who beat the daylights out of me in 4 or 5 straight goes - I'm not the best strategy gamer) in a map that seemed too small to me. The host can choose number of rounds from 10 to 30, ditto for time limit which runs down independently (if a player uses up their time they get no more moves!). Same multiplayer game is available locally if you have a friend or two (or three) who are up for a quick strategy game.
I'll see if I can pick up another online match tonight (hopefully 3 or 4-player) and should be good to write up the review tomorrow. Overall I'd say if you like strategy games it's a no-brainer; I certainly don't feel any need to check out the original game now that I have this.
I was looking forward to this one but by the sounds of things I'll stick with the original. As usual the online approach sounds like it sucks and the graphical overhaul just isn't enough to warrant spending 1,000 points on what is essentially the same game imho.
We should start up a room in the online area. Earliest possbility would be this weekend as Rage of the Gladiator is taking up my time so I can get the review out soonish (and then I don't know what's coming out on Friday I may be asked to review). I can't remember, have we traded system codes? That way we could just check Wii Speak Channel to see who's available.
I played the PS3's demo and I didn't enjoyed that much as I thought it lacked more tactical decision making. However, I played Avalon Hill's wargames extensively in the 80s and I am hard to be impressed with a game of this type. Perhaps, I am just not the audience for this title.
I've never tried a turned-based strategy game before (other than Risk). I've tried a couple of real-time strategy games, but I stink at real-time management, so I gave this a shot.
I really like it, but I agree that the manual is highly incomplete. Last night, I beat the first two levels easily, but I got stuck on the third level due to the enemy's superior units (equal in number but superior in ability) and exclusive ownership of a factory. I looked on GameFAQs today and found out that you surround an enemy simply by placing two units on exact opposite sides of it. That knowledge should help me beat the third level by wiping out units in a single turn instead of them surviving and retreating to the factory to be repaired. That kind of info needs to be in the manual.
I haven't tried multiplayer, local nor online, yet.
Ash: Professor Oak, how's your Bulbasaur?
Prof. Oak: Oh, it only hurts when I sit.
...
Prof. Oak: It's only Chansey if Krabby won't let go. Bye, now.
Ash: I don't think I'm going to call him anymore.
3DS Friend Code: 1547-5207-7912 | My Nintendo: Katara | Nintendo Network ID: TaurusBulbasaur
I'll need to get back to this game at some point. The full Operations Manual does make mention of surrounding units in the section discussing Zone of Control, but you'll need to view Detailed Instructions for that.
... That knowledge should help me beat the third level by wiping out units in a single turn instead of them surviving and retreating to the factory to be repaired.
I don't know - in the original game I liked letting the enemy store damaged units in a factory for repairs, so that I could take control of the factory and all units inside with one quick move. (Ok, it's really hard to actually get this to happen... but tremendously rewarding if you pull it off and earn multiple new units in the process!)
(Based on the original game, since I haven't played the remake yet.)
The factory is a special type of building that will let you repair damaged units (but won't build new units -- this might have changed in the new version). This is particularly valuable, because units gain experience and become stronger as they engage in many battles. Sometimes pulling back and repairing can let you max out experience levels over time -- allowing that unit to do massive attacks and benefit from increased defense too. The caveat is that you lose time getting units in and out of the factory and waiting for them to be repaired.
One neat trick is that infantry units can capture a factory (and any units currently inside the factory) just by moving onto that space. Anytime a unit ends movement on the factory, it actually goes inside the factory for repairs and is susceptible to being captured. To defend the building, you may need to guard several spaces around it or risk have aggressive enemy troops run right past you and start attacking with fresh units that used to be on your side!
Some missions will start you out with many units inside a friendly factory, and you have to decide what order to release them in because the space around the factory is limited. Other times there will be neutral factories (with units ready for use) just waiting to be captured on the map, and you will have to decide which ones to capture first -- or which units to leave for your opponent to capture.
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