Fire Emblem Reviews
Review Fire Emblem Shadows (Mobile) - Flat F2P Folly With Simplistic Strategy & Social Deduction
Fire Emblem, disengage
I'm always suspicious, a little tiny bit at least, of games that I play on my mobile phone. Not because I'm somehow wise to something about the platform others aren't, but more because I'm old and remember the long and arduous 'Trash Years' (as I like to call them) of terrible, terrible games for your phone. You know the...
Review Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA) - The Series' Second Western Release Still Hits Hard
Worth fighting for
This review was originally published in March 2015. We're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of the game in the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy Advance library. While Fire Emblem is a franchise with a long history in Japan, its track record in the West is far more condensed; in fact, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones...
Review Fire Emblem - The Blazing Blade Is Still As Sharp As Ever
So much to love Lyndis game
This review originally went live in 2015, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack GBA library. Before Fire Emblem: Awakening kicked off 2013 (the Year of Luigi, you'll recall) with a bang, there was a great deal of concern at Nintendo regarding its...
Review Fire Emblem Engage (Switch) - Relationships Get Sidelined By A Thrilling Combat-First Focus
School's out
It's been almost four years since the hugely successful Fire Emblem: Three Houses stormed onto Switch and reignited our passion for Intelligent Systems' long-running tactical RPG franchise. Here was a game that deepened the relationship and social sim aspects and captured the hearts of gamers who revelled in three separate campaign...
Review Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (Switch) - Musou Magic That Ranks Among The Best
Dynasty Worriers
With the success of the likes of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Persona 5 Strikers and, of course, 2017's Fire Emblem Warriors on Nintendo Switch, it should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that Omega Force, the developer behind the long-running Warriors franchise, is intent on continuing to serve up more zany crossovers
Review Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) - The Zenith Of A Legendary SRPG Series
House party
Fire Emblem has been through quite a rollercoaster journey on its path to success. After an initial debut on the Famicom in 1990 with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, the series remained a niche exclusive of the Land of the Rising Sun for thirteen years until it made its way westward, spurred on by the appearance of...
Review Fire Emblem Warriors (New 3DS)
Nobody gets left behind
Fire Emblem Warriors has already impressed us with its mix of real-time combat and tactical planning on Switch, and given the current popularity of that console it's easy to forget that the game has also come to the New Nintendo 3DS. While you'd be forgiven for overlooking this entry altogether, it's important to...
Review Fire Emblem Warriors (Switch)
Bonded blades
Koei Tecmo's Warriors franchise – also known by its Japanese title of "Musou" – has fans the world over, but we'd be willing to bet that quite a few of the people who picked up the superb Hyrule Warriors on Wii U and 3DS had never played any of the previous entries. Combing the hack-and-slash gameplay of the series with the lore of...
Review Fire Emblem Heroes (Mobile)
Gacha collect 'em all
Nintendo's relationship with mobile games and apps has been slightly awkward to date, as a prolonged period of resistance to the sector eventually turned into a necessary embrace. In its previous efforts on mobile - Miitomo and Super Mario Run - Nintendo has either retained noble intentions (as per the former) or tried to stick...
Review Fire Emblem: Mystery Of The Emblem (SNES)
All Hail Prince Marth! (Yes, that Marth)
Ask any western gamer who Marth is and they will quickly reply something along the lines of "That cool sword-wielding guy from Super Smash Bros." - something that is understandable since the Fire Emblem series that began all the way back to 1990 on the Famicom only reached the West in 2003. But behind his...
Review Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)
Choose your destiny
Intelligent Systems got itself into a weird predicament after the stellar success of Fire Emblem Awakening a few years ago. Fire Emblem has long been known as one of Nintendo's most hardcore and unforgiving franchises – a turn-based RPG with plenty of variables to keep in mind on the battlefield, and where one wrong move might...
Review Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Wii U eShop / DS)
Emerging from the shadows
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a Nintendo DS remake of the first Fire Emblem game (originally released in 1990 for Famicom in Japan) that's now available to download in Virtual Console form for Wii U. The series staple of strategic turn-based gameplay along with the perma-death possibility for characters would form the...
Review Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)
I love the smell of Elfire in the morning
A hint of trepidation arises whenever the "Powers That Be" decide that "Your Cool Thing" needs a bigger audience, primarily because "What They Like" and "Why You Like It" don't always mesh. Take Fire Emblem, possibly the most hardcore of Nintendo's franchises — not "hardcore" in the nonsense term of it...
Review Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (3DS eShop / GBA)
Once more, to arms!
For such a long-running series, it's hard to believe Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones was only the second game to leave Japan after GBA predecessor Fire Emblem. Since then the series has had a far bigger presence in the West, a fact underlined by Sacred Stones' status as a 3DS Ambassador title. If Sacred Stones is your first Fire...
Review Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii)
Radiant
Fire Emblem is a renowned turn-based tactics series that can be most likened to a combination of Risk and Chess. Following in the wake of the GameCube's Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn sees the story of Tellius develop from several perspectives. As is typical in the series, the world is gearing up for battle: the Laguz (Beastmen) and Beorc...
Review Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS)
What this remake lacks in innovation it more than makes up for in polish
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Nintendo DS is the best current generation system to look to when it comes to role-playing games. With titles like Final Fantasy IV, Dragon Quest V, The World Ends With You and Children of Mana, this portable gaming wonder plays host to some of...
Review Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GCN)
Dark days are rising and mercenary Ike...
Not long ago Fire Emblem was one of those cool looking Japanese games that we never got the chance to play over here. Thankfully in the past few years gamers in the west have been graced with that latest 3 (the 7th 8th and 9th instalments), 2 for the GBA and one on the GC. The one featured in this review is...
