Fire Emblem: Awakening 3DS

Released on 19-Apr-2013

The legendary tactical role playing series brings an exciting new chapter to Nintendo 3DS in Fire Emblem: Awakening.

Set in a world ruled over by two mighty dragons, dark forces begin to rise, threatening to destroy the kingdom of men – and leading you on an exciting adventure filled with battles packed with action, strategy and danger.

It is a dark time. Prince Chrom is doing what he can to stop the skirmishes between the kingdoms of Ylisse and Plegia turning into all-out war while a plague of undead soldiers known as The Risen infect the land. Chrom's fight for survival may be greater than he feared as he finds himself trapped between a war-hungry kingdom, an unimaginable evil and a masked stranger who claims to be a legendary figure from centuries past. but Chrom has his own personal militia known as the Shepherds. And he has you, a warrior with no memory of your past, to fight beside him. But as you're drawn further into the conflict, you'll experience events that will change the world forever...

Fire Emblem: Awakening builds on a mixture of elements from previous games in the series to offer an experience that both dedicated fans and newcomers to the series will enjoy. The traditional turn-based combat will need you to focus both your skill and strategy to complete stages successfully, while the new 3D visuals see each battle come to life like never before on Nintendo 3DS. Playing to the strength of your units is key, as positioning on the battlefield, the types of weapons used, the range of classes and even co-operative attacks all play a part in ensuring victory.

The more you have characters fight together in battle and interact, the closer their bond will grow; stronger bonds mean better co-operative abilities, so it's worth putting effort into having your characters get along. Outside of bonds, you'll also see your characters gain experience as they battle, increasing both their level and statistics, and a huge range of additional characters - covering a wide variety of different classes and weapon proficiencies - are just waiting to be recruited to your army. What's more, Fire Emblem: Awakening features multiple difficulty levels including Newcomer Mode, where heroes defeated on the battlefield can be brought back for later stages instead of being lost forever.

And there's more beyond the main story of Fire Emblem: Awakening! Join up with a friend and work together to defeat the enemy via Local Play in Double Duel mode, or enhance your army with characters from the forces of other players with StreetPass. Add-on content offering downloadable maps and characters will also be available to purchase following the game's release.

• Turn-based combat meets rich 3D visuals in a game that combines a range of elements from previous Fire Emblem titles.
• Use skill and strategy to win battles, with gameplay that's deep for fans of the series, but also accessible for newcomers.
• Create bonds between your characters by having them fight together on the battlefield, increasing their co-operative power.
• Enhance your army with new characters via StreetPass or join forces with a friend over Local Play.

Downloadable copy of Fire Emblem Awakening Available

Please Note: Fire Emblem Awakening for Nintendo 3DS is 8801 Blocks (1.1 GB). Check that you have enough space on your SD Card to download and install this title, if you need more storage space click here for our range of fully compatible SD Cards and how to download.

• Buy three 3DS games, get one free

  Nintendo is running a generous promotion over the next few months that's sure to be of interest to 3DS owners. Going by the rather self-explanatory title of "So Many Games!" the promotion simply requires you to buy and register three games from a list of eight, and you'll be given a code to download a fourth game from the list absolutely free.

  The games in question are all fantastic as well. Included in the promotion are the following stonkers:

  Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Nintendo 3DS Version)
  Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate
  Luigi's Mansion 2
  Fire Emblem: Awakening
  Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
  Animal Crossing: New Leaf
  LEGO CITY Undercover: The Chase Begins
  Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

  The promotion covers games purchased in store, as well as downloads from the Nintendo eShop. Did you know you can buy Nintendo download codes exclusively from GAME? Well, you can, which just made the promotion even easier for you!

  The promotion runs from April 23rd and all games must be registered with a Club Nintendo account by June 30th to be eligible. You can only take part in the promotion once, and you must claim your free game by July 31st.

  Published: 23/04/2013

• Fire Emblem: Awakening - Review

  
  

  

  An Instant Classic

  From one angle, Fire Emblem: Awakening is a game about resetting your 3DS. A unique feature of this top-down strategy game is that its units are named characters, rather than faceless masses - and if they fall in battle, that's all she wrote. When anyone you're controlling can be lost in a moment of carelessness, resetting the console becomes a tool to reverse fate.

  Fire Emblem is a long-running series from the Japanese developer Intelligent Systems, a studio that's been creating fabulous strategy games for Nintendo since the 1980s - and Awakening may be the best yet. It introduces new mechanics that wind the story's personalities around the battlefield tactics more tightly than ever before, the greatest being the relationships that characters form by fighting alongside one another.

  Micro Machines

  This system comes into play when you place units adjacent to one another, or pair them up on the same square. The units then boost each other in all combat, and over the many battles characters will get better at fighting together. It's a perfect addition to Fire Emblem's turn-based engagements, because this has always been a game about good unit positioning - so the combat boosts lay atop the old system, accentuating every aspect of it.

  

  The 3D effect is at its best during the battles, which are rendered with 3D character models whacking away at each other. Some fights will just be an exchange of blows, but if combat boosts are being used then the support characters have a chance of getting in a cheeky free shot - plus there are critical hits, blocks, and dodges. The fights build in intensity as your characters grow and face tougher enemies until, by about halfway through the game, they're maximising every attack and boost in extended sequences.

  Hitting Home

  None of this interweaving of personality and mechanics would count for much if the characters were dull, but Awakening's localisation is a peach. Everything comes together during those critical attacks; the battle freezes for a moment, a 2D shot of the eyes flashes across the screen, and one of many unforgettable lines precedes a devastating attack - the cocksure bowman Virion asks simply "Shall I make you famous?"

  Awakening is single-player only, although it does include indirect Streetpass battling against other players, and its campaign starts gently before turning the screw viciously. Each chapter takes place on not just a battlefield but an environment (sand, for example, slows down cavalry), and the enemy forces steadily increase in number and skill. The AI can be summed up easily: it goes for exposed units ruthlessly, and will pile onto any character it has a chance of killing before the turn's over.

  Newcomers Welcome

  These opponents are expert at finding weak links, and as Awakening hits its stride the maps begin to stretch your forces thin; castles often need to be occupied in order to prevent enemy reinforcements, for example, meaning a unit's effectively stuck in position and isolated. As the enemy forces become ever-more numerous and deadly, moving your units in sync, as part of a grander pattern, becomes not merely efficient but essential. There's a wide range of difficulty settings that cater all the way from newcomers to pros, and there's even the option to turn off the permanent death feature.

  

  Awakening has a clear campaign path, but also a world map that's dotted with distractions - side stories where new recruits can be added to your merry band, the barracks, travelling merchants, random battles against the omnipresent Risen, and the Outrealm Gate to download additional content (much of which is free).

  Size Matters

  Not that you even need extra content - finishing Fire Emblem: Awakening will take a long time, and straight away you'll want to start over and try a different bunch of characters (there are around 40 in total). It's an experience of overwhelming quality as well as huge value for money, and you'll never carry the 3DS around with you so much.

  This is a special game. The kind that makes you think for a long time about when it's ever been done better. Fire Emblem: Awakening might be the best game its developer Intelligent Systems has ever made, and that makes it a must-buy if you have any interest in strategy gaming.

  GAME's Verdict

  
  

  The Good

  • Brilliant turn-based combat
  • Unique character growth
  • Huge replay value

  The Bad

  • No multiplayer
  • Unforgiving at first
  • Erm... no multiplayer?

  Published: 17/04/2013

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