Editor’s note: This review is written by Jesse Marano, a 31-year-old student at Full Sail University. He is a full-time IT support technician, full-time plus husband, double-time father of fraternal twin girls and an aspiring thinker/designer/engineer. Jesse is drawn to videogame design because of the dynamic possibilities for interaction. He would like to design/develop/engineer small web games to large proprietary arcade installations. Jesse is interested in hardware as much as software, but he is ultimately intrigued by the immersion that can be created for the end user. He is interested in AI to develop richer tailored interaction, as well as interested in dynamic generation.

Fire Emblem is a turn-based strategy game set in a fantasy universe. You play the role of a “tactician” who is befriended by a young woman named Lyndis and brought along to help her (and her friends) by commanding their actions through several story-driven tactical battles. Later in the game, you will play the same role, but for Eliwood and his friends.

As I said before, this is a turn-based strategy game, but it is deeply woven with a complicated and epic story of novel-worthy proportions. The beginning of the tale follows the struggle of an honest, generous, skilled swordswoman with a big heart. Her name is Lyndis (Lyn to her friends), and she is thrust into a journey to reunite with her grandfather (a royal leader). She learns of her heritage and of the plot to hide the lineage of her grandfather through several plot-based encounters with the hired mercenaries of her grandfather’s brother.

In the second half of the game that follows Eliwood, you embark on a long journey to eradicate an evil and powerful group known as the Black Fang. The Black Fang’s ultimate goal is to open a portal to a netherworld (called the Dragon’s Gate), which would allow the inhabitants of this world (dragons) to come forth and take over their planet.

Fire Emblem is very well put together and includes a lot of polish. The menus are well-done, as is the scene transitions, intros and battles. The sound is top-notch for a Gameboy Advance title; good background music and the sound effects are detailed and unique.

Probably the biggest complaint doesn’t have anything to do with the production value of the game but the limitations of the system itself. The screen is just too small to display a lot of detail at one time, so the trade to display a larger map (and all your characters) is that everything needs to have less detail. Of course, this will probably mean less to the hardcore gamers as the gameplay is rock solid and mean more to the casual as they will most likely long for better visuals.

On a high note, the developers chose to make the battle encounters in a close-up, side-view style, which allowed a high detail to the character styles and animations. This feature can be turned off for those that wish to keep the progress of the battles a little faster paced.

This game hits the hardcore strategy demographic right in the midsection. There is a wealth of depth involved in outfitting your characters with weapons and equipment, and you have several choices along the way to mix and match your “core” team.

Some “purists” might balk at the “user friendly” battle system, but the length of the game and the complexity of the battles will make that a passing complaint.

On the other hand, the casual gamer will probably tire of the same thing over and over. The settings for the battles are varied, and they do a good job of tying them in with the plot of the story, but by the end of the first half of the game, there is most likely not enough variety to carry a casual gamer through the next 20 chapters.

Overall, Fire Emblem is well-rounded enough to appeal to anyone interested in the strategy genre. Mostly it will be how far you make it through the game before something else rivals your fancy. Fire Emblem has an extensive length to the play, especially if you read/follow all the storylines and text (which can always be skipped if you just want to move on by pressing Start). Altogether, there are about 30 chapters to the main game (another 20 if you consider the optional modes to play the second half following a different character of the same party). The main path from start to finish will take an average player about 30 hours, which is probably 20 hours past the attention span of the average gamer, but it’s worth it to the dedicated player to finish — if for nothing more than to complete the compelling story.