Not the best Fire Emblem but close

by Peter Fiorilla

Fun factor: Average

Worth to: Buy

This new entry into the Fire Emblem franchise might not be the best but it introduces enough new features to remind fans why the series is so widely appreciated.

Intelligent Systems is arguably the most accomplished developer worldwide when it comes to portable strategy, and their most recent entry in the long-running Fire Emblem series will transform newcomers into believers. A port of the original game never released outside of Japan, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon deserves to be bought by both those tiring of the series formula and those who have yet to enjoy the timeless mash-up of strategy and role-playing the franchise is known for. Introducing worthwhile aspects of the series found in no other title and sporting some of the best portable strategy around, Shadow Dragon is a pleasant reminder of why the series is so widely appreciated.

2D goodness with stylish presentation

A significant advantage of developing a 2D DS title is that by default it will look better than most 3D DS titles, and developing a 2D title with 3D skillfully worked in results in a portable looker. The attention to detail is surprising on a system full of games marred by low budgets and rushed products; even the lowliest of grunts have their own pretty character portraits, and when characters switch weapon types it shows in battle. Battle sequences bring the protagonists to life; watching a 3D Marth spar in beautiful, brief sequences is a treat. Grid-based maps (seen in a top-down perspective) are also appealing, sporting enough detail to look good yet not so much that they become cluttered or difficult to comprehend at a glance.



This appealing presentation extends to storytelling. Brief cutscenes progress the tale and boast impressive artwork and solid writing is done in a third-person omniscent perspective (voice acting is a lost opportunity, unfortunately). No matter how well the narrative is delivered, however, it cannot change the quality of the story -- which is subpar.

Countries all across the land have been invaded by the evil forces of the shadow dragon, and the Kingdom of Atlea is no exception. Cue Marth, heroic Prince adept in the ways of the sword, fleeing Atlea with the knowledge that his kin are either dead or soon to be so. He swears revenge on his enemies and slowly raises an army of men loyal to the Atlean cause. There are dozens of characters to recruit, found both in and out of battle. Most of them have mildly entertaining backstories more interesting than the main plot.

The story sucks but strategy rocks

The black-and-white epic of Marth and his men is unoriginal and basic -- unsurprising for a script written nearly twenty years ago -- but standards have been raised significantly since 1990. The lack of character development is disturbing. Understandably the developers may have been cautious to give characters too much dialogue, as the possibility of a character dying before speaking their lines is a likely one (characters that fall in battle are dead permanently), but that does not make it any less an unattractive aspect of the writing. Intelligent Systems has never been known for complex tragic narratives, and Shadow Dragon ensures they never will be.

What Intelligent Systems is universally renowned for is their expertise in producing high quality chess-esque games where every move is important. Not planning a strategy before positioning protagonists could result the death of an ally; it takes only one chain to break the link, and that phrase rings true in Fire Emblem. The permanent loss of an ally has the potential to ruin the player’s entire campaign, which means losing an ally tends to result in the player rebooting their DS in frustration at how a moment’s stupidity cost them half an hour. It can be frustrating, but it is entirely the player’s fault if they lose time. Shadow Dragon is perfectly balanced and even on hard the AI never reaches ‘cheap’ status. However, it would be heavenly to have the ability to save at any time during battles (as it is, there are one or two save points per battle that may only be used once).



The joy Fire Emblem inspires in virtual warmongers is largely thanks to the impressive level of customization available. Each class has its own unique stats, weapons and abilities, yet despite the depth are so perfectly balanced one could make comparisons to the genius of Valve’s Team Fortress 2. Precious currency found by interacting with the map can be used to Buy and Forge weapons. Forging is spending gold to upgrade a weapon, and can be used to slightly improve a weapon or significantly overhaul it (depending on how full the player’s coffers are). This is never overpowered, as weapons break after a pre-determined number of uses, and each weapon has its weakness fighting against other weapons (swords beat axes, axes beat lances, lances beat swords).

A sensory feast in single player

Maps are suitably large and designed so that a balanced party is required, and as each new class is introduced so is its bane. Traversing a variety of scenarios (including dungeons, mountains, forests, etc.) gradually gets tougher as the campaign wears on, and inexperienced players will be hard pressed to reach the game’s conclusion. If they do, however, they will enjoy a high level of satisfaction few portable strategy titles can offer.

Shadow Dragon’s most noticeable feature is its online play, a first for the series. Maps available are of competent quality and other options, such as Fog of War and Voice Chat, are thankfully present -- discouragingly, other important aspects of Wi-Fi gaming are not. While an interesting addition to the series, online play is not worth investing much time into largely because of the bare-bones method it is presented in. Shadow Dragon’s online is lacking Stat Tracking (beyond the most basic form), Online Rankings, any sort of online hierarchy and map-sharing (available in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin).

It is also restricted to five-man 1v1 Death Matches, a generic and uninteresting premise. It may be a portable title, and compared to the system’s library, Shadow Dragon’s Wi-Fi play is easily in the top10 online modes for the system, but realistically is something to try out and abandon within a short time frame. It feels like the single player campaign without the interesting scenarios, large number of characters and level designs; the novelty of playing Fire Emblem online is short-lived once the player realizes it is better playing Shadow Dragon solo.



It is also better to play Fire Emblem with headphones, as excellent sound design and a decent fantasy-themed orchestral soundtrack are complimentary to the overall production. The background music is constantly changing as characters charge into battle, and each army has its own engaging battle clip. The whinnying of a horse or crackle of a thunderbolt sound great, and while parts of the score and sound effects may occasionally feel as if they are used too frequently, it is expected of a game that lasts for so long. Any and all songs get old after a few hundred playthroughs, regardless of quality.

Summary

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon may not be the prettiest, complicated or longest lasting entry in the series (Path of Radiance is still the most engaging Fire Emblem yet), nor is it trying to be. However it does give gamers a glimpse of the origins of a well-loved franchise and tests a long overdue feature for it. Arguably the finest strategy RPG on the DS, newbies and veterans alike will find themselves addicted soon after booting the game up... If not to find out what happens to Marth and his tragically mysterious cohorts.