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Fire Emblem: Awakening
3DS
Released On: Feb 4, 2013
9.0
All Platforms
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 72 Critic Reviews
92
100% Positive
72 Reviews
72 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 72 Critic Reviews
92
100% Positive
72 Reviews
72 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
A great turn-based strategy game surpassing not only its blood-related predecessors but step-brothers and step-sisters of the Advance Wars series as well. Fire Emblem: Awakening is the new benchmark of the genre that is practically uncriticizable. At the moment on Nintendo 3DS there is not a better alternative.
Fire Emblem: Awakening tells a simple, yet gripping and heartfelt story told through characters that feel as real as family members.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 1,713 User Ratings
9.0
90% Positive
1544 Ratings
1544 Ratings
5% Mixed
83 Ratings
83 Ratings
5% Negative
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 1,713 User Ratings
9.0
90% Positive
1544 Ratings
1544 Ratings
5% Mixed
83 Ratings
83 Ratings
5% Negative
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
With an amazing story (with three arcs that to me are pretty solidly good), an amazing cast of characters, a masterpiece of a soundtrack, and an overall pretty good gameplay (this aspect being probably the weakest of the game) Fire Emblem Awakening is a masterpiece that is not only probably the best game on the 3DS, but also one of the best games of all time.
Report
3DS
A truly excellent tactical role-playing game. [June 2013]
Do yourselves a favor and buy this one. And if you don't have a 3DS, get one in a bundle. Then show it all your friends and colleagues so that they proceed to do the same as you. This way, and no disrespect to Fire Emblem, maybe Intelligent Systems can procure the resources to produce a Game of Thrones spin-off I keep dreaming about.
Fire Emblem: Awakening won’t go down in history as the game that revolutionized a franchise or genre. However, traditional turn-based tactics has rarely been more compelling.
Just because this is more accessible than most for newbies does not make it any less of a tactical game, hardly the best-selling genre in the gaming world. Awakening is nevertheless a genuine treat for anyone seeking a deeply rewarding tactical title on the 3DS, and a fine return of the series to the English-speaking world after the last game missed out.
As a Fire Emblem newbie, then, I’m now a fully-fledged convert. Intelligent Systems has never shown a weakness in its strategical prowess, but the fact it also has strong storytelling and characterisation chops came as a pleasant, if not entirely unexpected, treat.
Easily one of the best Fire Emblem games if not THE best fire emblem game in the series it does geneology of the holy war proud, and the biggest sin of the fire emblem series was allowing three houses to ruin an amazing system that awakening expanded upon and wash it over with horribly boring and mundane persona romances.
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3DS
A great starting point for a new fire emblem fan, but very mediocre overall. Uninteresting characters, boring map design, mediocre story, etc. The music and customization easily propel this game higher than I would have given it otherwise, but its direct successor both has better music and much more in depth customization, along with better maps
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3DS
My opinion of Awakening has really changed since launch. I think the game is perfectly fine for the new crop of casual fans. It has more accessibility options than past games, and it features a lot of grinding and over-powered child units that more causal or rpg gamers will enjoy.
But Awakening is not a very good Fire Emblem game. On Normal difficulty, it is far too easy. Any knowledge of who the best characters are, knowledge of how to use pair-up optimally, how and when to use second seals properly, and what classes are good for units to go into will completely trivialize the game on Normal difficulty. No grinding or marriage is necessary.
So this leads me into Hard Mode, which takes a very casual, easy game and transforms it into one of the most unfair and inflexible entries in the entire franchise. Instead of just adding more enemies and increasing the stats to stiffen the challenge, the game features same-turn reinforcements - otherwise known as Ambush Spawns - and these can be brutally unfair as you have no idea how many of these reinforcements are coming, how many waves of them will come, and what types of weapons you will be dealing with. Awakening absolutely loves creating 4-8 new enemy units and moving them on the same turn, and many of these units do high damage and have 1-2 range weapons, making it extremely difficult to protect weaker units despite being safe when you ended your turn. Because of this, the game heavily restricts which characters you can use because most of them will die.
By Chapter 17, the game devolves into using Chrom and Robin the most, where these will probably be the only two units that can survive the random ambushes, turn after turn, because they become so overpowered. Tharja and a few others can also do this, but 90%+ of the characters in the game are basically useless due to poor bases and classes. Even characters like Sumia become liabilities because so many enemies and same-turn reinforcements use Silver Bows and super-effective tomes. To avoid unit losses, you are basically forced not to deploy them at all and solo the game with just a few paired-up characters. It is the least rewarding and least fun way to play the game.
So basically, Normal difficulty is too easy and Hard is way too frustrating and inflexible - there is no middle ground here. Hard mode devolves into just using S-tier characters with over-powered builds that snowball out of control. Any sense of strategy is completely gone, and that is why Awakening is a bad Fire Emblem game.
Normal mode I give a 7, and Hard Mode I give a 0. It's not that Hard Mode is hard - it's easy if you just use Chrom and Robin - but it's incredibly boring and unsatisfying and poorly balanced and unfair when playing blind.
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3DS
Well technically functional and with competent presentation, the elements that go into making fire emblem awakening wind up creating a mediocre game in terms of look, sound, and story content. This could be forgiven if the game wasn't a dull game-play experience as well, providing little in the way of a structured challenge at normal and hard difficulty, and relying on cheap tricks and poor design on lunatic and higher. If you want a good story and compelling characters, look elsewhere. If you want challenging game-play, look elsewhere. If you want to munch on a game equivalent of pringles, go nuts. However, pringles are unworthy of critical praise.
Report
3DS
Summary Lead an army of soldiers in a series of scaled turn-based strategy battles. In the process, develop relationships with your team, utilizing their special abilities on the battlefield to gain victory and advance the story, which features a wide array of characters from a variety of nations and backgrounds. They can be joined by a characte...
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- 3DS
Initial Release Date: Feb 4, 2013
Developer:
- Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Genres: