Comming to America (Fire Emblem Path of Radience)

You ever remember looking up information for Super Smash Bros Melee and seeing two characters named Marth and Roy and saying "who the hell are these people?". You stare at their information on Wikipedia and still can't remember where you have seen them from. Then you go to the trophy section in Melee when you finally get the game, look up their information, and are still like "who?". Everything makes since when you finally look at the game information and see a "Japan Only" right next to something called "Fire Emblem".

Well in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, you finally get your hands on the NINTH Fire Emblem game (most likely after cussing out the random guy in Japan who decided to be so stingy with the series until this one). This game came on to the Gamecube in 2005, using the popularity of Marth and Roy to their advantage, some guy in Japan thought it was about time that America gets it try at a Fire Emblem game without having to download it on the internet or through connections (some spiteful guy at an anime convention somewhere).

Before anyone says anything, Fire Emblem is a tatical rpg. Meaning a game of chest but an interesting game of chest. You get a number of people, a field to fight on, and some eniemies to beat down. Of course like any game of chest, your knights and horses and whatever (I don't play chest) are not as important as long as they are protecting the queen or king in this matter. If the king dies then the game is over but if one of your knights die then the game continues.

But do not go throwing whoever into battle for the hell of it! If one of your people die then they are gone for good! They might also disappear from your story too or either talk in the story and not show up on the field at all. You will need some characters in order to recruit more people to your side too. Fire Emblem makes thinking in rpg's important! There are all types of characters to put on the field and each one has an advantage and a disadvantage against other. For example swords will beat axes but axes will beat lances. People with bows and arrows can not attack up front but they can attack from a far. So please think of the archers! They have feelings too you know.

The story tries to break away from Fire Emblem tradition with a none lord character as the leader but they failed to get rid of the blue haired cliche so I am not sure what they were trying to accomplish. The main character Ike belongs to a group of mercenaries who are hired to take care of various bandits and problems through out the land. Ike is the typical humble hero who will help anyone good in hand. His yawn fest of a life changes when he finds a physically weak princess in the woods one day. She hires him and his group to help her out to bring her kingdom (well Queendom but people are never that accurate are they?) back to order.

You will get to travel a few lands and meet interesting people such as the laguz, a race of animals who are furries one moment and beasts that can kill the next moment. Treat them like archers in their human like forms who can not attack until they turn into beasts. They have feelings too...

Although the story gets better later on, there are a few plot holes left for an obvious sequel and some things just bug me (Dragon laguzes are considered rare and impossible to find until toward the end where they are just about everywhere. Yeah...).

Anyone who loves tactical planning may enjoy this game. For the people who just want to get in and beat the crap out of people instead of waiting their turn may really hate this game. It never hurts to try though!