Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Review

(The following review was made by a guest reviewer. This means that the N Masters staff has authorized this person’s review and/or the person accepted sharing it with us.)

Radiant Dawn is the second Fire Emblem game in 3D, and a good one at that. It is a sequel to Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for the GC. It takes place 3 years after PoR, and the game consists of 4 parts. The whole game has 42 levels, but they are not evenly spread out throughout the parts.

Gameplay

Gameplay is very similar to that of the other Fire Emblem games, which means it is a strategy game. There are a couple of reasons why I lowered the score (as it would normally be 9 or 10 out of ten)
1. There are a couple of points in the game when the game fails to tell you a vital part of the information, and it’s more than likely you’d decide in that situation against doing the strategically right thing.
2. Toward the end of the game they give some of the last bosses some… weird attacks, and the game fails to note the special abilities of these attacks. This could easily confuse the player, and force them to reset and/or get a game over.

Story

The story was really nice (despite a couple of pointless chapters that could’ve easily been removed), all the way up to part 4. Then I think it had a really BAD plot twist, after an obvious expectation by the player. But, after that the game went on very well with that path. (even though a couple of plot holes popped up at the end)

Graphics

The visuals are beautiful throughout most of the game, but I (as someone who turns Map Only animations on), was disappointed by the lack of advance on the map graphics.

Sound

I really liked the music. Heck, I’m going to get some of it on my iPod XD
It really gets you into the situation in the game, it’s descriptive, and made up for a lot of the holes.

Single-Player

Every single level left me feeling just like the characters. Whether angry, sad, happy, or neutral, they made nearly every level have meaning. There were just a few that left me… do I have to?

Unlockables

There are many unlockables, most on the second playthrough. But sometimes, if you step on the right square, you will get an amazing item. Things you wanted to do on the first playthrough, but couldn’t, are available on the second. And most aren’t unlockables you should know about. Some you have to do kind of… ridiculous things.

Replay Value

Just for a couple of reasons, you will play this game again. You can change the fates of a certain couple… but only if you know how.

This game is also compatible with PoR clear data from GC. Just put the memory card in Slot A, and start the game up. Go to new game, and it will ask you if you want to import data.

WARNING: ANY EASY POR SAVE FILES ON THE MEMORY CARD WILL COMPRIMISE ALL POSSIBILITY OF TRANSFERRING DATA!!!