As your average gamer, I have a shameful backlog of games I need to play.  In a desperate attempt to both polish off some of these games and write reviews, I combine the two and write reviews several months or years after games come out.   It's intended less as a review for the consumer and more for the casual reader.  Today I review Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon for the Nintendo DS - my first Fire Emblem game.  Enjoy!

If the critics are right, and Nintendo is losing its touch with the hardcore base, then the big-time publisher better be kissing the feet of developer Intelligent Systems.  Despite solid gameplay and lush visuals, Fire Emblem is decidedly very uncharacteristic of the Nintendo of this generation.  No, the light of heart need not apply here - Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is as much about loss and war as it is about knights and mages.  Save for a frustratingly non-immersive storyline, Shadow Dragon forges deep, difficult, and satisfying gameplay and holds up extremely well considering it's a remake of the 20-year-old original Fire Emblem.

Series mainstay Marth stars in Shadow Dragon as the prince of Altea, who must defend his kingdom after the shadow dragon Medeus returns to once again take over the continent.   The game begins with Marth awaiting his father's return, who has gone to battle Medeus with the legendary sword Falchion.  It doesn't take too much foresight to determine what happens next - get used to that feeling, because the story in Shadow Dragon is lacking at best.  Marth moves from mission A to mission B, with a little filler in between but nothing substantial.  No branch paths are ever afforded to the player, and there is little to do in missions that substantially affect the story.  It's disappointing; many tactical RPG's thrive on an excellent story driven by war-time politics and heroic intrigue.  It's a remake of a 20 year old game, sure, but you can't help but wish you felt more immersed in the kingdom of Archanea.

The combat is done in a manner similar to Advance Wars for fans of that series - a grid system allows each character in your army (usually in the realm of 15 characters) to move a certain amount of squares each turn, and then engage in turn based combat with the enemy if they are close enough.  Battles are simple enough - a unique rock-paper-scissors combination of weapons keeps things tactical (in this case, it's axes, lances, and swords) and different classes have advantages over others (keep your flying units away from archers!).  It's a solid system that works well - strategy is so key in the early and late game that success feels very satisfying.

In contrast, defeat is a bitter pill to swallow in Fire Emblem.  Fans of the series will be on familiar ground in Shadow Dragon - if a character dies, they die for good.  No resurrections, no undead, no phoenix downs.  They're gone for the rest of the game, and the only way to get them back is to reset your DS and do it over again.  Limited save opportunties make every move a heavy decision and every battle an important one.  It's likely that you'll at least once or twice reset the system to get somebody back, but death here is unavoidable - some of your soldiers will die.  It brings intensity to the gameplay, and weight to the decisions you make.  It's rare that a game makes you think about death, but Shadow Dragon (and Fire Emblem in general) will surprise you.   It's probable that once or twice you will opt to leave behind some of your favorite characters from the game - despite the lacking story, you grow very attached to individuals whom you've commanded for ten or twenty missions.

Permanent deaths are reflective of the game's difficulty in general - strategy is a necessity or you aren't going to make it very far.  The normal difficulty alone will punish newcomers and veterans alike, not to mention the game's five hard modes.  It's refreshing for a lot of core gamers, and genuinely difficult games are growing so rare that you'll probably end up appreciating the game for what it is.  Victory in absolutely every mission comes with both relief and enthusiasm - you reap what you sow, and in Shadow Dragon it's very satisfying.

The missions themselves can grow stagnant after a while, but Intelligent Systems clearly did their best to keep them varied.  Most take place either on a battlefield or inside the walls of a castle with the simple objective to take over a spot on the other side of the map.  Occasionally, gameplay elements are tweaked or an unexpected variable is added to the mission, which helps keep things fresh and forces the player to think outside the box a bit.  Despite this, mission objectives still feel rather formulaic and ocassionally bland.  Fortunately, the change in terrain and different opposing armies still manage to keep the core gameplay enjoyable.

Fans of RPG's and strategy games will almost certainly find something to like here.  Story junkies might be turned off, but it'd be a shame to ignore a game which does a tactical RPG like it should be done.  Newcomers to the Nintendo platform this generation may end up struggling through the difficult campaign and death mechanics, but those familiar with Nintendo games of old will feel right at home.  If Nintendo has indeed strayed from the path, it's good to know developers like Intelligent Systems are still willing to light the way.

8.5/10