Fire Emblem: Souen no Kiseki (RPG Special) (GameCube) Preview

Most of you must have at least seen one or two screenshots of the GBA versions of Fire Emblem and for those of you that have only seen the game in that form without ever playing Fire Emblem will no doubt have more than just a passing likeness to another popular strategy series from Nintendo and Intelligent Systems – Advance Wars. But in no way is this a simple 'Cube Wars'; it is, in fact, a fully-fledged Strategy RPG experience right here on your very lovely little, yet extremely powerful, GameCube console.

'Unfurl the banners and lead the charge!', shouts Nintendo, obviously excited about the latest in the series…and from what we have seen so far we should also have such high levels of anticipation. The storyline is basic, yet perfectly effective, with the premise being that the territory of Tellius is in the throes of a gruesome war that is terrorising everyone and everything in the vicinity. Therefore it is your duty to rule and oversee a throng of mercenaries that have pledged their undying loyalty to nobody but your brave self. Taking charge of Ike, his comrade-in-arms Tiamat, as well as ‘skin-shifters’ (that are able to change into beasts) and ‘taliesins’ (winged humans who attack from the air), you must guide them all to ultimate victory against the foes from the Kingdom of Daein.

The action is primarily turn-based, with players passing on their orders to the individual members of their brigade on the stunning three-dimensional battlefields and hoping that the final result will be sufficient enough to warrant an overall triumph during the gorgeous fight sequences. As your characters fight on more of a regular basis they will eventually gain increasing amounts of experience that helps you decide how to shape their personal abilities. By utilising special skill sets throughout the game you can mould your team of knights, pike men and mounted cavaliers into an indestructible power that is feared by mages, monsters and various madmen around the world.

Each of the strategic war battles that your knights, cavaliers, lords and Pegasus knights enter has a specific objective attached to make matters more interesting overall. Most of the winning conditions will entail you simply defeating all of your oncoming enemies, whereas some may require you to make certain key locations your own.