Hands On: Fire Emblem
Nintendo brings its classic franchise to the GameCube for the first time.
November 04, 2004 - The last time Fire Emblem appeared on a home console was during the days of the Super Famicom. Following three Game Boy Advance entries, the series is at last ready to make a return to the home on the GameCube. We got a chance to try out Fire Emblem: Sousen no Kiseki at the Nintendo World Touch! DS event on Wednesday and were able to get a good idea of what can be expected from the game.
Nintendo had the game set up on just a couple of kiosks, making the wait to play unbearably long. Two levels were selectable for the demo: an early, easy level featuring lots of intermittent story telling, and a battle seven levels into the game featuring enemies en masse. Both demos began with the same impressive animated opening featuring some of the finest toon shaded CG we've seen in a game; Nintendo must have spent a lot on this thing!
If you've played the Game Boy Advance games, Fire Emblem won't be too alien an experience in its GameCube debut. The game retains many of the characteristic features that have become standard for the series. The battle setup is the same, with players taking turns with the enemy, moving their units on a grid and choosing to attack, use items and so-forth. This was our first time playing the GameCube version, but we were able to start off immediately with the more advanced demo.
Presentation also continues with series' tradition. Fans of the series will recognize the fonts and the transition between enemy and ally turns. The story is told in similar fashion, with still, hand-drawn character shots placed in front of static, hand-drawn backgrounds. Developer Intelligent Systems has even retained some of the 16-bit sound effects for the game (we wouldn't have it any other way!).
There's one major difference in the area of presentation: 3D visuals. Much like the upcoming GameCube Advance Wars, Intelligent Systems has gone the 3D route with Sousen no Kiseki. The visuals, including maps and battle-based characters are all polygonal, ditching the sharp 2D of previous entries. We're a bit disappointed at the quality of some of the visuals, as the characters are lacking a bit in detail. The problem is particularly notable with beasts upon which some of the characters ride.
The switch to 3D has brought with it a change to more elaborate battle cut scenes. The game switches to a close up view of the action as characters attack one another. In the demo version, there was a slight pause before a cut scene began, but Nintendo has assured us that this will be cleaned up to make a smooth experience in the final version. And even then, if you don't want to see the same cut scene over and over again, you can opt to switch the cut scenes off and have the characters attack one-another directly over the battle field.
It's worth mentioning that the final version of the title will feature some additional elements that weren't present in the demo. A new skill system will let players select skills to have their units memorize. Units will be able to gain a "Secret" skill, which makes them lose old skills that they'd previously learned, replacing them with a powerful personalized skill. The game will feature all-new units that can actually change form in battle, something that we don't recall having seen in previous entries. Finally, players can look forward to a new battle command which lets strong units force weaker units to move one square on the battle grid; this feature should be useful to push a character just out of reach of an enemy.
These gameplay additions should add even more strategy to the strategy-heavy Fire Emblem experience. Combine the new gameplay options with the classic presentation, which has been perfected over years of development, and all that remains is some tweaking of the game's visuals and attack animations. The Nintendo representative told us that we'll probably have to wait until February before playing the final Japanese version of Fire Emblem: Sousen no Kiseki, but as huge fans of the series, we'll wait.
Quelle: cube.ign.com
Link: http://cube.ign.com/articles/563/563397p1.html?fromint=1
Videos: http://media.cube.ign.com/media/001/001982/vids_1.html
Nintendo brings its classic franchise to the GameCube for the first time.
November 04, 2004 - The last time Fire Emblem appeared on a home console was during the days of the Super Famicom. Following three Game Boy Advance entries, the series is at last ready to make a return to the home on the GameCube. We got a chance to try out Fire Emblem: Sousen no Kiseki at the Nintendo World Touch! DS event on Wednesday and were able to get a good idea of what can be expected from the game.
Nintendo had the game set up on just a couple of kiosks, making the wait to play unbearably long. Two levels were selectable for the demo: an early, easy level featuring lots of intermittent story telling, and a battle seven levels into the game featuring enemies en masse. Both demos began with the same impressive animated opening featuring some of the finest toon shaded CG we've seen in a game; Nintendo must have spent a lot on this thing!
If you've played the Game Boy Advance games, Fire Emblem won't be too alien an experience in its GameCube debut. The game retains many of the characteristic features that have become standard for the series. The battle setup is the same, with players taking turns with the enemy, moving their units on a grid and choosing to attack, use items and so-forth. This was our first time playing the GameCube version, but we were able to start off immediately with the more advanced demo.
Presentation also continues with series' tradition. Fans of the series will recognize the fonts and the transition between enemy and ally turns. The story is told in similar fashion, with still, hand-drawn character shots placed in front of static, hand-drawn backgrounds. Developer Intelligent Systems has even retained some of the 16-bit sound effects for the game (we wouldn't have it any other way!).
There's one major difference in the area of presentation: 3D visuals. Much like the upcoming GameCube Advance Wars, Intelligent Systems has gone the 3D route with Sousen no Kiseki. The visuals, including maps and battle-based characters are all polygonal, ditching the sharp 2D of previous entries. We're a bit disappointed at the quality of some of the visuals, as the characters are lacking a bit in detail. The problem is particularly notable with beasts upon which some of the characters ride.
The switch to 3D has brought with it a change to more elaborate battle cut scenes. The game switches to a close up view of the action as characters attack one another. In the demo version, there was a slight pause before a cut scene began, but Nintendo has assured us that this will be cleaned up to make a smooth experience in the final version. And even then, if you don't want to see the same cut scene over and over again, you can opt to switch the cut scenes off and have the characters attack one-another directly over the battle field.
It's worth mentioning that the final version of the title will feature some additional elements that weren't present in the demo. A new skill system will let players select skills to have their units memorize. Units will be able to gain a "Secret" skill, which makes them lose old skills that they'd previously learned, replacing them with a powerful personalized skill. The game will feature all-new units that can actually change form in battle, something that we don't recall having seen in previous entries. Finally, players can look forward to a new battle command which lets strong units force weaker units to move one square on the battle grid; this feature should be useful to push a character just out of reach of an enemy.
These gameplay additions should add even more strategy to the strategy-heavy Fire Emblem experience. Combine the new gameplay options with the classic presentation, which has been perfected over years of development, and all that remains is some tweaking of the game's visuals and attack animations. The Nintendo representative told us that we'll probably have to wait until February before playing the final Japanese version of Fire Emblem: Sousen no Kiseki, but as huge fans of the series, we'll wait.
Quelle: cube.ign.com
Link: http://cube.ign.com/articles/563/563397p1.html?fromint=1
Videos: http://media.cube.ign.com/media/001/001982/vids_1.html
