The image above belongs to its respective owner, not me
Hello Enthusiasts,It seems that the games I've been playing as I recover from Christmas spending seem to be ones that I already have or ones that are free for me to get. With that being said, today I will be reviewing a fairly new free-to-play mobile game by Nintendo, Fire Emblem: Heroes.
This title ties in with other Fire Emblem all of the other games in the franchise (full disclosure, I haven't played them all, but this is what my research suggests). You play as (your name here), a summoner who can summon any heroes from any of the previous Fire Emblem games, though you don't get to choose who you summon. Unlike some games of the past, your character isn't actually in the game as a fighter, instead playing the background role of tactician. The story revolves around a group of heroes that assist in guarding the various realms within the Fire Emblem universe, such as the "World of Mystery" and the "World of Awakening". As anyone who has played the games before will recognize, each world is a different Fire Emblem game, and each one includes specific characters from those games. There is, of course, a threat to the order and these worlds, one who is able to have each world's heroes fight for her. To do this she doesn't use mind control or blackmail, but instead tricks them into being bound by contracts that require them to fight for her until they encounter a hero too strong to handle. I am not mentioning the name of this villain, because there isn't a whole lot of story here for a Fire Emblem game and I don't want to spoil everything (which is also why I won't mention her motivations at all).
As you move through and save the various worlds you have a team of four that you fight with. You will, of course, unlock a lot of additional heroes, but a team will only consist of four of them. Each one level's up individually, and the stats from leveling up are raised automatically rather than allowing the player to upgrade the stats manually. There are four main types of heroes, which are assigned different colors and has different strengths or weaknesses:
Red - Strong against green, weak against blue, generally armed with swords or magic
Green - Strong against blue, weak against red, generally armed with axes or magic
Blue - Strong against red, weak against green, generally armed with lances or magic
Grey - no strengths or weaknesses, generally armed with bows or magic staffs
So any characters armed with magic or bows are ranged, so they cannot attack or counter if they are adjacent to their target/attacker. This does add to the tactics and planning, as they can attack through walls or trees, so attacking close characters through an obstacle with one of these characters is ideal. This game is not as punishing as other titles in the series, as deaths are not permanent, but that is sort of expected with it being a mobile game. What can be difficult though is building experience. Even though character deaths aren't permanent, a character who dies on a level will not receive any of the benefits they earned while they were alive on that stage. This even applies if one of your characters levels up from building XP, so it is still in your best interest not to play too haphazardly.
There are some strong positives to this one, one of which is the strict nostalgia that comes with seeing so many characters from previous titles that you love. I was thrilled when I unlocked Robin and he was immediately placed onto my team. The movement and fighting is pretty simple, and the game gives you the outcome of an individual battle before you engage in it. However, the game does nothing to warn you that moving you character to a particular spot may be a bad idea outside of that single battle, such as being in range of other characters that can take yours down. This means that, while some areas have been made easier, others have still held some difficulty. Another big positive for me is that Nintendo has announced that, at least for a while, there will be updates to this game released every other week. This is great news, since the main story of the game isn't too long (although each level has normal, hard, and lunatic difficulties that you can play on). A huge positive for me is that this is, indeed, a FREE game; money is not required to win and I have not yet felt like I was at a disadvantage for not pouring cash into the game. This ties heavily into the fact that even the best and more rare characters will still start out at level one. While they are more powerful than other level one characters, they still can't complete with characters that have spent a lot of time in battle and obtained a mountain of XP.
The game isn't perfect though, and I feel like a good amount of that comes from something I've mentioned a few times already, the difficulty. Fire Emblem games have been, traditionally, pretty unforgiving. If a hero dies, they are dead. If you make a wrong move, recovering can be a task. This game goes as far as allowing players to revive all of their characters in a battle if the last one falls by using one summoning orb. It takes anywhere from three to five orbs to summon a new character, but it takes just one to revive your whole team. The maps are also pretty small, and you will sometimes start out a match with all of your characters stuck in a hallway-like area with only one exit, so you are basically lining up for battle instead of working to gain a tactical advantage. Also, even though there will be those updates I mentioned before, the short main story included at release is noticeably short, even for a mobile game.
Despite any issues I have with this game, this title really is a testament to the types of games that be one mobile devices now. This game wouldn't be worth the price of a new console title, but it is better than it should be for free (don't tell Nintendo). If you have a smart phone and enjoy strategy games, I would recommend this title. It may not be the most challenging game, but for a mobile game, it more than pulls its own wait.
I give Fire Emblem: Heroes an 8 out of 10
Sincerely,
The Bored Enthusiast
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