Fire Emblem: Awakening

 3DS
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 1633 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,475 out of 1633
  2. Mixed: 78 out of 1633
  3. Negative: 80 out of 1633
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  1. midipon
    Apr 26, 2014
    3
    I wanted to like this game, I did...but it doesn't hold up. Your grind to survive on the flat, tedious maps, grind to marry your bland team mates off, grind to get skills, etc etc etc! But then it doesn't even pay off. The game is too short for you to fully enjoy what you've done with your team, but its not like it matters much anyway since the characters and story are boring and harp onI wanted to like this game, I did...but it doesn't hold up. Your grind to survive on the flat, tedious maps, grind to marry your bland team mates off, grind to get skills, etc etc etc! But then it doesn't even pay off. The game is too short for you to fully enjoy what you've done with your team, but its not like it matters much anyway since the characters and story are boring and harp on its black and white morality. There are much better games out there.… Expand
  2. BitterSpud
    May 17, 2017
    4
    Well technically functional and with competent presentation, the elements that go into making fire emblem awakening wind up creating a mediocre game in terms of look, sound, and story content. This could be forgiven if the game wasn't a dull game-play experience as well, providing little in the way of a structured challenge at normal and hard difficulty, and relying on cheap tricks andWell technically functional and with competent presentation, the elements that go into making fire emblem awakening wind up creating a mediocre game in terms of look, sound, and story content. This could be forgiven if the game wasn't a dull game-play experience as well, providing little in the way of a structured challenge at normal and hard difficulty, and relying on cheap tricks and poor design on lunatic and higher. If you want a good story and compelling characters, look elsewhere. If you want challenging game-play, look elsewhere. If you want to munch on a game equivalent of pringles, go nuts. However, pringles are unworthy of critical praise.… Expand
  3. KmowXIV
    Jun 19, 2016
    0
    I have been playing Fire Emblem since the second game in the series. Not the second localised one, the actual second game on the Famicom. Seeing this... Destruction of a franchise I hold near and dear to my heart, and then to see people praising it... Well, it was enough to make me give up on this series. So... Where do I begin?
    The plot is garbage. It feels like 3 stories glued together,    I have been playing Fire Emblem since the second game in the series. Not the second localised one, the actual second game on the Famicom. Seeing this... Destruction of a franchise I hold near and dear to my heart, and then to see people praising it... Well, it was enough to make me give up on this series. So... Where do I begin?
    The plot is garbage. It feels like 3 stories glued together, with plot holes ridden throughout, as well as feeling like less of an SRPG and more of a Visual Novel. Characters can barely be called such, all of them have a single personality trait, and that's it. It's sad when Fire Emblem 4, which came out almost 20 years ago, has more developed and 3-dimensional characters.
    The gameplay is departure from even the previous game, and has so little strategy, that the closest you get is a game mode where people write guides on how to do exactly everything. When the beauty of Fire Emblem comes in the customization. Seriously, If you want a good Fire Emblem game with a Mature story (something people who praise this game claim it has), go play Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.    … Expand
  4. Yackole
    Apr 30, 2017
    4
    Overall, this game is somewhat lacklustre. If it is compared to older Fire Emblem games in the series, this doesn't come anywhere near their level of quality. Most of the appeal of this game is the fanservice, which isn't what should be focused on in STRATEGY a game. The early game map design is pretty spot-on, but as the late game approaches, get ready to say hello to a bunch of bland,Overall, this game is somewhat lacklustre. If it is compared to older Fire Emblem games in the series, this doesn't come anywhere near their level of quality. Most of the appeal of this game is the fanservice, which isn't what should be focused on in STRATEGY a game. The early game map design is pretty spot-on, but as the late game approaches, get ready to say hello to a bunch of bland, empty grids. The gameplay falls short in every aspect, with constant "rout the enemy" or "defeat commander" missions that get old real quick. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance had great variety in map objectives, where sometimes certain squares needed to be defended from the enemy for X amount of turns, or escape all units from the map. They had depth, which I cannot say for any of the Awakening chapters. Let's not forget about Lunatic and Lunatic+, as they create fake difficulty by simply increasing the enemies' stats to a point where success in the early game is up to RNG. All strategy is lost and you have to rely on the aforementioned RNG and grinding all of your units to be gods. This game certainly didn't receive such positive reviews for its gameplay, so I am grading it based on that, and a solid 4/10 seems about right.… Expand
  5. gabriot
    Mar 27, 2016
    3
    This release of call of dut- I mean Fire Emblem brings *shock* nothing new to the table yet again in this tired franchise that everyone somehow loves. This particular installment garners praise from fans and critics alike. Why? I have no idea.

    Where to begin... The difficulty is just a joke. You play on normal mode and it's too easy unless it's your first time ever playing a game    This release of call of dut- I mean Fire Emblem brings *shock* nothing new to the table yet again in this tired franchise that everyone somehow loves. This particular installment garners praise from fans and critics alike. Why? I have no idea.

    Where to begin...

    The difficulty is just a joke. You play on normal mode and it's too easy unless it's your first time ever playing a game like this, you play on hard and it just isn't fun at all. On hard there is pretty much zero strategy, your only option is to just go all in on a few OP characters and literally never have anyone else fight (or else they just get one shotted from ANYWHERE).

    Some of the missions are so horribly designed that there is literally nothing you can do on the harder modes unless you just keep reloading when rng doesn't go your way (looking at you paralogue #2). Oh and they were kind enough not to include a restart mission or restart game option, you know something that games have had since the early nineties - so to add to your frustration you have to hard reset the game each **** time **** strikes during a mission (which is FAR too often).

    Same classes as EVERY other fire emblem game, same exact class progression as EVERY other fire emblem game, same awful dialogue and awful storyline as EVERY other fire emblem game, and same exacty party makeup from start to finish as - you guessed it - EVERY other fire emblem game.

    If you enjoy throwing full priced triple A money at games like Call of Duty and Madden that re-release the same game for a decade, or if having to only really play the game with 3 different character classes since every other single one gets one-shotted no matter how "strategic" you try to be (really the only strategy in this game is praying to the RNG gods you don't get crit'd) then THIS is the game for you! Such a good game, right up there with all the greats, TOTALLY deserving of a 9+ score! Thanks everyone for leading me to believe this was an actual good fire emblem game for once, I'll never trust you again.    … Expand
  6. thehonestwalrus
    Jan 9, 2018
    0
    Beautiful music, artwork, and story. Only flaw is the small section of filler.
  7. Nightshroud
    Apr 12, 2016
    0
    Thanks to the good reviews I decided to try the game expecting to be a really nice game, but sadly the reality was another, this game is full of grinding, and the worst of all, is just the kind of grinding that doesn't reward you at all, the maps are very awfully designed and it hasn't any replay value, so thanks for making me throw 45€ for this BS.
  8. RightEOThen
    Mar 19, 2013
    4
    I love Fire Emblem.
    I just want to preface this review by saying that I love the series and that Fire Emblem 7 (just called Fire Emblem here in the States) is my favorite game of all time. The problem with Fire Emblem Awakening lies in the way it drifts so far from what Fire Emblem should be. Fire Emblem is a series of some of the best strategy games of all time. Games with near perfect    I love Fire Emblem.
    I just want to preface this review by saying that I love the series and that Fire Emblem 7 (just called Fire Emblem here in the States) is my favorite game of all time. The problem with Fire Emblem Awakening lies in the way it drifts so far from what Fire Emblem should be. Fire Emblem is a series of some of the best strategy games of all time. Games with near perfect linear game design, compelling (if not a little dry) stories, and a flair for inventing new concepts for other strategy games to follow. And all of it is placed alongside one of the best systems of strategy combat in history, forcing a player to face up to the real possibility of losing their soldiers.
    But Fire Emblem Awakening does not do the series proud.
    Some of the hate I have for Awakening could be grounded in its divergence from all things Fire Emblem, but I dislike it even more because it tricked me into thinking the whole game would be as good as the first couple chapters. Fire Emblem Awakening does away with the linear style of old Fire Emblem games. At first, this was exciting, but later on I found it made the game devoid of challenge as ranking up your team is far too easy when the battles never stop. There is no point in trying to include weaker characters, no point in trying to form a solid team, and no point in playing on permadeath mode anymore, because the game never actually ends. Sure, there is a final level, but it doesn't matter when you consider that there is no end to the fighting. The game is built for casual mode, which might as well put the nail in the coffin of a series that defined itself as a linear series that had games with a set end. You worked to build a team strong enough to win the war, and lost comrades on the way. But now, every comrade lost is just one less character available for the infinite fights after the end credits roll. Losing a character isn't something you can just keep on without, as their is so much more game to play.
    Of course, the combat is still good despite the poor design, leaving the developer to work on a good story. Unfortunately, the story is an overdone JRPG story featuring a cast of about five relevant characters. The danger in the story isn't real because none of the characters take it seriously. They carry on with their laughably unfunny single trait "personalities" and their pointless conversations while the world falls apart around them in a sea of enemy blood. Now, I realize that Fire Emblem games of the past haven't set the world on fire with their stories, but they at least had some serious enough moments in them to make the world threatening danger somewhat believable.
    Now, the counter argument might be that all of this fits the tone and theme of the game, and it does. But the problem with Fire Emblem Awakening is that it just isn't a Fire Emblem game anymore. Its more comparable to Final Fantasy Tactics than Fire Emblem.
    And as such, it shouldn't have spent time trying to be a Fire Emblem game.
    To sum up this admittedly long winded review, Fire Emblem Awakening is not a Fire Emblem game. If you want to see a good Fire Emblem game, their are about 10 other games in the series (excluding the dull Shadow Dragon) that have not only aged well due to their great combat and well done stories, but that also qualify as Fire Emblem games in feeling, design and execution. Its a sad day to see an IP be turned around and made into something completely different, but I hold out hope that the inevitable next Fire Emblem game gets it right.    … Expand
  9. megabear
    Jan 3, 2018
    0
    I've been playing for about a week and below are my impressions:

    Pros:
    - Solid gameplay
    - Good graphics
    - Good OST

    Cons:
    - Cheesy/weak story
    - Poor English voice acting

    I personally found this game to be a great disappointment after having read so many positive reviews.
  10. Hypie
    Oct 6, 2015
    0
    To make it Short the Title Fire Emblem: Grinding would be more matching. Like Midipon already said you grind levels, skills, some boring marriage stuff but it's not rewarding at all...
  11. Jacer200
    Aug 14, 2013
    4
    This was my very first time playing Fire Emblem. I have to say that I love all rpg including jrpg. But I just couldn't get into this game at all. I played for about 3 hours and just shut down the game. I know people love this game but I just did not find it fun. The anime cut scenes are fun to watch but the in game interactions between characters where quit dull. The graphics are great forThis was my very first time playing Fire Emblem. I have to say that I love all rpg including jrpg. But I just couldn't get into this game at all. I played for about 3 hours and just shut down the game. I know people love this game but I just did not find it fun. The anime cut scenes are fun to watch but the in game interactions between characters where quit dull. The graphics are great for a 3DS game but I could not get into the micromanaging of all the characters on a hand held device. For this kind of game I would need total immersion with my 60" TV and my Beyerdynamic headphones. But to me it just falls flat on a handheld device. And I do love a good 50+ rpg/jprg.… Expand
  12. Phuz
    Mar 9, 2022
    0
    So first let's address the elephant in the room. Or should I say horse? Every character has hooves for feet and these huge horse like legs. They're ugly. They look like they have been kicked by a horse.

    Beastiality isn't my thing. My next waifu being a donkey, doesn't really appeal to me. Next the battles are awful and I am getting rid of this game after just a short time playing    So first let's address the elephant in the room. Or should I say horse? Every character has hooves for feet and these huge horse like legs. They're ugly. They look like they have been kicked by a horse.

    Beastiality isn't my thing. My next waifu being a donkey, doesn't really appeal to me.

    Next the battles are awful and I am getting rid of this game after just a short time playing because of it. I played a side quest, made a silly error early doors and started again. My first move was identical on my rerun but the outcome was completely different. I redid this. Started again 4 times. Every time a different outcome from the same move. So I tried a different character. Same thing, random outcome every time. Then I went a step further with this second character and gave them support. They actually did worse with the support than without. Now I am someone who plays Fire Emblem on easy, if the option is available. I am not a major tactical strategist but come on, it is still a strategy game. I still love to plan, even if I'm not very good at it. How can I enjoy a strategy game that is purely down to luck? That is totally game breaking. You can't make a strategy for complete randomness. It just made the game pointless.

    Next, the dialogue. I like text and I don't like stupid OTT Hollywood cr*p voiceovers. Give me text any day but please not with a one, or two word audio byte for every line. I don't want to hear constant nonsense like, hey, you sure, OK, urgh, that's right, let's go, or any other rubbish they spout.

    OST. It's Fire Emblem - It's great.

    Graphics? It's OK. I like the 3D stuff and it looks nice in general but then everything is totally ruined by forementioned horses.

    I'm not some FE purist that only likes old games. Radiant Dawn was my first FE and 3 House's is my favourite game ever, if anything I prefer newer titles much more but this is just rubbish.

    It has just cost me £35, so far it feels more like it's worth about £2, if that. That is just for the OST. I'm not really enjoying the game at all.

    For reference 3 House's is a 10/10 for me and Radiant Dawn an 8.5+/10.

    I feel I would enjoy a 3rd playthrough of 3 House's, or maybe actually playing my 4th house DLC a lot more than I'll ever like this.

    No one, absolutely no one is giving me the magic that psycho Edlegard did. She was an exciting character. These characters in Awakening have left me disinterested in them, I'm really not that bothered to find out what they do next.

    Dull, a polished turd, a gee gee's wet dream. A weird, dull game that sounds beautiful but looks horrific and plays badly.    … Expand
  13. shootingstars99
    Jul 10, 2019
    3
    While Fire Emblem has never been the deepest or most fun strategy RPG, it does have it's solid entries, this however is not one of them. Every element of strategy essentially flies out the window after a achieving a certain character level, making the game boil down to something more akin to "Dynasty Warriors: The Board Game" later on in the game, The story itself is sub par, theWhile Fire Emblem has never been the deepest or most fun strategy RPG, it does have it's solid entries, this however is not one of them. Every element of strategy essentially flies out the window after a achieving a certain character level, making the game boil down to something more akin to "Dynasty Warriors: The Board Game" later on in the game, The story itself is sub par, the characters aren't interestingly designed or very likable aside for maybe 2 or 3 out of many, and the game play can be boiled down to grinding up after missions to eliminate all traces of strategy from a game that has marketed itself as a strategy role-playing game. It's a bummer, because I wanted to like this game.… Expand
  14. Raiohs
    Sep 22, 2019
    3
    Worst fire emblem Ive played. Has some good mechanics (some break the dificulty) but terrible writing, I felt like I was playing a fanfic, bad level design, where missions boil down to "kill everyone" and because of broken mechanics you can basically have super warriors who do all the work. No stratagy needed and bad plot makes this game a downer in the series
  15. Klefke
    Jul 28, 2020
    3
    Bad Maps and bad story.
    this game Is a ovverrated Sorry for my grammaticaly im not english
  16. TheGuyWhoHats
    May 8, 2023
    0
    Awakening is a great game but compared to the other games in the franchise it doesn't rank that high. The gameplay is fun but is done better in Engage and Echoes, the story is passable but isn't even able to compare to three houses and sacred stones. The characters are fun but the supports you get with them are mostly mediocore and feels forced in so you can have the children character andAwakening is a great game but compared to the other games in the franchise it doesn't rank that high. The gameplay is fun but is done better in Engage and Echoes, the story is passable but isn't even able to compare to three houses and sacred stones. The characters are fun but the supports you get with them are mostly mediocore and feels forced in so you can have the children character and most characters don't get supports with characters of the same gender. Awakening overall is a good game and I recommend it but more as a first game than as anything else.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best 3DS Game of 2013
1
#1 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2013
2
#2 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
92

Universal acclaim - based on 72 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 72 out of 72
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 72
  3. Negative: 0 out of 72
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Jun 13, 2013
    93
    A truly excellent tactical role-playing game. [June 2013]
  2. Hyper Magazine
    Jun 10, 2013
    90
    Ignore Casual mode, set the difficulty to hard, and enjoy what is arguably the best turn-based strategy game released since Final Fantasy Tactics. [July 2013, p.76]
  3. Games.cz
    May 19, 2013
    100
    A great turn-based strategy game surpassing not only its blood-related predecessors but step-brothers and step-sisters of the Advance Wars series as well. Fire Emblem: Awakening is the new benchmark of the genre that is practically uncriticizable. At the moment on Nintendo 3DS there is not a better alternative.
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