Path of Radiance takes place on the continent of Tellius where two races, the beorc and the laguz, reside. The beorc have more traditional human features whereas the laguz are half beast and half human. Throughout history the two races have fought, but at the start of the game they are enjoying a time of peace. However, one rogue nation launches a surprise attack that will change everything forever.

If you’ve ever played Shining Force or Final Fantasy Tactics, you will have a basic idea of how Fire Emblem plays. The game combines standard RPG elements (hit points, magic, items, weapons, and armor) with strategy turn-based gameplay. In one respect it’s similar to Advance Wars, except instead of using tanks and infantry you command individual characters. The game is divided into chapters, each one continuing the intriguing storyline. Cinemas, complete with voice acting, kick in at key moments during the game for extra oomph. At the start of battle, you will select which characters will take part in the conflict. Each character is vital to your team in one way or another. Fire Emblem ups the ante by making your character non-revivable. If they fall in battle, they are lost forever and you won’t be able to use them ever again. This makes each decision even more important, especially since Nintendo does a fantastic job of keeping all of the characters likable.

Similar to other strategy games, you will be able to move your characters around a grid. As you select each one, the grid turns blue where he or she can walk. The areas that are orange signify attack zones. Executing an attack will show a short battle scene between your character and the enemy. Your character receives experience for battling. Even more experience is awarded if the enemy is defeated. In many instances it’s wise to have a weaker team member deal the finishing blow to gain experience faster. Once all of your team has had a chance to move about, the enemy phase begins and they will unleash what they have. This type of turn-based battle goes on until one side is victorious. There are often different ways to successfully win a campaign. Some require you to simply kill all the enemies present while others will require you to capture a building or defend territory for so many rounds.

As with any strategy game, different characters have different attributes. They can each only wield certain types of weapons, which in turn determines what enemies they should probably attack. These strategy elements will force you to think before you act, but unlike some games out there, this one is fairly straightforward. When you select an enemy to attack it will show you approximately how much damage will be dealt and an up or down arrow shows if its advantageous for that specific character to attack that enemy.

Graphically Fire Emblem is pretty good. Some of the character models are on the lean side and we all know that the GameCube can produce better visuals than those shown here. There’s a disturbing lack of texturing on some characters and some of the terrain, but overall it’s not an eyesore. The cinemas look like a cross between anime and CG and look very nice. Likewise, if you choose to leave the battle animations on those look great. The game supports progressive scan and the art is above average. The music is also fitting for the game and is presented in Dolby Pro Logic II. As I mentioned earlier, there are some instances where the characters are voiced, but for the most part you will be reading text.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is a very fun game to play. If you have played past games in the series, you know what to expect here, with a few nice surprises along the way. If you enjoy strategy role-playing games and some decent difficulty in many of the missions, then this game will suit you just fine. Fire Emblem fills a huge void for this genre of game on the GameCube and should be welcomed by gamers the world over. If you’re looking for that epic game to ease your wait until Zelda finally makes it out, this is the perfect game to suck away hours of your time. Definitely pick this one up.