With Hyrule Warriors Nintendo had opened a collaboration with Koei Tecmo Games to combine some of its most famous brands with elements of the Dynasty Warriors series. Developed again by Omega Force and Team Ninja, here comes Fire Emblem Warrios to join the bouquet of titles for Switch and 3DS born from this collaboration. Will the developers have been able to transform characters and situations dear to the Fire Emblem brand, in a style that is apparently the opposite of it?
As it was with Hyrule Warriors, for Fire Emblem Warriors we also have a roster of characters taken from many chapters of the Fire Emblem saga. The underlying reason for this meeting, as well as the pivot of the story that unites our heroes, is the crisis that occurs in an unspecified world in which the two neighboring kingdoms of Aytolis and Grimstone confront each other. An ancient calamity looms over the Aytolis and its hereditary princes Rowan and Lianna, as well as the whole world. The chaos dragon has awakened with the support of the kingdom of Grimstone and has opened numerous portals to another dimension which, in addition to bringing dark creatures into the world to be able to attack the Aytolis, allows heroes and villains to other dimensions to come into this world. It will be the task of the two princes of Aytolis to find the gems born from heroic spirits that give power to the fire shield and thus be able to defeat the dragon of chaos once and for all. There will be accompanying them heroes from Fire Emblem Awakening, Fire Emblem Fates and Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, who will fight alongside our protagonists to help them in their mission and thus be able to return to their worlds.
Even if the plot is not the most original and the few twists present are quite evident, on the whole it succeeds in the purpose of acting as a glue that justifies the presence of various characters from the most disparate worlds and to be pleasant to follow in the interludes. between one fight and another. The only real sore point is the lack of many iconic characters from older titles in the saga, even if the already large roster balances this lack in part with a very varied cast.
From the gameplay point of view we have a classic Dynasty Warriors setting, albeit with some additions more linked to the Fire Emblem universe. Basically we will have for each character (which are 20 plus 3 secrets, not counting the DLC characters), a light and a heavy attack (to be combined to try to send the strongest opponents into a state of collapse and make a critical attack), a dodge and a special attack (usable after filling the appropriate bar), to these will be added the awakening mode that will provide our character, once activated, with numerous advantages against all enemies, such as greater damage and greater ease of inflicting the state of collapse. This series of moves and abilities allow our heroes to make their way through hordes of simple enemies and opposing elite soldiers, that is, enemies stronger than the generic lump that will present itself in front of us, or real miniboss that we will have to face to proceed inside of the map to complete the objectives of the current mission. Each map is equipped with garrisons and fields that we will have to conquer by beating the relative elite soldier or the miniboss that guards it, so as to be able to reduce the control of the opposing army over the territory, all while defending the allied base and its commanders from the army's attacks. opponent.
To obtain the success, however, we must take into account a whole series of elements that give Fire Emblem Warriors a more tactical note. First of all there is the triangle of weapons, so dear to the Fire Emblem series, in fact when we face certain enemies we should always take into account the weapon held by our hero and that of our opponent, as the sword beats the ax, the 'ax beats the spear and the spear beats the sword (there are also other weapons such as tomes, claws, bows and transformation stones, which however follow more complex rules) and it is always preferable to be on the winning side of the triangle to inflict greater damage on the opponent and send him into a state of collapse more easily, vice versa we will inflict less damage, our opponent will speak more often and it will be very difficult to send him into a state of collapse (if the awakening is activated, these limitations will be removed for the entire duration of this advanced state) .
It goes without saying that it is necessary to carefully choose the heroes to be deployed in battle and where to actually deploy them. For this we are helped by the tactical map, which can be consulted both before the start of the fight and at any time during the mission. Before the battle it is possible to view the conformation of the enemy army and how it is arranged on the battlefield to better plan one's attack strategy, instead during the discount it is possible to see the enemy movements in real time and thus plan the moves of the own army suitably. From the map it is also possible to give orders to the heroes not controlled by the player and controlled by the AI (which are divided into controllable heroes and support heroes that will only be controlled by the AI), how to defend a particular objective, conquer an opposing garrison and several others. At first glance it might seem that all these tactical elements are just an outline for the real action gameplay itself, but as you progress the battles will get more and more complicated and the addition of secondary missions and impromptu events inside of the clash will inevitably lead the player to give orders to all uncontrolled units (which otherwise will roam the map fighting the enemies that will find themselves in front of them), to keep under control all situations that would otherwise be unmanageable in the first person alone. player entity. Several times I found myself underestimating contingent situations while conquering a strong enemy and for this I lost the fight, while by ordering to defend a target I was able to buy enough time to intervene and save the situation.
Of course we are still talking about a hack and slash not particularly complex in terms of game mechanics, but we can say that the repetitiveness inherent in this genre still manages to be dampened, thanks above all to the addition of all those tactical mechanics discussed just above. Personally I found that the need to manage even complex situations in a few moments, giving orders to the various units in the game, made everything more sparkling and fun. Although there is a maximum of sixty minutes to complete a map, with a properly leveled and guided team, the missions can all be completed within fifteen minutes, in rare cases when the level was not quite compliant with that of the enemies the completion time would rise around to twenty minutes and this is a positive element if we think that it is still a title that runs on portable consoles which are generally used for short sessions between one engagement and another or while traveling. However, there is the possibility to always pause at any time and leave the console in suspension if necessary.
In addition to the classic story mode, in which it is possible to unlock almost all of the available characters, there is the epic mode, which presents stories taken from the various games from which our heroes come and which presents challenges, which increase the overall longevity of the title, and through which it is also possible to recruit three secret characters present in the roster, such as Anna (recurring character of the various Fire Emblems), Lyn (from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade) and Celica (from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia)
There is little to say about the technical sector. The title certainly does not shine for its graphic power or a particularly inspired artistic direction. The models of the heroes are fairly detailed, while the faces show a level of detail that is not exactly high, as well as the enemies are almost all forgettable on the whole. The single player game manages to guarantee mostly a certain fluidity in the game, with some occasional drop in frame rate in the most agitated situations, while in multiplayer (local) the drops become much more frequent and we see that in this situation the game limps not a little. Good dubbing of the various characters who are all well characterized vocally making them different from each other.
USEFUL INFOThe version of the game tested is the one for Nintendo Switch, both in the dock and in the portable version. Local multiplayer tests were also carried out with a friend alongside on a shared screen
Duration- For each map the game has a maximum duration of the battle of 60 minutes, but generally the maps can be finished within 15 minutes (limit to obtain the maximum rank in some of them) or even something less.
- The campaign can be finished in about ten hours, but if you want to complete all the challenges, even in the epic mode, you can well exceed the thirty hours of play.
In conclusion, Fire Emblem Warriors is a title that certainly cannot be considered on a par with other noble titles released for the Nintendo home consoles and certainly should not be taken as a model for the new Fire Emblem, but it is by no means a poor title. It manages to carve out its own corner among the historical fans of the brand by providing simpler gameplay than the classic strategic style of the saga, without forgetting the name it bears. Returning to the question posed at the beginning of this article we can answer that yes, the guys of Omega Force and Team Ninja have managed more than discreetly to combine two very distant genres, offering a fun and light title able to provide fans of the brand an interesting new point of view on your favorite heroes.
Videogamingallday.com reviewGraphics
Not particularly inspired or powerful in terms of detail. Most of the time the game manages to run smoothly, but with some frame rate drops in the single player. Unfortunately in multiplayer the situation worsens not a little, even if the title always remains at acceptable levels of playability.
65
SOUNDTRACK AND DOUBLE ROOM
There are no particularly memorable themes or music and we cannot speak of a very vast soundtrack but on the whole it manages to discreetly accompany the situations present in the game. The dubbing is well made and characterizes the various characters well in their various facets.
70">70
GAMEPLAY
Based on a classic hack and slash, a particularly intriguing tactical layer is grafted, capable of providing a greater degree of challenge to those who approach each map and this manages to make the whole experience deeper and more fun.
