strategy

Fire Emblem: Awakening Review

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(Originally posted on splitkick.com. Thank you to the Splitkick crew for editing this!)

Ever since its 2003 international debut, I’ve been enamored with Fire Emblem’s personal approach to the strategy RPG genre. I love how every unit I manage is a fully-realized character with a unique look and story. I greatly enjoy helping these characters grow as warriors and as people by managing their combat movements and relationships. As things progress, I grow so attached that I feel compelled to protect everyone at all costs, which proves difficult in a series where perma-death can strike in a flash.

On one hand, the fear of death adds a critical layer of emotional weight. However, the stress that comes with losing comrades can be too much to bear for some. I’ve sacrificed dozens of hours of playtime across every entry in the series in order to complete a casualty-free run. Regardless of how you feel on the matter, Fire Emblem: Awakening is the first to implement features to appease both crowds.

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Out Now – Fire Emblem: Fates

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Lost amidst all of my Street Fighter V hoopla is the fact that Fire Emblem: Fates is out today. This time, we’re getting two different games at once; one covering each side of the conflict. As part of Amazon Canada’s E3 sale last year, I’m getting 30% off the Birthright edition. However, you better believe I’ll eventually have Conquest and the 3rd DLC campaign as well. Between this and Street Fighter V, it’s been a wonderful week as a gamer!

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Laugh’s Theory on the Three Types of Fighting Game Players

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Core-A Gaming, with the help of pro fighting game player Laugh, put together a fantastic video about Laugh’s theory of the three types of fighting game players. You should watch the whole thing, but I’ll summarize the key points here before I go into my piece. The three types are:

Mind: The player whose primary strength comes from leveraging information about the game, from frame data, to option selects, to set-ups.

Heart: The player whose primary strength comes from trying to counter their opponent’s specific approach to the fight.

Body: The player whose primary strength comes from being able to perform higher damage combos and block better due to their physical dexterity.

Everybody is a mix of these three elements. Each one has its strengths, but also its weaknesses. Mind players can get flustered when forced into a situation they haven’t prepared for. Heart players can be coerced into making bad decisions. Body players can get frozen out of being able to use their physical talents.

Using this theory, where do I fit?

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Fire Emblem is Out Now on the Wii U Virtual Console

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Fire Emblem first appeared on the Gameboy Advance. It was the first in the series released outside of Japan. Back when this came out in 2003, I was already a fan Nintendo’s turn-based strategy games thanks to Advance Wars. However, I was not ready for how unique Fire Emblem was compared to its sister strategy game, nor was I ready for how freaking awesome it would be.

What separates the two besides the obvious thematic differences is that Fire Emblem is much more of a role-playing game. Instead of managing an army of disposable units, each of the characters in your party has a name and story arc. You equip them with weapons and other gear. Best (or worst) of all, if they die in the game, they die forever. The strategic joy from Advance Wars is certainly here, though it’s only amplified by how high the stakes are when you’re managing a team of characters you care about that could die if you screw up.

Intelligent Systems and Nintendo have improved on the formula over time, though this first international release is still a masterpiece that is as fun to play now as it was in 2003. For die-hard fans of the series like me, owning this new version on the Wii U Virtual Console gives me a way to play the game again on a modern platform. If you haven’t played any in the series yet, this is a relatively affordable entry-point, since the game is under $10 on the eShop. If you’re ever going to give the series an honest try, this is a great place to start!


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Death By Decapre

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Decapre Mix-UpI have to admit that I didn’t expect to get much out of Decapre. Based on her similarities with Cammy and my struggles with using the original Killer Bee, I figured that any time with Decapre would end in disappointment. Don’t want to jinx things, but so far, Decapre is working out much better than expected.

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Jett Plays Advance Wars

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Rival armies go toe-to-toe in a battle for land and sea supremacy. This is one of my all-time favourite games and one you should check out too!


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XCOM: Enemy Unknown on iPhone Impressions

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2K raised some eyebrows (mine included) when they announced a port of XCOM: Enemy Unknown for iOS. I love that game, but how the heck were they going to make it work on those devices? Well after the fact, I found out that it works pretty well.

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Project X Zone Review

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With a cast of over 60 feature characters from dozens of different Namco, Sega and Capcom franchises, it’s no wonder that fan service is such an important aspect to the Project X Zone experience. There’s no shortage of neat moments for these characters to build cross-dimensional relationships with one another. There’s also more than enough tag-team action to show off everyone’s combat prowess. As great as it is to hit those marks, it clearly came at a cost, as there are other aspects of this strategy RPG that are sorely lacking.
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Top 10 Games Of This Generation – #9 – XCOM: Enemy Unknown

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(Original Review)

The turn-based strategy genre has been largely stagnant for ages. Sure, I greatly enjoy the semi-regular Fire Emblem entries, though there’s surely room in the market for more, right? 2K Games agrees, as they took a huge risk with XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I’m so glad that they did, as its earned a slot in my top 10 games of this generation.

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Pikmin 3 Review

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Under Pikmin 3‘s cuddly veneer is a game that is unapologetically hardcore. Standing between your crew and a return trip home is a few key parts to rebuild your ship, the treacherous inhabitants of PNF-404, and the inescapable hand of father time. At first, my poor play and the fear of the consequences that came with that poor play nearly drove me to dropping the game completely. However, after coming to grips with managing my troops and the limited time allotted per day, the stress of survival took a back seat to the joy of exploring this beautiful world with my cute little Pikmin along for the ride.

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