Review for Fire Emblem Warriors. Game for Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 28/09/2017
In 2014 it debuted on the ill-fated Nintendo Wii U Hyrule Warriors, the first Nintendo-themed musou. The success of the project (especially in the West) prompted Koei Tecmo to propose a new collaboration to the Grande N, from which it was born Fire Emblem Warriors, yet another hack and slash "under license" Omega Force (but with the collaboration of Team Ninja), this time dedicated to the over twenty-year series of Intelligent Systems, which contributed to the development.
The game in miniature
Before starting to talk about the contents of the game, a premise is necessary: lhe main version of Fire Emblem Warriors is the one for Nintendo Switch, but there is also one for New Nintendo 3DS (without three-dimensional effect), the one subject of this review. The contents are the same - even if for the Japanese dubbing it is necessary to download a patch weighing over 9000 blocks ch, and added to the game purchased from eShop will require a total of 23000 blocks - except for the local cooperative mode, exclusive to the Switch version.
The reasons that lead to prefer the Switch version there are many other things, in particular the greater comfort of the controls (the second stick of the New 3DS is not the maximum of comfort), the possibility of playing on a large screen (the best way to use a musou) and the technical sector: for how much the version for New Nintendo 3DS defend yourself decently and offer asmooth gaming experience, the polygon count and the textures are disappointing, the special effects are not very special and the video quality of the cutscenes is calibrated downwards. If you don't own Nintendo's hybrid console, the New Nintendo 3DS version also does its dirty work, but anyone who isn't a huge Fire Emblem fan may find the experience very unappetizing.
Double crossover
In addition to being a crossover between Fire Emblem and Dynasty Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors is itself a crossover within the Nintendo series, including characters from various chapters. The focus is all on the chapters for Nintendo 3DS: gods 25 controllable warriors, in fact, seven come from Awakening, ten from Fates and one from Shadows of Valentia (even if the reference material for the developers was directly Gaiden); the other seven are distributed among unreleased characters, Shadow Dragon and Blazing Blade (arrived in Europe with the name of Fire Emblem). DLC downloadable and non-controllable fighters are also drawn from the same sagas. In the opinion of the writer, the exclusion of the Tellius saga is quite serious, as well as the absence of other iconic characters such as Roy and Eliwood.
Even in terms of gameplay, Fire Emblem Warriors proves to be an authentic crossover. The battle system, obviously, it is borrowed from Shin Sangoku Musou, but the mechanics recovered from Intelligent Systems tactics are very numerous: we have the triangle of weapons (sword beats ax, ax beats spear, spear beats sword), duo, bonds and support conversations (clearly much less copious than usual), permadeath (optional), progression of classes in the manner of Fire Emblem and several other things that will not go unnoticed by the pleased eyes of fans.
Too bad for the story that glues everything together: it is not unusual for the plot and the dialogues to be among the least successful and at the same time least important aspects in a crossover, but it would certainly have been possible to do a little better, at least to recreate the epic character - less and less, unfortunately - the Nintendo series. Also because somehow the latest Fire Emblems, especially Awakening, had laid the foundations to develop the theme of interdimensional travel in a more interesting way, which is the classic premise of this kind of product.
Between blows and menus
As anticipated in the previous paragraph, Fire Emblem Warriors is a hack and slash with tactical and role-playing elements. Your warrior is framed on the upper screen, surrounded by dozens of almost immobile enemies to be killed by combining light, heavy and special attacks. In the lower screen (or top right, if you play on Switch) you mainly see the map, which closely resembles those of the classic Fire Emblems. By selecting the corresponding pawns, it is possible to give allies simple orders, such as reaching a certain place, defending an allied garrison or attacking an enemy one. The usable characters, selectable before the start of the fight, are usually four and can be switched on the fly by pressing the up and down directional arrows.
As in any self-respecting Fire Emblem, within each scheme there are victory and defeat conditions, crates to open, thieves to kill, characters to defend and so on, even if the objectives (divided between primary and secondary) they are not all that varied. Depending on the time taken, the enemies killed and the level of difficulty, you will receive a variable number of money, which is a less rare resource than usual, also thanks to a not very high degree of challenge: who writes to you - certainly not a champion - got through the first half of the game on hard without even realizing it.
The management phase of the units partly resembles that of the classic Fire Emblems, but in many respects it differs from it. First of all, the growth system is not only based on the progression of the levels, but also on the badges, basically three skill trees - one dedicated to attack, one to defense and a "special" - for each with boxes that are unlocked by spending the drops of opposing captains and generals. Here another defect of the roster is revealed, which is very little differentiated: beyond the weapon used, the characters have not only similar combos, but identical skill trees, except for the special one, which in any case is largely common.
Fire Emblem Warriors is a decent crossover, but it smells a bit like a wasted opportunity. The hybridization of the typical musou mechanics with the tactical and role-playing elements of Fire Emblem is appreciated, but the disappointing story - even in the context of crossovers - does not return the epicity of the best episodes of the series and the roster is too unbalanced to favor of Awakening and Fates. The game is still enjoyable for Intelligent Systems' tactics fans, who would do well to go for the Nintendo Switch version if given the chance.
► Fire Emblem Warriors is an Action-type game developed by Omega Force Team Ninja and published by Nintendo for Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 28/09/2017
