8.75/10

Concept and characters:
The Fire Emblem series makes its triumphant return to the Nintendo 3ds! Fire Emblem Awakening follows your created character (a first for the series), a royal shepherd named Chrom, and his party as they face off against various forces all aiming towards one goal; restoring the ancient evil dragon Grima to life. With over 40 playable characters (including Chrom and your created character) you'd think they'd be bland and repetitive personality wise, well think again. All of the characters have unique traits that grip you as you see them progress throughout the game.

Gameplay:
Be prepared, though, for the worst for your characters. Fire Emblem Awakening offers two modes: Casual and Classic. In casual, your units can be defeated in combat, but will be returned directly after the battle. Classic is the polar opposite of casual mode. In Classic mode your units will die in combat, and stay dead. One major flaw does exploit itself in Classic mode. When a unit dies, they are supposed to stay dead, but the text at death's door points to the fact that they escape. Further more, dead units are also still included in the story's dialogue. However, there are similarities gameplay wise between the two modes. One is how your units interact. Through natural conversations and pairing up during combat, units will grow closer to whoever your little heart desires. Pairing up during combat will allow units to increase each other's stats and defend each other from incoming attacks. Speaking of combat, combat consists of turns where each unit can move a certain number of spaces. Turns may seem numerous, but they are few in number and very intense. Going further into combat is the large amount of weapons each unit can use and class systems/changes. Weapons can be found after defeating certain enemies or bought in shops. Swords, axes, and lances create a weapon circle. Each has its strength and weakness against one another. Other weapons include magic and bow and arrow. These can be used from afar to attack enemies without being able to be attacked back. A class may start using one weapon, but is not bound to the weapon. Class systems come into play to allow the player to change any unit they want into another desired class. Though you can't just perform this action willy-nilly. To perform this task you need a master seal or a secondary seal. A master seal changes a unit's class into a more advanced form of the one they already are. A secondary seal changes a unit into an unrelated base class. In addition to the extensive story mode, Fire Emblem Awakening has a local multiplayer mode where two players can select units, take on missions, and fight enemies in an unengaging way.

Graphics:
Fire Emblem Awakening provides smooth, anime styled cut scenes that are sadly balanced out by dull, gameplay graphics of characters without feet.

Sound:
Voice acting adds more to the experience of the story and music applies itself to all the senses possible.

Conclusion:
While Fire Emblem Awakening does have its flaws (whether they be major or not) it is still a fantastic game. With two different modes to appeal to both casual and intense players, it certainly is a diverse experience. In addition to, it also has fantastic graphics, sound, and story. Fire Emblem Awakening is a game that has you buy a system just to play the game.