This is the back story and review of the Fire Emblem series and focusing on Radiant dawn.

I will start with the Fire Emblem games themselves since not many people know about them since they are not advertised at all. Fire emblem has four incarnations in the US and many more in Japan. Those who have played ssbm and ssbb would recognize some characters. Marth and Roy are from a Japan only release but Ike is from two American releases (Radiant Dawn being one). The first two games were for the GBA and had nothing tying the storylines together except the mention of the "Fire Emblem". As far as I know Radiant Dawn is the first actual sequel (think the final fantasy series). Radiant Dawn is the sequel to Path of Radiance for the Game Cube and Radiant Dawn is actually for the Game Cube in Japan. I suspect it was released in 4 parts but am not sure since they always show previews between acts.

Anyway enough back story, on to the game play. The closest description would be a turn based strategy RPG. you control it like you would a turn based strategy game (eg Advance wars) except you have well drawn out, distinct characters that you equip, command, level up, and when they die they are gone for the rest of the game. That may sound like a stupid concept but it works well, it forces you to take into consideration everything that could kill them and adds a new level of depth to the game. It is not hard to put more thought into one level than a whole game of chess against a master. You get to decide also how your units are equipped, their skills, who gets bonus exp (very important), who supports who best, and many other aspects before the battle even starts. If you are the kind of person who loves to get into their video games and micromanage their troops then this is definitively for you.

Story is also a large part of the Fire Emblem series, and without it Fire Emblem would just be another in depth strategy game. Before I start I promise that I will not give any spoilers. The storyline could easily be made into a movie, not a blockbuster or maybe not even in theaters but it would still be a decent movie. This game has some of the best writing i have seen in games.

In conclusion I would give Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn an 8/10 but if you played Path of Radiance it is a must buy. I also recommend playing Path of radiance before this if you want to get the more subtle parts of the story. The game play is fun and you can easily catch "one more turn" syndrome. It is a huge game, even compared to the others, I am 50 Hours in of pure progress (not counting how many times I restarted because I didn't see an enemy who could kill someone)and just finished the 3rd (out of 4) acts. The only things that bring it down are that the graphics are only high end Game Cube (since it was a Game Cube game) and that if (like me) you try to keep everyone alive it can get frustrating and even caused me to not play for a month or two on the more difficult levels.