Graphically enticing and showing forth its usual abundance of appealing and amusing characters, this latest release in the Fire Emblem series provides a clean shift from its predecessors of 2D to 3D.

The ninth game of the Fire Emblem series takes place in a different setting, as with most of the previous games, save Sword of Seal and Sword of Flame. The land is Tellius, goddess created and home to two races- those of the human beorcs, and those of the shape-shifting laguz. Seven countries live in a fragile semblance of peace, peace that suddenly shatters with the movement of the nation of Daein's invasion of Crimea.

The stone has been thrown, rippling the still pond's surface, and caught up in those ripples, a small band of mercenaries...

Your role as tactician is not as direct as it was in the GBA's Sword of Flame. The premise has not changed, and veterans of the series won't have trouble picking up the commands of the game. You control Ike, the son of the commander of the Greil Mercenaries- as well as the rest of his group, and others you recruit along the way that have similar cause. Swords against axes, axes against lances, lances against swords. Mission objectives and enemy AI test your tactical prowess as you fight to survive.

Interplay between characters makes things all the more amusing, the dialogue once again wonderfully handled. The intro-animation for Ike and his father Greil is beautifully rendered, so seemlessly is the character art's transition to motion. The dubbing isn't horribly bad, a refreshing surprise when one doesn't expect any audio dialogue. The in-game character renderings aren't bad either, and although defeated character animation seems somewhat delayed, it's something easily overlooked. The animation for critical damage hits is kept on par with its predecessing sprites as well.

Overall, the game is a work of art, and definitely not one to be missed.