The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 3DS Review

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is a open-world action-adventure game only for 3DS, which was developed and published by Nintendo, and it is a direct sequel to original 1992's title A Link to the Past for SNES.
It's one of the sequel had retained a similar formula as the early Zelda game with fully top-down perspective, while introducing a newer element that been added to this game.

I've been a long time fan of the Zelda franchises since my childhood days where I grew up playing games like A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, The Windwaker, and Twilight Princess. As a grown adult, I recently enjoyed the first original Zelda game on the NES at the time when I had NES classic mini with built-in 30 games as my Christmas gift back in 2018.
After experiencing my previous fun of my 3DS system which I've been busy spending time of collecting more 3DS games last year, it took me awhile to get a copy of A Link Between Worlds which I been searching everywhere on online stores like Amazon and Ebay for cheaper sales, so I can now finally gets a hands on with this game which I've spend for a weeks of fun of playing on my 3DS.
A Link to the Past on SNES are always been one of my all-time favourite in Zelda Franchise, but will this game on the 3DS considered another Zelda's masterpiece? the answer is yes everyone, it is a pure perfection of the whole 3DS libraries that definitely deserve a must own for entire 3DS owners will able to enjoy their full Zelda experience filled with epic open-world adventures, clever puzzle-solving, has selection of items, full exploration with over 15 different locations in 2 different kingdoms, and cool boss battles is what makes A Link Between Worlds on 3DS a terrific successor to one of the greatest original SNES game of all-time.

So without go further do, let's start the review.


Presentation

The game takes place after the event of A Link to the Past. It is set in between the Hyrule and Lorule as the story explains the ancient Hyrulean legend tells of the events where the evil was been defeated by legendary hero and being sealed away by the Seven Sages, while the Triforce was divided into three pieces to prevent evil from returning again.
The game focuses on silent protagonist named Link who sets out his adventures to restore peace to the kingdom of Hyrule after the mysterious sorcerer Yuga captures Princess Zelda as well as seven sages and then escapes through a rift to the ruined world of Lorule.
After obtaining a magic bracelet from the merchant named Ravio, he gained ability to merged onto walls which allows Link to reach previously inaccessible areas and travel between Hyrule and Lorule.

I got to say the story in the game is done absolutely fantastic with interesting timeline settings that falls between the events of Link's Awakening for GB and the original Legend of Zelda for NES.
As the story goes on, I really liked the idea of having the story involves the evil who had stolen the hyrule princess and seven sages which allowing him to resurrect the demon king Ganon which makes Yuga one insane menace did a vile things in the game.
Most of the plot points in the game are not very complicated to follow once you're getting used with how the story works when reading the entire dialogue in the game which is the reason why the storylines are done such a incredible job.
You have a ironic characters like Link who is a huge adventurer and experienced fighter that fights off against the evil and saving a hyrule that made him becoming the legendary Hyrule warrior which is the reason why Link being ranked as one of the greatest video game heroes of all time making him a notable recognisable icon in gaming.
We know Zelda is one of a memorable princesses in the whole franchise as we liked her for its calm personality and also a friendly to her long-time hero Link which is the reason why they listed her as a most beloved video game princesses.
I got to say that I wasn't disappointing with the Yuga as a villain in the game because he is just an evil as any of villains in Zelda franchise. He just likes to make trouble against people in Hyrule and had an obsession with his painting which made him quite disturbing to watch as well as you see him turning his head with his smirky face while he's holding his portrait on his hand, god that's one crazy dude there.
He kinda reminds me of Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 in terms of design. He had sinister looking face paint, long-dreaded hair, and his crooked dress that made him quite appealing which is the reason why the villain is actually amazing in the whole game especially with his final true form had a similar concept as the Ganon from A Link to the Past.
Then you had a merchant named Ravio who dressed up in funny bunny costumes which I don't find him quite annoying as the others do in different Zelda game (hey I'm watching you Tingle and you too Navi).
He was a bit unfair at the beginning in the game until he's becoming much more loyalty to Link in the middle once you get used with this character.
Lastly you have a Lorule princess named Hilda which is kinda look like a Zelda's dark sister (not to be confused with two of the aunts from Sabrina the Teenage Witch are also shared a both names which is weirdly coincidence) who trying to help Link finding way of saving Zelda and seven sages in Lorule world.

The game's presentation still retains a same location as the ones in A Link to the Past. In Hyrule world, you have lake hylia which has huge amount of lake and windmill house, the central Hyrule has Link's house, the castle, and blacksmith's places.
Kakariko Village are more like a village places filled with chicken farm, small shops, bee keeping, and elderly's homes.
Eastern place filled with series of rocks, the lost woods is the place where master sword being located in, the Sanctuary is a cathedral near close to graveyard, and watery places with sea creatures in Zora's Domain, While Lorule world takes place in alternative universe making it more darker version of Hyrule location which I think it replicate the game nicely from the 1992's original SNES title giving it a full nostalgia look of the classic Zelda game.

Overall, it has fantastic story, memorable characters, and incredible overall presentation.



Gameplay

You take control of the hero Link in top-down perspective as your main goal is to save Zelda and all seven sages by defeating bosses in each dungeons that been marked on the map.
The top screen of the 3DS shows the full gameplay action with UI's life bar and magic meter, while the bottom screen of the 3DS shows the overhead map which helps you locate the area where you left off making it easier to navigate.
You will have sword as a main weapon and shields as a defense item, so you'll use them to attack the enemies by pressing the B button, while holding the B button lets you perform swinging spin attack in 360 degrees. You can also defend yourself by holding the R shoulder button to weld your shield which prevent enemy damaging you with their projectiles.
You will have a selection of items where you can buy or rent items from the Ravio's shop, but you still need to collect rupees before you're start purchasing stuff in the shop. There are useful equipments that you will need it for not just exploration, but also the dungeons might come in useful such as bombs that opens up new passage, boomerang that stuns enemies, bow that shoots far-range, fire-rod that melts icy objects, ice-rod that froze enemies, the hammer thats pounding the obstacles, the hookshot that helps you transport to special surfaces or grab objects, the lamp that lights up the dark area, and it also introduces two new items such as sand-rod that creates the blocks of sand and tornado rod that launches you up in the air in which these are the items that leads you to the next area of location.
There are gears of items that may improve your player's ability such as pegasus boots that allow you to sprint through the level in high speeds can also break into weak walls, gloves such as power gloves or titan's mitts which lets you lift up a heavy objects, the Hylian shield that works effectively on enemy's magic attacks, there are two different of tunics such as blue mail which reduces the damage when hit by an enemy by half while the red mail offers even more greater protection than the previous tunics, and Zora's flippers that lets you swim around the water.
Once you obtained three pendants that leads you to weld and use master sword which is the strongest weapon to use in the game. You can shoot the beam from the sword in far-range distances which can only work if your health meter are fully replenished, but you can also upgrade your master sword by obtaining the master ore item where you can take it to blacksmith to upgrade your sword ability, so your master sword becoming even stronger that works effectively against big tough enemies.
You will need a empty bottles that you can fill a different kinds of potions from the Witch's shop which requires three monster's organs to create and purchase the potions you want to add on your item such as red potion that adds half of your health, the blue potion that adds full health, the yellow potion that made you temporarily invulnerable to damage, and the purple potion that damages all enemies nearby, so this should help you using these during the battle.
Aside with the weapons and items, you can explore around the overworld which has over 12 to 16 different locations to visit, so you can able to discover a hidden secrets in caves, accessing through portals that leads you to two different worlds, obtaining heart container item that upgrades your health capacity, collecting 100 lost maiamai, talking with villagers for help or info, playing mini games such as rupees rush and octoball derby, and being able to find dungeons that was marked on the map that really keeps you busy with the game even more the longer you play which is the reason the game has a great amount of overall play length.
Inside the dungeons level where your main goal is to defeat the certain boss to rescue sages that was stuck on the portrait, you are being required to beat the puzzle solving aspects that leads you to the next area.
Some of the puzzle solving involves hitting the switch to open up blocked doors, merged onto moving walls, walking across the narrow bridge, switching between red and blue paths, placing two of the eyeballs on the objects, walking around the dark areas, and avoiding trap's projectiles which is done pretty amazing for its puzzle design, but there are some of the segments that are done actually clever in the game such as walking on the invisible bridge, finding a way to get past of invisible walls, setting the thief free from the prison without getting caught in action, finding the two different hidden paths in skull woods, evading from floaty hands, creating pavement rock to walk across using ice-rods, and there's lots more cool stuff that increases the overall fun of the game.
I got to say several of the enemies are actually done good, so you have jumping skeleton that evades your attack, the buzzy blob will electrocute you when hitting them, the icy statues will leap you off the edge of the platform, the round creatures that steal your rupees, the jellyfish beetle will bounce you off when attacking them, the round-eye bat flying around you, the eyegore will run approach you in close-range, and there's more of them had their own variation of ability and attacks.
               
So far, I really pleased with the overall gameplay design that is played brilliant as the 1992's original SNES game.
It retains the same formula as the classic Zelda game in terms of top-down perspective filled with many exploration, obtaining items that are come in useful, fighting out tons of bad guys, helping villagers in need, joining mini-games activity, visiting two different worlds with many locations, and the best of all is the dungeon stage offers a impressive puzzle solving and has shares with epic boss battles such as Moldorm, Margomill, Zaganaga, Knucklemaster, and best of all Yuga that keeps the game entertaining thanks to enemy's patterns system. 
The combat gameplay worked absolutely flawless when it comes with numerous selections of items like sword, shields, bow, hammer, rods, bombs, boomerang, and hookshot which is worked effectively on not just any of puzzle solving, but it worked well against any types of the enemies which is the reason why it made the game quite simple to use.
I also liked the wall merging mechanics where you can able to walk through on the walls which I think it's pretty innovative for Zelda series that bought many of wonderful ideas that been featured in the game.
The only minor issue that kinda annoying is that your equipment items that you rented are likely being taken back to the same store which forcing you to re-pay it again which is kinda sucks, but gladly it didn't hurt the game's overall if the shop owner Ravio had to change his mind later part in the game, so it's not a bad thing. 

Overall, it has brilliant gameplay design, tons of explorations, clever puzzle solving, and epic bosses.



Graphics

The graphics is looking phenomenal when its comes with 3DS's stereoscopic 3D. The level environments on most of the locations is looking damn amazing with vibrant details on buildings, objects, trees, and rocks to make the game look nice and cartoony to fit well on Zelda universe.
I also liked the use of visual effects on lava, lakes, and sands with many uses of particles that looked pretty good in some locations. My favourite part in the dungeons is the dark areas where you had to use the lamp to light up the rooms, but in some areas without lighting up really shows the hidden invisible walls which it really shows how well animating the game looks in terms of lighting design and I got to say the floating objects looked pretty awesome on draw-distance in some dungeons and caves especially having the 3D effects turned on is looking spectacular to see things in the game.
The character models is looking quite terrific on the 3DS system with facial expressions and whole animations just looked so adorable on character like Link and Zelda in general.

Overall, it has amazing level design, impressive visuals effects, spectacular 3D environments, and terrific character models.



Music and Sounds

I really liked the Zelda soundtrack in general especially with their signature theme song in every Zelda games which is the reason why it sounds really catchy that made the whole series quite memorable. 
This game still retains the same soundtrack from the original game with incredible re-arrangement, as well as some newer music are been added to the game which did a fabulous job in the whole game.
I also give the game credit for the best sounding design on the 3DS because of the sound effects are mostly just like the originals with recognisable chimes sounds and jingle effects when obtaining items
and solving problems like opening block doors and open up blocked caves, but I also liked the atmospheric noises in the game with the sounds of winds, lavas, and waterfalls, and then it has a grunting voices from the enemies which I got to say its sounds remarkable.

Overall, it has recognisable soundtrack and best sounding design.


Special Features

The game has new difficulty option called hero mode which most of the enemies deal four times more damage making the game even harder to beat, but it also adds replay value which is welcome edition.
It also features streetpass challenge called Shadow Link battle where the player been encountered by shadowy figures comes from other 3DS devices leading to battle against each other and then the game also shares with cool easter eggs referencing to familiar classic games in the series.

Overall, it's a great overall content in the game.




Advantages

Incredible presentation

Brilliant gameplay design

Tons of exploration

Clever puzzle solving

Epic bosses

Terrific graphics design

Recognisable music and sounds

Replay values



Disadvantages

The item that you rented more likely to taken back to store after death




Final Verdict


Presentation 10/10 - fantastic story, memorable characters, and incredible overall presentation.

Gameplay 10/10 - brilliant gameplay design, tons of explorations, clever puzzle solving, and epic bosses.

Graphics 9.5/10 - amazing level design, impressive visuals effects, spectacular 3D environments, and terrific character models.

Music and Sounds 10/10 - recognisable soundtrack and best sounding design.

Special Features 9.5/10 - Hero mode, Shadow Link battle, and Easter eggs.



Overall 10/10 - This game is a truly masterpiece that is definite a must buy for all 3DS collectors. It filled with many incredible stuff that the fans of the series should able to experience their Zelda universe featuring excellent storylines, innovative gameplay, outstanding exploration, and has replay values which is the reason this game is being one of my favourites on my 3DS libraries.
The Legend of Zelda are always been a strongest video game franchises that is so massively popular over a decade because we all know Nintendo is one of the top-dog company that shares with the unique creative ideas and pushing many talented developers to create the greatest game of all-time.    The price wise is fairly decent enough to pick this copy for less than £15 thanks to Nintendo Selects discount. 

         
       
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Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia 3DS Review

History of Fire Emblem series:


Fire Emblem is one of the Nintendo franchise created by Shouzou Kaga. It is a fantasy Tactical RPG series that was first originated in early 90's making it a Japanese-only franchise that never got it first release at worldwide until when GBA title finally made a first debut in early 2000's.
Intelligent Systems had produced many of the series's main games and spin-offs such as 90's very first game called Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light for NES which had received mixed reception from the critics, but also gaining fanbases that made the game popular for crediting with popularising the genre in general.

It was later spawning many sequels and remakes of main games which had gained so much better reception such as Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem for SNES is one of the sequel had also included the remake of the original NES had gained the improvement over the original NES title, while later two sequel for Japanese releases are also gained positive for its storylines, difficulty and gameplay design.

The Binding Blade for GBA was released in early 2000's which is the last game being exclusive in Japan making other later two games a first worldwide debut such as Fire Emblem for GBA which had becoming commercially success overseas and gained highly acclaimed by critics and fans labelling the game as being one of the best in the series had establishing the Fire Emblem series in the Western territory, while the last GBA title The Sacred Stones are also well received at the release which leads Intelligent System to release many of later games such as Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses, while sharing with spin-offs such as Heroes, Warriors, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE.

The series had been starting out quite positive at western debut in 2000's thanks to Nintendo's fighting game title Super Smash Bros Melee for Gamecube which had included two fighting rosters from Fire Emblem series such as Marth and Roy were being first introduced in western releases.

So these are the small history of how the Fire Emblem series had first started in Japan, but now becoming a worldwide success had gained popularity which had later influenced developer's own Tactical RPGs series such as NCS/Masaya's Langrisser, Quest's Tactics Ogre, Nippon Chi's Disgaea, Square Enix's Final Fantasy Tactics, and SEGA's two series such as Shining Force and Valkyria Chronicles had shared the similar formula as the Nintendo's Tactical RPGs series was being known for popularising the genres.

Okay then, moving on to the review now.



Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia 3DS Review:


Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a Tactical RPGs game only for 3DS, which was developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It is a full remake of 1992's NES title called Fire Emblem Gaiden which added the elements in the game such as rebuilding the storylines and expanding core gameplay mechanics based on recent 3DS games like Awakening while adding dungeon crawler aspects in game.

It's been for 10 years since I've played Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn on Wii which is the game that I've really enjoyed playing it, so it took me awhile to get a hands on with the later Nintendo consoles until I finally got my 3DS last year, so I can now able to go and pick up another Fire Emblem title that I wanted to play on my 3DS, so that is this game that I'm gonna review now because I've been played the game for over two weeks with such lengthy campaign and more storylines which is the reason why I've liked the game.
It has spectacular use of presentation including both FMV cutscenes and visual novel that brings the positively on story development, the graphics is definitely the best looking game I've seen on the 3DS system, the orchestrated soundtrack has epic rendition of the original NES title including some new track, and the battle gameplay system is surprisingly well made with the great use of strategy that made the game so much better than what I've expected from the talented developers that nails the remake so nicely in comparison with Fire Emblem Gaiden for NES.

So without go further do, let's start the review.



Presentation


The main story in the game was based on original 1992's NES title Fire Emblem Gaiden. The backstory in the game explains the war conflict between the siblings gods Earth Mother Mila and the War Father Duma who split up and formed rival nations such as Mila's Kingdom of Zofia and Duma's Empire of Rigel.
While the story stills continue on, it focuses on the village boy named Alm who are now part of the deliverance team, along with his friends, had set his quest to overthrow Rigel's military leader Chancellor Desaix and drive Rigel's ruler Emperor Rudolf out of the Zofia.
Then you will have Zofian's priestess named Celica, along with her team, had a quest to reunite her childhood friend Alm after experiencing her nightmare, as well as reaching to Mila's Temple to see goddess Mila for seeking help and support of Zofia.

The story in the game is quite well done for its necessary backstory that involves the two rivalry between the Zofia and Rigel which is the reason why it explains how the land had been split in two continents that caused the war between two.
You have Zofian's goddess Mila wanted to protect her land from the evil imperial army who are aiming to conquer the land of Zofia which really shows how corrupted and vile the Duma is what really adds up the story development in the game.

The two major character in the game are also just good as the other protagonist from any of Fire Emblem game.
I find Alm is quite an interesting character with lot of bravery and heroic personality had a potential to become a leader of deliverance, while Celica are much more heartwarming and passionate girl who wanted to bring peace in the land of Valentia which is the reason why these characters in the game are quite memorable.
Then you will have a great cast of supportive characters in the game, so it has Tobin, Kliff, Gray, and Faye who are a great friends of Alm, while Celica had her partners such as Mae, Boey, and Genny. It also shares with the recruitment members that joins the forces with the Zofian's team such as hard-hitting veteran Saber, big-armoured Valbar, the mercenary dude Kamui, the handsome Clive, the noble Lukas, and etc.
The villain in the game such as Emperor Rudolf which I described him as not as evil you may think, so unlike the others such as Desaix and Slayde which has way more ruthless personality than the Emperor itself.
Then you have Berkut, Jedah and Duma which in my opinion are the best of all villain that really nails it well in the game. These are the tough mother f****er that you don't want to mess with them which is the reason why they are so deadly and vicious in the game.

Along with the fantastic storyline and interesting characters, the whole presentation in the game is looking spectacular for its 3DS standards thanks to full animated sequences throughout the game really shows how amazing the cutscenes looked on the Nintendo's handheld system which I am impressed that the developers can managed to fit all in the limited size cartridge filled with amazing anime drawn characters and fully voiced dialogue for its story design. I also liked the conversation between the characters on the visual novels aspects during the battles and memory prisms which is also done pretty good that really adds up more extra plot in whole game.
I really liked the design of the scenery that taking place in different locations, so you have quiet village homes, rich looking Zofian's castle, the gloomy swamp places, the spirited Mila shrine, the gritty graveyard, the huge forrest, the sandy desert, and huge cave dungeons which I think it did a remarkable job for its concepts choices to make the locations look attractive in the game.


Overall, it has fantastic story, interesting characters, and spectacular animated sequences.



Gameplay


The game has main 5 acts in single player campaign, while others is just the post-game bonus act which did not appear in Fire Emblem Gaiden.

You get to play as Alm or Celica had their quest to defeat the Rigel army to save Zofia depending on which acts you're playing on. It has overworld map where you can navigate both major character to move and locate, while battling against the enemies nearby which can be located inside the map, so your main goal is to beat the main objectives on each acts.
The game has three different mechanics such as turn-based core battle, point and click style, and dungeon crawler.

On the turn-based core battle where you and your team batting out against the enemies in tactical battlefield.
You will have an option to add and select any team units, organising weapons and items, and viewing the map before you are fully prepared for the next battle. 
You will have each classes of units which has different weapons and abilities such as sword fighter, knight, archer, mage, priestess, cavalier and etc.
The sword fighter are basically uses the sword, the heavy duty knight that carries lancer uses the heavy damage on enemies, the archer can shoot arrows in far distance, mage uses the black magic power, the priestess heals the ally, and the cavalier and pegasus knight rides their horse in the far distance.
You control them by navigating each units which highlights the blue squared grids which allowing your character to move around the battlefield on the selectable blue squares, while the red squared grids labels act as the attacking point where you can able to attack your enemy nearby depending on how strong your character's stats are worked effectively against them.
For example: one of the player's unit has higher attack points than the enemy's unit are more chances to finish them off quickly, while one of the enemy's unit may have better defense which preventing one of the player's unit from attacking them.
You can also take a look of your character's stats at bottom of the screen to check their attack, skill, speed, defense, and others just to make sure that your units are being good enough to fight against the enemy.
Be sure you have to use your strategy to figure it out the enemy's attack pattern in which you can highlight them to see their red grids on the battlefield which shows that they can attack you on close or far range distance. 
Defeating most enemies will gain your experience points which rewards you with levelling up your character's stats. It improves your fighting performance as well as being able to change classes if the class level had met the requirements, so this will evolve your current unit into a much more powerful classes.
For example: the fighter becomes hero class, the knight becomes baron class, and the archer becomes sniper class which will allowing their fighting performance worked effectively against the stronger enemy with higher rate level gives you benefit to fight them easily.
Depending on which difficulty settings you're playing on, the casual mode are much suitable to those who are new to series or someone prefers the mode in general which you can still retain all your team units back in action in every battle, while the classic mode are much more punishable where you can't retain all your units back after the amount of permanent deaths in every battle, but also quite a challengable once you get used with the game's difficulty.

Secondly you will have the point and click mechanics which can be featured on smaller locations where you can able to talk people in the town, examine the whole area for items and weapons, and move to different area to explore. 
You can also meet the blacksmiths which gives you an option to create or improve your certain of weapon you're using which requires sliver or gold coins to purchase, but you can also trade items that you no longer need it which give you enough coins to able to afford the stuff you wanted to upgrade.
Lastly you will enter the dungeon crawler area which was played on third-person perspective where you need to locate and explore the hidden secrets in which you will need to collect many of coins, items and opening up treasure chest for weapon and armours, while you are being encountered by the enemy somewhere in the cave which forces you to fight against them until its perfectly cleared, so you can still able to continue on exploring the whole area.

So far, I find the whole game is quite outstanding which is lot different from any Fire Emblem games.
The idea of overworld map is quite interesting where you can visit any places to talk people for info, examining areas in point and click style, releasing the innocent prisoner from jail cell, asking the fighter to join your forces, and meeting up the blacksmith to upgrade your weapons which I really liked the part that was included in the game.
I got to say the dungeon crawling aspects on some locations are actually pretty fun to explore where I can find any of treasure items, going to different route that leads me to secret areas, and of course fighting with the random bad guys which gives me confidence to improve the team's fighting experience the more it becomes better.
The core battle gameplay is just like what you expecting from Fire Emblem series. The grid system on battlefield is much easier to navigate where you can able to move and attack the enemy's unit, while highlighting the enemy's unit shows their attacking patterns which really helps your strategy to avoid getting contact by enemy's projectiles, even comparing your player's stats with the enemy's stats that shows on top of the screen will help you figure it out to know if yours are good enough to defeat them.
Each of the class units are pretty done fabulous when it's comes with stuff like archer that shoots far distance, the heavy duty baron are slow, but has better defense and powerful attacks works effectively against the enemy's sword fighters or knights, the mage has weaker health, but has more resistance and strong magic attacks, the sword fighters has better use of speed and skills, the cavalier and pegasus knights has more movements, and the priestess has better use of healing powers is the reason it balances the class units very well in the game.
I got to say the enemy's class units are lot different from the player's class units because they have brigand that weld axe, the cantor that respawns monsters like gargoyles and zombies, the witch has higher damaging magic attacks, the fiend is just as powerful as the player's baron with deadly attacking system, and the necrodragon are sure one tough monster that takes awhile to beat which really increases the game's overall difficulty that made the game quite tough, but satisfying at the same time.


Overall, it has excellent core battle, cool dungeons crawling areas, well balanced class system, and satisfying difficulty.



Graphics


The graphics in the game is clearly the best of all 3DS titles. Like I've mention the animated cutscenes that looked fantastic with the use of hand-drawn anime design, it is also looked pretty good on the visual novel presentation with less roughness on character's design and environmental scenery which they did a great job of polishing the whole game.
The graphics design on battlefield is looked incredible when using the 3DS's effects that made the whole environmental levels looked like a pre-rendered 3D built which really shows that the game isn't about using heavy 3D, it's about making the game design much easier to see things during the battle, so it has well built castles, houses, gates, bridges, pavements, and caves that is good enough for the game itself.
The character sprites on the battlefield is quite simplistic on the command unit, while during the animated fight sequences between the player and enemy are fully 3D which I think it did a amazing job that the game ran really well on the Nintendo's handheld system without noticing any of frame-rate issues, so this is why the whole game looked so incredible that never looked disappointed at all.


Overall, it has incredible game's design, impressive character's design, and solid overall environments.



Music and Sounds


I got to admit the game definitely has the best original soundtrack of whole series. It is a great rendition to 1992's original NES title with fully remade orchestrated music that made it sounds really epic on both overworld map and battle sequences. The game also included several of new soundtrack that aren't present on the NES version are actually heartwarming and heroic that really fits well for several of cutscenes which is the reason why I considered it as masterpiece.
I also liked the use of sound effects for its background noises and atmospheric effects which I really like hearing the sounds of waterfall, erupting volcanoes, and sword-swinging on my 3DS stereo speaker and the voice acting did a pretty stunning job on cast of characters which really adds the overall personality that shows much of the emotions and some time humour, so yeah I've liked it so far.


Overall, it has masterpiece soundtrack, atmospheric sounds, and stunning voice work.



Special Features


The game did have all of DLCs content which included 5 individual series made available in a overworld's option menu, so each of the series are entirely different from the original game itself which really helps expanding the game's length, but unfortunately the full season pass are quite expensive which cost you £40 to obtain all completed DLCs which is ridiculously pricey, but only if you are so keen to have all completed DLCs content.
It's a shame that it didn't include the multiplayer features like from Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates would have been nice if they included in the game.

Overall, the lack of multiplayer and pricey season pass did not help at all, but I did heard many positive things about the rest of DLCs series that keeps everyone busy with the game, so it's still a solid packaging.




Advantages


Fantastic storylines

Spectacular animated sequences

Excellent core battle

Cool dungeon crawling                                                         
                       
Well balanced class system

Satisfying difficulty

Incredible graphics

Masterpiece soundtrack

Extra DLCs



Disadvantages


Pricey season pass

Lack of multiplayer features       




Final Verdict


Presentation 9/10 - fantastic story, interesting characters, and spectacular animated sequences.

Gameplay 9/10 - excellent core battle, cool dungeons crawling areas, well balanced class system, and satisfying difficulty.

Graphics 9/10 - incredible game's design, impressive character's design, and solid overall environments.

Music and Sounds 9.5/10 - masterpiece soundtrack, atmospheric sounds, and stunning voice work.

Special Features 7/10 - lack of multiplayer and pricey season pass, but still a solid overall packaging.


Overall 9/10 - After 10 years of my wait, I am very glad that I had a 3DS which is the reason why I finally got a another Fire Emblem game that I can enjoy playing it on the handheld system.
So far, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is clearly being a best remakes in the series that finally did resolve the issues was present in Fire Emblem Gaiden for NES, so I am happy that it made the biggest improvement over the original NES featuring more story development filed with fantastic story and characters, introducing dungeon crawling mechanics to explore, and the overall battle gameplay did keep a satisfaction to the fans of the series will able to enjoy their Fire Emblem experience on this magnificent title on 3DS which offers many of joyful and teary moments that makes your heart feels very emotional is the reason why I loved this game so much.

I still liked the Radiant Dawn on Wii which is very good Tactical RPGs title, but this game on the 3DS is clearly my new favourite in the series that is definitely must buy for hardcore fans of the genres, so to keep you mind that the game won't be as cheaper from online store which cost around over £20 to £30, but I was lucky I got it for £14 instead.



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