Reviewed by 15-year-old Sophie Rubenking (daughter of Lead Analyst Neil J. Rubenking)

I've played other Fire Emblem games before, so I had high expectations for this one. Happily, my expectations were met. Generally, I like almost any game where you do things to gain experience and then level up. It provides a nice feeling of satisfaction. Usually, you only have one character to work with, but in Fire Emblem, you get to control a small army of people.

I was particularly looking forward to this version of Fire Emblem, because it's for the Wii. Unfortunately, it doesn't utilize the unique "point and play" sort of capabilities that are associated with the Wii. Instead of pointing at the screen, you can choose one of three controller styles of play: 1) the Wiimote held horizontally, 2) the classic game controller (plugged into the Wiimote), or 3) a plain, old GameCube controller. It's nice being able to have the choice. Somebody moving from the GameCube to the Wii might be more comfortable playing with a GameCube controller. The controller does use the rumble feature if compatible (we have wireless GCN controllers at my house, but they don't rumble, unfortunately).

Most fighting games are all about action, and you need to master complex button (or in this case, controller waving) combos to win or do reasonably well. Fire Emblem is more of a strategy game. The game is turn based, so you have time to think about what you're going to do. Instead of controlling a character in all the action, you get to watch them do what they've been instructed to do.

Radiant Dawn is really cool for a lot of reasons. Among them is the wonderful graphics. This is especially nice because you start out with a magic-type character and the magic attacks are a real visual treat! Speaking of characters, all of the characters seem to be really well thought out in terms of their designs (their outfits look really cool). They also have interesting back stories, which make you care a bit more and perhaps try harder not to let them get killed. After all, when they die, they're gone for good. I was also really happy to find that the game's controls are almost identical to the version I'm used to (Sacred Stones for the GBA). The game was so fun, I was having trouble stopping to find time to write this review!

For more on this game, see 1Up.com's review of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.