Fire Emblem - Awakening - 9.0

I have the digital copy on my older sister's 3DS and I'm getting a preordered physical copy from Amazon. I absolutely love the series and I think this is a huge step up from the originals.

The game's story expands a multitude of chapters with many amazing characters from different backgrounds. Each of the characters develops and can become romantically involved with another character, granting them bonuses in battle and later on, kids!

The 3D effect is just plain awesome. At first I thought there was dust flying around or something but then I realized it was actually the smoke from the game and every once in a while, bats would fly out! I also love the first person view point in 3D battle. Makes for a trippy experience when using flying units. Superbly done.

Fire Emblem is notable for its strategic, tactical game play. Over the past 12 games, the gameplay was the same and a little stale. However in this new edition, they introduced many interesting and unique additions including "Pair up" and the getting bonuses from adjacent characters! Pairing up beefs up a unit in multiple areas and allows for a chance of dual attacking or blocking (and negating all damage!) of a hit. It also increases support levels and such.

Supports are also returning in this game along with the marriage system. Supports are essentially characters getting closer together the more time they are with other characters. For example having the Main Lord (Chrom) with another female (non relative hopefully) character pairing up or being adjacent for many battles will increase their support levels. As this level increases, eventually the characters will fall in love and get married.

There is DLC in this game but don't get too worked up about it. The game itself is completely finished so it isn't an on-disc dlc but rather bonus content for those who want extra challenge. DLC includes maps, characters, and monster attacks which also includes weapons and such. However the characters can be gotten for free (and there are more free characters than DLC characters) through spotpass. Simply leaving your 3DS in sleep mode will allow you to download the characters and maps. The characters are not related to the main game but rather come from other Fire Emblem games including Marth, Roy, Ike, the Smash Bros. favorites. During the first month or so, there is a free DLC including a very special character. Be sure to pick up the game so you can pick him up also!

There is a bundle 3DS with this game but I wouldn't recommend it as it is not a 3DS XL. I greatly prefer the XL over the regular 3DS but if you're not picky about the size then go ahead and pick up the bundle instead. Aside from that, I would rather recommend getting a 3DS XL blue (MK7 bundle if possible) and then adding the decal if you really want it.