Fire Emblem Echoes Review In Progress Part 1: The Graphics

Fire Emblem Echoes came out for the 3DS today. I am currently playing the game for review. A full review will be coming to GamesReviews.com as soon as possible. For now, we want to provide our readers with as much Fire Emblem Echoes content as possible. In today’s first Review In Progress, I’ll discuss Fire Emblem Echoes’ graphics!

Fire Emblem Awakening and Fire Emblem Fates both have excellent graphics. Both games deal in 2D gameplay expect when the camera zooms in to show 3D fights and when an animated cutscene is played. Fire Emblem Echoes graphics are a bit more complex than those previous games. I want to discuss the similarities between the games first.

The 2D grid based battles are back from previous games and look pretty similar to Awakening and Fates. I want to say the 2D figures are more detailed in Echoes but I don’t have Awakening or Fates handy for comparison sake. I can safely say that the graphics do look very good. Of course, the 3D close up fights look even better.

Not much has changed as far as the zoomed in fights. These look just as good as they’ve always looked. I would highly recommend having the 3D turned on for these fights because they look fantastic with it on. That said, if you can’t stand the 3D, you’ll be fine without it.

It should be noted that there are some strange camera angles once and awhile that do block some cool fight moments, but other than that, the close up fights are awesome. Basically, though, the graphics during the battles in Echoes are the same as previous games. The real difference between Echoes and the other two 3DS games are out of battle.

As I mentioned in my preview for Echoes, players can visit dungeons in this game. These new areas have allowed the developers of this game to do something we’ve never seen in a Fire Emblem game before: present fully 3D,  explorable environments. I don’t want to spoil any of these dungeons for you but I can say that, so far , I’m really impressed with the graphics in these dungeons.

Each one of these areas that I’ve visited are unique and look really great. There is so detail to these places. I do wish there was a little more variety as far as enemies and the maps that you fight on in the dungeons, but I’m very happy with the look of the dungeons themselves. I like how the towns in Echoes look too.

Players don’t walk around fully 3D towns, instead they are presented with static images that they can interact with through a menu. There’s not a lot of variety to the towns yet, but each town looks good. There are some buildings that you visit that work the same way as the towns and those have been very interesting looking. The town/building images may not be as impressive as the 3D dungeons but I think they are a nice new addition to the graphics of Fire Emblem.

There are also some fantastic static images for key story moments too! The character portraits for dialogue scenes also return from previous games and look just as good as before. Of course, the absolute best looking part of Echoes are the animated cutscenes.

Awakening and Fates both had animated cutscenes and Echoes continues that tradition. I haven’t seen a lot of these scenes yet, but the ones that I’ve seen are excellent. I look forward to seeing more of these cool cutscenes soon. Overall, the graphics in Fire Emblem Echoes are just as good as previous games, if not better.

I’ll be back on Monday with Part 2 of my review in progress!

Please stay tuned to GamesReviews.com for more Fire Emblem Echoes articles, including my full review!