First Impressions: Fire Emblem Heroes

Heather Fisher

First, let me be honest. I had no idea this was a thing, somehow had missed the press release and the hype, and was totally oblivious until it was pointed out by our Rogues Portal staff. After waiting for hours for it to drop with a sudden interest to play stemming from sheer curiosity, I will say that I am kind of glad I missed the hype train.

That is not to say that Fire Emblem Heroes disappoints in any way. Or at least, no way that I’ve come across thus far. Rather I’m glad I went into this game with zero prior knowledge and an unbiased first impression. This mobile game is gorgeous. Let me say that again, it’s GORGEOUS. It has all the colors and fancy character costumes that anyone could ever want from this anime style art. The game play, while easy to grasp onto, is still challenging enough for someone that maybe isn’t great at tactician type games. My one gripe is that there seems to be a lot of dialogue compared to battles. I haven’t explored all the game has to offer yet, but I am very much looking forward to doing so!

Thor Angelus

I really liked it! It feels very much like a full Fire Emblem, with a little less story of course. The short battles are quick but still take strategy due to the returning Weapon Triangle. It was interesting to summon heroes with a nice little discount system worked in. The menus are straight-forward enough, I didn’t have any trouble finding things. The art is beautiful and the voice acting is solid, the movement in battle is smooth…the game just felt good overall. Very impressed after a day with it, I found myself going into battles whenever I had to wait for other daily life stuff. If the gameplay for Nintendo’s other mobile games feel like nearly-full experiences like Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes do, they’re going to have some pretty happy fans.

Ryan Holt

As a Fire Emblem noobie, I went into this game completely blind. I knew of Fire Emblem of course, mostly through face palms related to Smash Brothers roster additions, and Intelligent System’s previous tactical games, Advanced Wars. What I wasn’t expecting is a full experience from a free-2-play mobile game. Most mobile games focus on a single type of mode, be it a lane runner or a base building mechanic, and really skimp on anything other than their core mechanic. Fire Emblem Heroes on the other hand has a full blown story mode, which is quite refreshing. It definitely plays to the strength of the platform, with matches taking nearly no time at all thanks to a limited arena. The Weapon Triangle system is pretty basic, but all of the different skills each character can have help add depth to what otherwise would be a shallow game. The monetization through orbs isn’t too bad, and I like how it shows the odds of pulling certain ranks of heroes. I hope more mobile games start to follow suit.

You can download Fire Emblem Heroes for free on Google Play and iTunes.