"I'm getting my trash kicked. Time to stand up and unload the RAGE!"

Even though Fire Emblem has a long and illustrious history in Japan, the series has only begun to get expose across the ocean in North America. One of the two upcoming North American Fire Emblem games, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, was playable at Nintendo's corner of E3, and the strategy RPG lover in me couldn't resist giving it a whirl.

The game started off in a dialogue sequence featuring Ike, the main character, and a few of his compatriots. Following this, I went through a tutorial on how to direct other people's actions during battle. The tutorial was very clear, concise, and well done. It did a good job of telling me exactly what I needed to know.

It did take me a few minutes to figure out the basics of battle, but that was all the time I needed to start busting heads. While I admitedly didn't have time to analyze the true depth of the battle system, at first glance the battle system seems very simple, and it contains a lot of the strategic elements you'd come to expect from other strategy RPGs.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance was very fun, and it shows a lot of potential. Strategy RPG veterans and genre newcommers alike should be able to enjoy the game when it's released for the GameCube in November.

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