We've waited for nearly half a year for Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones to appear here in Europe, but it's finally here. A quick recap for those of you not familiar with the series: Fire Emblem 8 is a story-driven turn-based strategy game that features a compelling plot and incredibly addictive gameplay.

The story takes place in the peaceful continent of Magvel, where five nations live peacefully next to each other. Each nation houses a Sacred Stone that were the key to defeating a demon ages ago. One day the nation of Renais is suddenly attacked by the neighbouring Grado empire. The assault is swift and decisive and the capital of Renais quickly falls. Eirika, princess of Renais, manages to survive the siege and with her two trusted knights she heads for the land of Frelia, in the hopes of finding help to push back the Grado invaders.

The story unfolds through the use of great-looking hand-drawn cutscenes and fantastic music. The plot is excellently written: one step at a time, you discover Grado's motives and find out, there's a lot more going on. The story becomes really epic towards the end, although it can't quite emotionally move you the way Fire Emblem did.

The core gameplay relies on carefully planning your next move on the world map and then attacking your foes using a rock-paper-scissors system. Swords beat axes, axes beat lances and lances beat swords. Luckily it goes way beyond that. There is also a comparable magic triangle (light, dark and anima magic), you have vulnerable archers that negate weapon/magic triangles and attack from a distance, you have flyers (pegasus knights and wyvern riders) that can quickly strike behind enemy lines, but are extremely weak against archers, etc.

Those simple, yet incredibly deep gameplay mechanics are what make TSS such a great title. Every move can easily be countered and no unit is overpowered. Sadly, the game is also very unforgiving. You can't save during missions, and when a unit dies, you lose him forever. There are two things you can do then: carrying on without your unit or restarting the mission. Let it be clear I don't recommend the first solution. You WILL regret the loss of a strong soldier later in the game. It can be very frustrating to see you're just one stroke away from defeating the level boss, only to find yourself restarting a mission because you left a weak unit unattended.

Don't let this stop you from playing the game though, since it's extremely rewarding when you finish a mission without casualties. As the game progresses, your units will gain experience, reach higher levels, stronger stats and will be able to use more powerful attacks thanks to higher skills. Every unit can be powered up to level 20 and promoted (save for the prepromoted units). Allow me to give new players some million-dollar hints. First of all: don't use prepromoted units. They start out strong, but don't gain experience quickly, which makes them a liability later on. The weakest units will nearly always grow out to be your strongest characters, another example of the great balancing. Take Ewan, Ross or Amelia for example: by far the weakest units to begin with, but give them time, handle them carefully and they will become the mainstay of your force.

After your units reach level 10, you'll be able to promote them, which makes them even stronger and lets them use different kinds of weapons. Unlike previous FE games, you can now choose between two upgrade paths. And here's another useful tip: never promote a unite before he reaches level 20. You'll strip them of uselful experience. Some new classes have also been added (Wyvern Knight, Necromancer,...) which further increases the variation in the game. The game already has a great replay value to begin with. After nine or so chapters (that are set up as tutorials), you'll be given the option to choose between either Eirika's and Ephraim's (her brother) route. You'll play through different levels depending on your choice. Furthermore, you'll unlock a Hard Mode and other extras (secret characters for example) when you finish the game.

The game also has a unique visual style. As said, the cutscenes look fantastic, but the fighting animations are quite possibly even more wonderful to look at. The world and strategic maps look plain, but that's nothing to be bothered about. Fire Emblem 8 also inherits the great musical score from its predecessor, so we can't complain there either.