There are many clones of games out there now, everyone is trying to make a quick buck to capitalize on a look or a certain genre, especially lesser known developers. Now that is not a slight to this game or this developer it is just something that I have noticed in recent years, especially with all the Dark Souls clones. Yummy Yummy Tummy Games obviously was a fan of the art-style and map layout of the Fire Emblem series, even the logo for this game shares an uncanny resemblance to Nintendo’s strategy series. Once again, not a bad thing, I’ve just been getting into the Fire Emblem series and for lack of a better phrase I suck at them, I did not suck at Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion which made me feel better about myself as a person.
Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion is pretty epic in scope to me, the game takes place in Fenumia during a huge crisis. Armies are everywhere and it is up to the King to keep everything copacetic and stop the wars. Unfortunately, he dies and lets it be known that his daughter Cecille will be the next queen. This is when Cecille and the character you play as, Legatus Laendur meet the smart-mouthed confidant of the king, the Grimoire. Legatus doesn’t like the way the Grimoire thinks, talks or how it will have sway over his friend Cecille when she becomes Queen. That’s the premise of the whole story, these two powerful friends fighting and battling over the Grimoire and ultimately what happens to the kingdom.
The overall design of this game is quite nice, it looks hand drawn and reminds me of the look of Dragon’s Crown. This is a great look for the game, I love the quasi-hand drawn two-dimensional feel of the game. It just fits the medieval time period that the developer was going for. The story is told on the world map, you move your party from destination to destination and some of those stops are just story points where you learn what’s going on and why you’re attacking old friends and the others are side-scrolling levels where you must defeat every0ne. I wasn’t a fan of the cutscene portions of this game, I understand that the developer made it for the PS4 and the PS Vita, but the two dimensional talking at each other just don’t do it for me when it is on a super powerful PS4 system. I’ll forgive it for the Vita which isn’t as strong but some fully developed cutscenes would have helped this title quite a bit.
Unfortunately, once you understand the battle system of Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion, you grow quite weary of the repetitiveness of it. This game wasn’t built for long sit down plays, I think the developer made it so that you could sit down, beat a few levels then continue on your day. Do not binge play this game, you will go insane. Basically, you have two Exemplars helping you in battle, you stand in the back and use your magic once the meters fill up but your friends will be handling the heavy lifting. X, Square and Circle are the attack options for your Exemplars, every time you use them to attack you lose an Action Point. Each Exemplar has up to three Action Points so watch their meter closely so you don’t use all their hits at once. Thankfully the AP’ recharge over time, and quite quickly, it is the magic recharge that takes a very long time. You Exemplars can also block attacks with L1, and if they are done perfectly than can stun an enemy or shoot their long-range attack back at them. You NEED to get good at this, it will save your life many times if you perfect that block.
Magic is pretty important in this game as well, you are pretty much defenseless without your Exemplars and if they both die and your enemy strikes you it will be game over. As you progress through the level you will stop and fight different types of enemies, to use any magic at all you use the left thumbstick to chose what magic spell and then Triangle. The most useful spells are obviously Heal and Resurrect, but hitting a main boss with your main attack spell can turn the tide in your favor, so always watch the upper left corner to see what spells have recharged for your use. One cool mechanic as you travel through the levels is you get to chose the fate of certain people in your army or in the surrounding area. Your decisions affect your Exemplars, so make sure to pick the right choice for the added attributes rather than how sick their punishment or reward may be. You don’t get a lot of added attributes so make sure you use them at the level or you will lose them.
Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion is fun, don’t let my drawbacks make you think otherwise. I just think that I should have played it on the Vita, it makes much more sense to be on that handheld since a majority of people really don’t binge game on a Vita. The short level design, the cut scenes and the type of game that it fits the Vita. I don’t understand why they brought a port to the PS4, it seems like the hardware is wasted on this game. Fans of Fire Emblem will enjoy this title even if perma-death and a much different style of combat are in this game. It is nice to look at, enjoyable to play in short bursts and isn’t insanely difficult I’d say give it a go, but get it on your Vita if you have one, it makes more sense.
A PS4 Review copy of Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion was provided by YummyYummy Tummy Games for the Purpose of this review.