Another epic, memorable adventure awaits in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, the follow-up to 2003's similarly excellent strategy RPG, Fire Emblem. The previous game was actually the seventh in a series that had long since established itself in Japan, and at last made it to these shores. That makes The Sacred Stones the eighth Fire Emblem title, though it features an original, completely self-contained story and is equally well suited to new players as well as returning fans. Those fortunate to have played previous Fire Emblem games will find a comfortably familiar experience in The Sacred Stones, which features its own huge cast of unique characters and some noteworthy twists to the formula. However, most of the play mechanics, animations, and sound effects are the same as before, and therefore maybe not quite as impressive as they used to be. The game itself is outstanding overall, though, for all the reasons its predecessor remains one of the best Game Boy Advance games available--it, too, offers a lengthy, rewarding, thought-provoking experience that truly makes you feel as though the decisions you make, waging one exciting battle after the next, carry serious consequences.

Ephraim's candor makes him a likable hero straightaway. He's one of dozens of great characters in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones consists of a series of strategic turn-based battles that are tied together by an elaborate, carefully crafted story featuring dozens of different characters...characters who live and die by your actions. The story touches on many of the same themes as the previous Fire Emblem game, but it's otherwise completely different, right down to the new setting of the land of Magvel. Central to the tale is a new pair of protagonists, the chivalrous royal siblings Ephraim and Eirika. When the kingdom of Grado suddenly and ruthlessly lays siege on its former allies in the kingdom of Renais, Ephraim and Eirika emerge as some of the sole survivors. Forced to go their separate ways, the two of them embark on a quest to muster an army and discover the source of Grado's treachery. You'll get to experience the story from both characters' perspectives, and parts of it even branch off, giving you a different angle on the storyline depending on whose journey you choose to follow.

Much like the previous Fire Emblem, this is a well-written, surprisingly sophisticated narrative featuring plenty of endearing heroes and villains, and no shortage of provocative, morally complex situations. The content isn't so severe that it isn't suitable for younger players, but the point is, Fire Emblem takes itself and audience seriously, though it's not without its occasional moments of comic relief, either. The storyline mostly just unfolds through lightly animated character portraits and accompanying onscreen text, yet this seemingly simple technique works surprisingly well to get the point across. The story is noninteractive and at times quite wordy, so you could skip right past it if and when you really want to. But, much like the previous game, the entertaining turn-based combat and the rich story of The Sacred Stones combine to form something much greater than the sum of these two parts.

The turn-based battles that form the basis of the gameplay in Fire Emblem have more in common with strategy games like Advance Wars than with other strategy RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. In any given battle, you'll control a limited number of units--usually about a dozen--as you attempt to solve your mission's objective. That objective generally involves strategically battling against superior numbers of enemy forces. During your turn, you get to move all your units in any order, and if you wish to make them attack their foes, you're given an estimate of the results of that exchange before having to commit to the fight. When one unit attacks another, the game cuts to a little animated sequence showing the combatants exchange blows. If one unit runs out of health points, it's gone and out of the fight, and can usually be presumed dead. Don't think outsmarting your foes will be easy--the artificial intelligence in Fire Emblem is quite good, so you can look forward to your enemies exploiting any weaknesses in your defenses, such as by focusing their attack on your weakest forces. To make things really interesting, the game features tons of different character classes, each with their own distinct specialties. You've got knights, archers, cavaliers, priests, thieves, fighters, mercenaries, shamans, and many more to work with, including some exotic classes like pegasus knights and wyvern lords.

The gameplay itself consists of a long sequence of tense, exciting turn-based battles.

Fans of Fire Emblem should immediately recognize almost all of these, though a number of new high-level classes and enemy units have been added since the last game. As in the previous title, you must actively use your different characters in battle to make them earn experience points, and as they increase in levels, they noticeably begin to grow more powerful. Later, you'll also be able to upgrade them to a more prestigious character class that's much more effective. Actually, one of the significant changes in The Sacred Stones is that it gives you a choice when you upgrade most of your characters. In the previous Fire Emblem, your cavaliers could become paladins. Here, they can become paladins or great knights, the latter of which is one of the game's new classes.

Bowser's kids have turned the rulers of the seven different worlds in the Mushroom Kingdom into animals, and have taken over all of their domains.

Though Super Mario Bros. 2 was wildly different from the original SMB, with Mario and company battling Wart in the dream world, SMB3 takes it back home to the Mushroom Kingdom, where Bowser's kids have turned the rulers of the seven different worlds in the Mushroom Kingdom into animals and have taken over all of their domains. It's up to Mario to kick the Koopa Kids out of their airships, restore the rulers of the different worlds, and ultimately go head-to-head with Bowser himself.

The gameplay in SMB3 is functionally the same as it was in the original Super Mario Bros.--with Mario simply trying to get from one end of a level to the other with his hide intact--though it's on a much larger scope. The Mushroom Kingdom is split up into a series of uniquely themed worlds, each of which is represented with a large overworld map. Aside from using this map to go from level to level, you can visit Toad houses, where you can earn power-ups for later use, visit spade houses for chances to earn extra lives, and inevitably encounter roving gangs of hammer brothers.

While Mario could previously only throw fireballs, SMB3 introduced the suit system, where Mario could grab special power-ups to give him special abilities. The fire flower still works as it did in SMB. The super leaf, inexplicably, gives Mario a raccoon tail, which he can use to take out enemies and, even more confusingly, fly. The frog suit makes Mario much more nimble underwater, but it reduces his mobility on dry land significantly. The tanooki suit works much like the super leaf, except that it has the added bonuses of being able to turn Mario into an invincible, but immobile, statue, and it makes him incredibly adorable. The hammer suit, the rarest of the power-ups, lets Mario toss hammers just like those horribly annoying turtle guys. All these power-ups, plus a few others that you'll use on the overworld maps, are not only useful, but bring an incredibly distinct flavor to the game, and the robust suit system remains unique to SMB3 out of all the Mario games.

The robust suit system remains unique to SMB3.

Super Mario Bros. 3 could be challenging at points, but it also provided plenty of opportunities to earn loads of extra lives, which you did by collecting coins, picking up special mushrooms, playing the slot-machine-style minigames scattered across the Mushroom Kingdom, or simply by finishing three levels. Super Mario Advance 4 makes things even easier by including a Super Mario World-style save system, which means that you no longer have to play through the game in a single sitting. Veteran players might also notice that some subtle but noticeable changes have been made to certain levels. Extra blocks are added in areas where it would have previously been easier to fall to your death, and coins seem to be spread out more liberally. Truly, these are incredibly minute alterations, though they're peculiar ones nonetheless.

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In Ghost Rider, you get to wail on enemies with the character's fists and chains.

Two-thirds of the game's levels take place in side-scrolling environments where criminals and monsters constantly rush into view as you make your way along the path. These fodder enemies can block and attack, and they do a good job of surrounding Ghost Rider, but they're usually no match for all of the attacks you're able to perform. You can unleash various punches and lash out with Ghost Rider's chains by pressing different combinations of the buttons and D pad, as well as grab enemies directly to express mail knuckle sandwiches to their faces. Some attacks were directly lifted from the comic books, such as the ability to pull enemies closer using the character's chains, or the ability to send them back to hell by performing the penance stare. New enemies are introduced every five levels or so, some levels have alternative paths you can take, and there's usually a giant boss creature waiting at the end of each level. In addition to the health and mana orbs that enemies leave behind, they also release soul orbs that you can collect and use to buy new attacks or upgrade existing ones. Gaining new attacks every couple of levels really helps stave off the feeling of repetitiveness that often develops while playing through a beat-'em-up.

The remaining levels are first-person motorcycle stages that will seem familiar to anyone who's played Road Rash. Your job in them is to make it to the end of a twisty highway populated with angry armed bikers without running out of health. When you pursue a group of evil bikers, they'll attack using shotguns and baseball bats. In response, you can hurl hellfire orbs from a distance or swing Ghost Rider's chains to hurt them up close. While all of this is going on, you also need to take care to dodge junk situated in the road. Ghost Rider often has to chase down demons with his bike in the comic books, so the inclusion of these bike levels adds another layer of authenticity to the game's portrayal of the character. Even if you're not a fan of the character, you'll probably appreciate the break from the lengthy fisticuffs levels that the occasional bike stage provides.

In terms of look and feel, Ghost Rider for the GBA does an excellent job of bringing the character's world to life. The side-scrolling stages have multiple layers of scrolling and flaunt sexy visual effects that are seldom seen in GBA games. In Mephisto's realm, for example, there's a persistent transparent haze, and the walls and flowing lava in the distance appear to waver in the extreme heat. The first-person viewpoint in the bike stages is also rather impressive, even if it is just the same trick developers have been using since the Super NES and Genesis days to fake a semblance of 3D. Ghost Rider looks just like he does in the comics, and he has a diverse selection of visually flamboyant attacks. The flames on his hands, head, and chains are animated, such that they constantly flare and sway in response to everything you do. There's rarely a dull moment, since new enemies are constantly appearing to replace the ones that you knock out. While there aren't a whole bunch of different sound effects, all of the smacks and groans that accompany attacks are sufficiently meaty. The music, meanwhile, is intricately orchestrated, moody, and fits the action perfectly.

You can collect orbs to learn new attacks. Motorcycle stages also add variety.

Followers of the character's comic exploits will further appreciate the rogues' gallery of bosses distributed throughout the game, which includes the likes of Vengeance, Lilith, and Mephisto, just to name a few. One of the static scenes between levels even features a brief cameo by Blade, the vampire hunter. Characters in the game are drawn so that they look like they do in comic books, although for some wacky reason, they're drawn to resemble the actors from the recent motion picture in the scenes that appear between levels. Fortunately, the movie likenesses don't seem out of place.

All told, Ghost Rider for the GBA is a fun, visually-stunning beat-'em-up that totally captures the essence of the character it's based on. And, at 20 dollars, the price is right.

Just as the title suggests, the video game rendition of March of the Penguins is based on the award-winning film documentary about emperor penguins. In the game, you help the tuxedo-colored birds migrate inland, forage for food, and care for their young by solving puzzles and navigating mazes set in the harsh Antarctic wasteland. It may seem silly that a company would make a video game out of a documentary, but the puzzles and subject matter actually mesh together fine. However, what isn't fine is that although the game is clearly aimed at younger players, the majority of puzzles require an adult-sized intellect to solve. Anyone that's still in elementary school will probably shut the game off in frustration long before finishing the first chapter. Conversely, anybody with two digits in their age should be able to work through each of the game's 12 puzzles, but they'll likely find no joy in doing so, because the graphics, audio, and overall presentation are geared toward simpler tastes and fall way behind the curve compared to most of the other games that are available for Nintendo's handheld systems.

Six of the game's 12 chapters are Lemmings-style puzzles where you have to place objects in the environment to help the penguins reach the goal.

Half of the game's dozen chapters are reminiscent of the classic puzzle game Lemmings. The penguins, as they are prone to do, have decided to march from one end of the level to the other. It's your job to plant objects along their path that will help the cute birds navigate the various hills and make it to the end without falling into the chilly waters below. Steps let them climb, tents let them bounce really high, snowballs cushion their fall, and so forth. In all, there are eight different objects that you can drag and drop onto the penguins' path. You must have solid spatial-reasoning skills to figure out the right sequence of objects, as well as be able to make decisions quickly, since the penguins are constantly waddling toward their perceived goal. Because this is an E-rated game, they don't die if they fall into the water. They simply reappear at the beginning of the level. However, the trade-off is that you only have a limited amount of time to finish the level. If you have a mishap near the end of the level, there usually won't be enough time left over for any stragglers to rejoin the main group. Factoring in trial and error, it can easily take 30 minutes or more to figure out each Lemmings-style chapter.

The other six chapters are simpler maze-navigation tasks based on key scenes from the film. In one, you have to guide a male penguin through a gauntlet of other penguins while keeping hold of a slippery egg. In another, you have to dive into the water and catch fish while avoiding predators. Compared to the Lemmings-style puzzles, these maze chapters are ridiculously easy.

Some might enjoy the challenge posed by the Lemmings chapters, if only there were any payoff for doing so. Six puzzles is nowhere near enough, considering the typical puzzle game has dozens upon dozens of puzzles. Furthermore, the presentation is much too simple to captivate anyone that has other games at their disposal. The backgrounds are stark and lack color or animation. The penguins are cute and have a smooth waddle, but they're tiny and don't do much except flap and shuffle. It doesn't help that the accompanying audio consists of a few instrumental tunes that loop constantly, along with some basic sound effects that are meant to be footsteps and penguin squawks. Between levels, beautiful photographic stills from the film are shown, along with factoids about the emperor-penguin migration.

The other half of the game's levels involve guiding penguins through simple mazes.

The game is available for both the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS. Both versions have the same levels, graphics, and audio. The DS version is easier to play, however, because you can use the stylus to instantly drag and drop objects. The map that's always visible on the upper screen also comes in handy, as does the automatic save feature. By contrast, the GBA game doesn't have a map and makes players write down passwords to maintain progress. Of course, the GBA game does cost a few dollars less.

Not that many people will or should consider buying either version of March of the Penguins. The Lemmings-style puzzles are much too difficult for younger players, while older players will be turned off by how bland and short-lived the overall product is. The silly thing isn't that they made a video game out of a documentary film. The silly thing is that they made it too difficult for one audience and too insubstantial for the other.

As adventure games go, Back to Stone doesn't do much to bust out of the "fight monsters, fetch items" formula. The game's lone gimmick is that you play as a man who can transform monsters into stone blocks. Those stone blocks, in turn, can be pushed around and used as platforms or to activate floor switches. Basically, the developer has come up with an interesting way to enable the same block-pushing mechanic we've seen in countless similar games. However, while that's nice and all, it doesn't make the act of pushing blocks more enjoyable, and it sure doesn't change the fact that Back to Stone is a bland dungeon crawl with some serious shortcomings.

Unlike other adventure games that gradually give you new weapons and abilities to use, Back to Stone doles out its entire limited arsenal within the first couple of missions. Your character has a single punch attack, which turns most enemies into stone. You can also unleash a powerful energy blast, although you don't often get the chance to do so because you need to collect crystals to recharge it. Your character turns into a full-on demon when he's low on health, but that's barely reflected in the gameplay. When you're a demon, your attacks become stronger and certain non-player characters won't talk to you. Each dungeon has its own diverse menagerie of monsters. While they all look disturbing, only a few actually make an effort to chase you or assail you with magical attacks. Most just crawl around within a small territory and dish out damage if you somehow run into them. The larger "boss" monsters located at the end of certain dungeons do have intricate attack patterns, however. Those battles are an exciting change of pace from the otherwise mundane act of turning tiny monsters into stones and then pushing those stones around to make the platforms or activate the switches that will get you through an area.

Being able to turn monsters into stone blocks is a cute gimmick, but it doesn't inject any new energy into the block-pushing mechanic that has been done to death in so many similar games through the years. Stones can be used to safely traverse electrified floors or change the orientation of rotating platforms, or placed into preordained spots to produce crystals or unlock doors. Some stones are unbreakable. Some explode and clear away any nearby monsters. Ramps and arrows in the environment let you launch stones over bottomless gaps. Back to Stone definitely delivers some clever puzzles involving the pushing of stone blocks. Regardless, pushing blocks around gets boring after a while. Instead of giving you a periodic break like other games would, Back to Stone will just keep taxing you with one block-focused puzzle after another. The game is a long one compared to other adventure games, taking roughly 10 hours to complete. Most of that time, though, is spent moving stone blocks around.

In terms of presentation, Back to Stone is inconsistent. Every good aspect seems to be tempered with a negative. For instance, while the music is haunting and intricate, there aren't many sound effects other than some punches and the demonic roar that happens when your character runs low on health. As for the visuals, the variety of enemies and environments is great, and the character animation is more fluid here than in a lot of other GBA games. Unfortunately, each enemy has only one or two different movements, and the graphics are heavily stretched. It's as if the game was initially being developed for a system with a smaller screen and then transitioned to the GBA midway through the development cycle.

There's some combat and platform-jumping, but the main focus of the game is on using stone blocks to solve puzzles.

The isometric view also causes problems at times. Since the environments are tilted to fake a three-dimensional sense of depth, it can be difficult to line up jumps and to position blocks properly. Too much of the game's trial and error is a result of the perspective, causing you to misjudge open air for solid ground. Thankfully, such mishaps usually aren't fatal. If you fall off a ledge, for instance, your character will reappear on solid ground with only a touch of health deducted. Or if you place a stone in the wrong spot, it'll eventually dissolve and you can go transform another monster into a useful statue. Password markers are scattered liberally throughout each dungeon, which is both good and bad. On the one hand, you can always take a break and return to your game whenever you need to. On the other hand, you have to stop and jot down a 10-character password every minute or so if you want to keep tabs on your progress.

It's nice to see that developers are still producing original games for the Game Boy Advance. Unfortunately, Back to Stone is a bland, sloppy adventure game that doesn't bring anything original to the formula apart from a novel twist on the same block pushing we've been doing for years.

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