A great game that will be a classic of this generation. A shame it's so unnoticed.
Before I go into the entire positive side, the negatives have to be put out there. Your squad, even though I felt attachment to my regulars and the main protagonists, the others just seemed like they were buffers should one of my mains die. The majority of my reserves never saw any action. Though at the same time, I'd be lying if I never said that the ones that replaced their fallen comrades usually grew on me as they, single handily took bases and returned the momentum to me.
Also, battles seem unfair, you're given 50 characters to make up your Squad, yet only 10 ever make it onto the battlefield, makes poor for a ratio. Especially considering when the opposition has WELL over 10 units. You might be a Militia, but no Commander would keep 80% of their soldiers off the battlefield. Maybe I'm just being over critical, but it came to annoy as it likes with the negative above, so many soldiers, so little room.
I could put lack of a Multiplayer that could have worked rather well with the game in here, though I feel this is a game that appreciates the quality of old, when games were about depth and game play, not a half arsed single player because the developer has the satisfy social loners whom feel multiplayer should be integral to a game. I should also point out I'm not opposed to multiplayer but I feel often is it now that games main stories and game play are suffering because of developers having to spend so much time with online play.
One thing that really bothered me is that for a strategy game, your positioning of units, pre-battle, is pre-fixed. Kind of defeating the point of a strategy isn't it? Would have been nice to have hidden soldiers in the tree line or had them dotted more spaciously in my territory, rather than them constantly been grouped together in spaces the developer has deemed for me. After all, the developers don't know what strategy I want to employ.
On to the positives of this hidden gem, firstly, its story is a good, well thought one, doing a great job of immersing you into the world and attaching yourself to your Squad. The story could have indeed been better at going into things at better depth but hey ho.
The story is fairly linear, yet you can have Episodes that are purely about exploring the characters for who they are, they're not compulsory to play but are good to play through to see how your characters are developing. As the story develops, you might find yourself in for a shock for how long the story actually lasts, at some point in the game, you may even curse the game for being so long, but it's all worth it, I assure you. So good is the story of this game and its ability to engross and draw you in that I genuinely felt saddened at the loss of certain characters.
The story and indeed game itself does not shy away from the issues of war, torture, enslavement, concentration camps, discrimination, hatred and civilian killing. Though the good news is love, friendship, loyalty and community make their way into the game too to lighten the tone.
The game play itself is good and simple. The game is so easy to play; most could pick it up within minutes. There's no real learning curve as much as need to know what Troops to bring to the battlefield, for example you'll regret not bringing any Lancers into levels filled with Tanks or forgetting to stock up on your Shock Troops when Scouts and Lancers come your way.
When not on the battlefield, you'll be in a book, which is the centre for advancing the story, allowing you to view the Film to unlock the next Episode, though expect to fight a battle on nearly every page to advance.
During my play, I encountered absolutely no lag, no glitches nor any screen tear to my recollection. Though the lack of lag is answerable with battles being calm yet and at times, over whelming. There's no chaos on the screen, it's more like watching "Chess" pieces fight as they sit and wait until moved and then fire when told to. When I say over whelming battles, well, it's a turn based game so when the Enemy Commander has his entire force directly in front of yours and has 9 Command Stars (The Currency of Movement) and for 9 moves, constantly rips your poor squad to bits, it's fair to say your next turn isn't going to be one where you're in a good position to fight back as much as try to get the medic in and replace your fallen comrades.
The battlefield is where all the action takes place, with 5 classes of soldiers, Scouts, Shock Troops, Engineers, Lancers and Snipers, all self explanatory, oh and Tank, though don't be expecting to be lining your ranks with them, it won't be happening. Once selected and positioned, you'll spend 20 Turns Max completing your objectives through your soldiers, ranging from just getting to point X, drawing an enemy to X, killing X, taking the main base or holding the enemy off until the time expires. As I've said before it's all so simple, yet so great, there's really nothing like having your Scout lob a grenade at the enemy Sniper hidden behind the sand bags and blowing them up after they've killed two of your comrades. Nor can I describe the joy of seeing your Lancers destroy a Heavy Tank that's been wrecking havoc upon your soldiers with Mortars.
However, don't think the game play is just the story and side missions. As you play through you will unlock Tabs which will allow you to go the HQ to train your soldiers, allowing you to fine tune what class you desire, equip your soldiers with specialist weapons, learn new Orders to issue to your soldiers and read the local newspaper about your latest victory.
Other Tabs include Decorations, Glossary, Personnel, Weaponry, Stats, Music and Skirmish Mode. The Glossary really helping you to understand everything that's unfolding in the story and the Personnel tab really helps in understanding the characters much better and even though you might not believe it, it's great for finding out what actually happened to your favourite Squaddie after the war.
The Graphics aren't going to demolish your eyes with their awesomeness but the water colour effect really is a sight to behold, it's different and soft, great contrast to the setting of the game. This game isn't going to be showing you the power of the PS3 or going to have Graphic whores dropping their trousers, but none the less the water colour graphics are a great complement to this game and it's over all setting.
Overall, Valkyria Chronicles is great game, one that flew under the radar for so many gamers, a game that will probably be left unappreciated for time to come. This simple game, with its simple design and simple way left more of an impression on me than most complex games. Its game play fluent, easy, user friendly and fun. It's graphics soft and beautiful. The story a great tale of love, hate, war and peace that will engross all those who love a good story in today's games and are not just after a simple gaming experience. It took me 32 hours to complete this game, a shocking length for today's games when considering some of the highest rated games on this site can easily be completed in 5-8 hours. Though it has some minor flaws, they're not hugely game affecting. This is a game that shouldn't be missed by those who appreciate real gaming, game play with decent graphics and a good plot to engage the mind. Even as the credits rolled and the game told of the after math, I couldn't help feel a small feeling of happiness for those who'd fictionally went on to better things.
This game is a classic, the problem? It'll be an off the radar one.