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"The Jet Gamer" Game Review: Valkyria Chronicles
10 years ago
A Sega game. Nice.
Valkyria Chronicles
A strategy game about war strategies, that is quite unique and made by Sega? Yes please. Off the top of my head, when you tell me this is a war strategy game, my mind instantly goes to the Advance Wars series. That is a series that I quite enjoy and always like coming back to time and time again. Can Sega create a war strategy game that I enjoy as well? Let us take a closer look at this game and see if this is indeed something that I will enjoy quite a bit or not.
Gameplay
As stated above, Valkyria Chronicles is a tactical war rpg with some shooting elements mixed into it. The basic concept behind the game is that you control a squad of soldiers who are trying to either eliminate all other enemies or take over the enemies base as they are often trying to do the same. You do this in a slightly different way than you would think in some strategy games. In this game, the game is turn based but active time at the same time. How can they do this you ask? Well, each turn your squad is given a certain number of time units. With one time unit, you can use it to move a soldier around on the battlefield as a fatigue meter slowly drains. That soldier can continue to move around the battlefield wherever you want them to as if it was third person shooter game now. However, once your meter is empty, your soldier stops right where they are and can no longer move anymore unless you spend another time unit. You can stop them before this of course if you don't want to keep them moving anymore or send them out into danger where they would run out of fatigue and be out in the open. That's an easy way of getting them shot. During each time unit, the soldier can perform one action if desired. They can fire their weapon, which shoots a set number of time depending on the type of unit they are, they can heal, or use a special weapon or item if they so desire. However, you can only do this once. If you need to fire again for example, you need to spend another time unit to be able to fire your gun again. Special weapons, such as repair kits for engineers to repair your tank, grenades, and such like that do count as an action though, so keep this in mind before leaving a soldier out in the open that needs to fire on the enemy. When it comes to your gun as well, this is where the game becomes like a shooter. When you want to fire your gun, the gameplay around you pauses once you aim your gun. No enemies can fire back at your or move around during this time as you are now allowed to take the time to aim your gun where you want it to fire. This means aiming for headshots when you can is a must for quick take downs. Still, it takes a certain number of shots to kill all enemies as everyone does have a health bar the same as you, so keep an eye on the numbers in the bar at the top of the screen that tell you how many hits need to land to kill the enemy. Head shots of course kill much quicker, so as always, take the time you are given to line up head shots. The enemy has to do all this to though, as they have a set number of time units they can use to attack you back on their turn. Just always try and keep in mind where you leave people, and try and keep them either hidden or in cover as much as possible. Both you and the enemy though do have the option of counter fire when the other is moving around on the field, at least for certain units. This can mean death for both as they will keep firing and reloading as long as you haven't stopped to fire or ended your turn. There is also the matter of tanks. These powerful units take two time units to move, so use them only when you need to or need to do some good damage to the enemy, as they won't hesitate to do it back to you. There is also the matter of orders you can give your units to buff their stats for that turn, but use them sparingly as they do use two time units to use. I didn't use them that much as I didn't see much point in them at times. I found it more useful to move more than to do orders at time. At the end of each mission you earn EXP and Money that you can then spend at your HQ to level your units up or to spend on new weapons and side mission stuff. You don't level up your units like you would in a normal rpg. In this game, everyone of a certain unit type is equal. When you spend EXP to level up a squad, everyone of that unit type levels up at the same time. This encourages you to not get reckless with certain units to level them up, as everyone is the same as far as classes go. You can also change up the members that are in your squad between missions whenever you want as well, and that is actually a good thing to do, until you find the units that work for you. Since every unit is unique with their own strengths and weaknesses and friends, it is best to try and do the best matches for what you need from them all. Of course, eventually you likely won't be doing this much as you will find the units that will work for you, but the option to try new people is always open. So, as you can see, there is quite a bit of things you can do for your squad and many things that you have to learn when you play the missions. Just be prepared for a tough time in some missions. This game isn't too forgiving at times, and can be a little hard if you aren't careful. The enemy can sometimes can some lucky breaks that can end the missions almost instantly for you or result in the death of certain squad members. Luckily, as long as an enemy unit doesn't touch a person who's HP has reached zero, that unit can be evacuated from the battle and used again later in that battle or other missions. If they touch them, unless they are story special units, that unit will die and not be usable ever again. Still, even though this won't happen much, the enemy is going to shoot your units and they will fall a lot. You just have to be ready to evac them. If your tank dies though, that's instant Gameover, and your tank has a big weakspot on the back, that if hit, is a one hit death. So, as much as the tank is a powerhouse, it does have a big weakness, so keep it covered. There will be times where you might get angry with the difficulty, but it isn't deadly difficult either, unless you want it so, as you do unlock even harder difficulties later. So, as you can see there is a lot to learn, but once you get it down, you are in for quite the unique action rpg.
Story
This is where I think this game really shines. This game is very heavily story based and one that does try to get you emotionally involved with the main characters of the game. The game is split up into chapters, each chapter is filled with at least one battle and several story moments. The story moments are either done by windows showing each character as the are talking, or they are fully animated videos of the characters moving around and talking with each other as they are doing other things. The plus though, is that in both scenario's there is voice acting. There are very few instances in this game where you are just reading text, unless you are reading side story stuff. Everything else is acted out for you and is able to be listened to as if you were listening to a show. As I mentioned above, each and every character is unique and everyone has their own backstories. There is of course the main crew of the game that are gone into way more in depth, like Welkin and Alicia, the two main characters. Yet, everyone person in your crew, if you go to the personnel tab in the game has a backstory for you to read to get you involved with these characters. These aren't just random foot soldiers. These are your squad members and you want to protect them. The main story of the game involves the small name of Gallia being attacked by one of the two super power nations in the world, the Empire. The Empire wants to invade Gallia to get access to its Ragnite, a powerful element similar to what we have in the form of oil. This stuff is what powers many machines and is what is involved in many technology related items in the world. It is your job as Squad 7 of the Militia to defend your small country from the much larger country before it is taken over and swallowed up as just another part of the Empire. This is what the bulk of the game is about, you defending your nation from the Empire and your fight to drive them out of the country as hard as you can. I'm not going to spoil anything about this story though, as it is so long and in depth to even explain here. But the main reason is how much you will get involved with these characters and want to see them come out on top in the end. This game is quite emotional, and really does make you care about these characters. Be prepared for a great story about a small nation defending its freedom from a giant that just wants to take over for their own gain. The story might be a little predictable in some parts, but it is done so well, that you honestly won't care. I could easily see this game's story made into an anime. It is that good.
Graphics
This game just looks gorgeous. It might be an earlyish PlayStation 3 title, but it certainly doesn't show it. The cut scenes in this game are animated perfectly. Everyone's mouth movements and expressions all fit their moods, and really to make you believe how they are feeling. I saw very few instances of clipping either that other games are full of usually. I might would see a lance stick through a wall here or there or a tred on a tank do something odd, or maybe a leg when someone goes down go a little odd, but for the most part, these aren't that common. As I mentioned above in the story section, this game really does remind me of an anime or some form of that when it comes to how this game looks. While it isn't the level that you would see in a traditional on tv anime, it is pretty close I would say. Things look realistic and not at the same time. What I mean by this is things look like they could be in real life, but at the same time, it has that animeish feel on the visuals. I actually think this helps the game out quite a bit and also keeps the focus a lot more on the story. If it was more realistic, I could see this game being all about the death and gore of war. While the death part is still here, there is literally no gore and blood to speak of in this game. I actually see this as a plus rather than a minus really. You don't want to see these characters bleeding or dying in that way if something were to happen to them after you have gotten so invested in them during this game. So really when it comes to how this game looks, it is perfect to me. If looks so good that if you took the game away and just showed the story on its own in a show format, I believe it would pass as a nice show to watch easily.
Sound
Once again, I see this game shining in the music department. While there isn't a giant amount of music and sounds you are going to hear during the game, the music that is present does a great job at setting the mood when you are playing. The music during battles is tense and does its best to keep you on your toes about what could be coming up at any moment. More series battles even having more intense music playing as you are fighting, so be ready for it. The sounds as I said, are somewhat realistic and also slightly cartoony. That's how this game gets away with doing the horror's of war without going into all the gore and violence of it too much. When you shoot for example, it sounds like real guns, but when you hit people, it sounds like clacking noises such as if hitting metal and such instead of the sounds of shooting flak jackets or flesh. You will hear shooting and explosions all through the game as you are roaming a battlefield as well, so you will be able to hear fighting that you won't be able to see, just like a real battle where other things are happening all around you. Also, you will be hearing random chatter from your commander and squad mates as you are roaming the battlefield during your turns. You can also hear some enemy chatter as well, so keep that in mind. It usually isn't that important though. It is usually telling everyone to stay heads up whenever you take out one of their units. Still, the fact they took the time to go to all this effort to put not only intense music while you are playing a battle, but to add all the background noises and talking as you are playing, does show they are trying to really get you into the roles of these soldiers. Even the music when you aren't fighting is nice. It is very pleasant and happy when you are just navigating menus or doing squad tasks back at your HQ, so even there, you will have something nice to listen to. I do wish there was a little more music, but there is a nice select that you will quite enjoy, even a few fully sang songs in some scenes of the game, so look forward to it all.
Control
The control of this game is fine really. When you want to control your soldiers as they are moving around, it really just feels like a standard third person shooter game that has the camera behind the character. There is some trickiness at times though that I did want to point out. You have to be very careful when trying to turn your characters at times, as they do sometimes have a habit of taking more steps than you may want them to, which can have a few accidents happen if you aren't careful. Such accidents could include trying to turn around but walking too far to where you come out of cover and take a shot or run out of fatigue, or even worst, turning too quickly or at a pace you don't like and your unit stepping on a mine and taking great damage. The controls of the tank can be a little tricky as well, as the tanks controls are affected by the camera. You need to make sure you are moving the camera at the right spots as you are moving the tank, as at certain angles, turns and can turn into forward or backwards movement if you get the camera in the wrong spot. While for the most part, the tank isn't that hard to control, you still have to be careful with the camera or just the same as I said above, you could run out movement or hit a tank mine. For the most part though, you likely won't be bothered by the controls, as you have plenty of time to do everything else, including aiming, which I'm glad you have plenty of time to do. If you had to do it quick, I would have a problem here, but since the game encourages you to take your time and aim carefully, this isn't an issue at all.
Replay Value
Probably one of the harder categories to get high marks on for a strategy game, as many games like that become very predictable and have nothing new after awhile. This game though actually does offer reasons to keep playing. For one, there is a new game plus when you beat the game, so you can play through the game again with your same levels while playing through the levels again. There are harder difficulties available for skirmish missions if you want to challenge yourself even more, and even an extra missions or two if you missed them the first time through the game. You can listen to all the music you want from the game, and also you get a lot more background information to read, be it on the soldiers, the games history, or information on the weapons you see in the game. There is a lot of strategy in this game, even if there is some memorization that can happen as well. Your goal after the fact can be to enjoy the story levels again and the story again, even if there isn't much difference. With everything else being so good, you really don't mind trying old levels over again for better results. If you can't figure out the right strategies in this game, yes it can be very easy, but that's where the game encourages you to experiment to find out who does well where, and what strategies you can use to make this game go by faster. Keep trying it out for those A ranks. If you are expecting a ton of new stuff after you beat this game, you will be a little sad, but the fact that some new stuff is thrown at you when you beat the game, the game does at least try and reward you to keep playing.
Overall, I would say Valkyria Chronicles is definitely a game people should have in their libraries if they enjoy strategy games or rpg's. It is what I would definitely classify as a real hidden gem that needs more light shed on it. Sega did an excellent job on this game and it is sad most people really have never heard of it. IF you enjoy strategy games, rpg's, or just enjoy a game with a good story, I would say this is a game you should go hunt down and add to your PlayStation 3 collection. If you don't have the patience though to learn how to think of good strategies though, or if you are expecting a shooting war game like the Medal of Honor series though, I would stick clear of this game as it won't be what you are expecting in a war game. But still, you can tell Sega put a lot of effort into this game, and it is no wonder it got sequels, that hopefully one day I will get to play, even if sadly, the third game in the series is in japan only due to not a lot of people knowing about this series.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3 a nine point five out of ten.
Gameplay: 9
Story: 10
Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Control: 9
Replay Value: 9
Overall: 9.5
Valkyria Chronicles
A strategy game about war strategies, that is quite unique and made by Sega? Yes please. Off the top of my head, when you tell me this is a war strategy game, my mind instantly goes to the Advance Wars series. That is a series that I quite enjoy and always like coming back to time and time again. Can Sega create a war strategy game that I enjoy as well? Let us take a closer look at this game and see if this is indeed something that I will enjoy quite a bit or not.
Gameplay
As stated above, Valkyria Chronicles is a tactical war rpg with some shooting elements mixed into it. The basic concept behind the game is that you control a squad of soldiers who are trying to either eliminate all other enemies or take over the enemies base as they are often trying to do the same. You do this in a slightly different way than you would think in some strategy games. In this game, the game is turn based but active time at the same time. How can they do this you ask? Well, each turn your squad is given a certain number of time units. With one time unit, you can use it to move a soldier around on the battlefield as a fatigue meter slowly drains. That soldier can continue to move around the battlefield wherever you want them to as if it was third person shooter game now. However, once your meter is empty, your soldier stops right where they are and can no longer move anymore unless you spend another time unit. You can stop them before this of course if you don't want to keep them moving anymore or send them out into danger where they would run out of fatigue and be out in the open. That's an easy way of getting them shot. During each time unit, the soldier can perform one action if desired. They can fire their weapon, which shoots a set number of time depending on the type of unit they are, they can heal, or use a special weapon or item if they so desire. However, you can only do this once. If you need to fire again for example, you need to spend another time unit to be able to fire your gun again. Special weapons, such as repair kits for engineers to repair your tank, grenades, and such like that do count as an action though, so keep this in mind before leaving a soldier out in the open that needs to fire on the enemy. When it comes to your gun as well, this is where the game becomes like a shooter. When you want to fire your gun, the gameplay around you pauses once you aim your gun. No enemies can fire back at your or move around during this time as you are now allowed to take the time to aim your gun where you want it to fire. This means aiming for headshots when you can is a must for quick take downs. Still, it takes a certain number of shots to kill all enemies as everyone does have a health bar the same as you, so keep an eye on the numbers in the bar at the top of the screen that tell you how many hits need to land to kill the enemy. Head shots of course kill much quicker, so as always, take the time you are given to line up head shots. The enemy has to do all this to though, as they have a set number of time units they can use to attack you back on their turn. Just always try and keep in mind where you leave people, and try and keep them either hidden or in cover as much as possible. Both you and the enemy though do have the option of counter fire when the other is moving around on the field, at least for certain units. This can mean death for both as they will keep firing and reloading as long as you haven't stopped to fire or ended your turn. There is also the matter of tanks. These powerful units take two time units to move, so use them only when you need to or need to do some good damage to the enemy, as they won't hesitate to do it back to you. There is also the matter of orders you can give your units to buff their stats for that turn, but use them sparingly as they do use two time units to use. I didn't use them that much as I didn't see much point in them at times. I found it more useful to move more than to do orders at time. At the end of each mission you earn EXP and Money that you can then spend at your HQ to level your units up or to spend on new weapons and side mission stuff. You don't level up your units like you would in a normal rpg. In this game, everyone of a certain unit type is equal. When you spend EXP to level up a squad, everyone of that unit type levels up at the same time. This encourages you to not get reckless with certain units to level them up, as everyone is the same as far as classes go. You can also change up the members that are in your squad between missions whenever you want as well, and that is actually a good thing to do, until you find the units that work for you. Since every unit is unique with their own strengths and weaknesses and friends, it is best to try and do the best matches for what you need from them all. Of course, eventually you likely won't be doing this much as you will find the units that will work for you, but the option to try new people is always open. So, as you can see, there is quite a bit of things you can do for your squad and many things that you have to learn when you play the missions. Just be prepared for a tough time in some missions. This game isn't too forgiving at times, and can be a little hard if you aren't careful. The enemy can sometimes can some lucky breaks that can end the missions almost instantly for you or result in the death of certain squad members. Luckily, as long as an enemy unit doesn't touch a person who's HP has reached zero, that unit can be evacuated from the battle and used again later in that battle or other missions. If they touch them, unless they are story special units, that unit will die and not be usable ever again. Still, even though this won't happen much, the enemy is going to shoot your units and they will fall a lot. You just have to be ready to evac them. If your tank dies though, that's instant Gameover, and your tank has a big weakspot on the back, that if hit, is a one hit death. So, as much as the tank is a powerhouse, it does have a big weakness, so keep it covered. There will be times where you might get angry with the difficulty, but it isn't deadly difficult either, unless you want it so, as you do unlock even harder difficulties later. So, as you can see there is a lot to learn, but once you get it down, you are in for quite the unique action rpg.
Story
This is where I think this game really shines. This game is very heavily story based and one that does try to get you emotionally involved with the main characters of the game. The game is split up into chapters, each chapter is filled with at least one battle and several story moments. The story moments are either done by windows showing each character as the are talking, or they are fully animated videos of the characters moving around and talking with each other as they are doing other things. The plus though, is that in both scenario's there is voice acting. There are very few instances in this game where you are just reading text, unless you are reading side story stuff. Everything else is acted out for you and is able to be listened to as if you were listening to a show. As I mentioned above, each and every character is unique and everyone has their own backstories. There is of course the main crew of the game that are gone into way more in depth, like Welkin and Alicia, the two main characters. Yet, everyone person in your crew, if you go to the personnel tab in the game has a backstory for you to read to get you involved with these characters. These aren't just random foot soldiers. These are your squad members and you want to protect them. The main story of the game involves the small name of Gallia being attacked by one of the two super power nations in the world, the Empire. The Empire wants to invade Gallia to get access to its Ragnite, a powerful element similar to what we have in the form of oil. This stuff is what powers many machines and is what is involved in many technology related items in the world. It is your job as Squad 7 of the Militia to defend your small country from the much larger country before it is taken over and swallowed up as just another part of the Empire. This is what the bulk of the game is about, you defending your nation from the Empire and your fight to drive them out of the country as hard as you can. I'm not going to spoil anything about this story though, as it is so long and in depth to even explain here. But the main reason is how much you will get involved with these characters and want to see them come out on top in the end. This game is quite emotional, and really does make you care about these characters. Be prepared for a great story about a small nation defending its freedom from a giant that just wants to take over for their own gain. The story might be a little predictable in some parts, but it is done so well, that you honestly won't care. I could easily see this game's story made into an anime. It is that good.
Graphics
This game just looks gorgeous. It might be an earlyish PlayStation 3 title, but it certainly doesn't show it. The cut scenes in this game are animated perfectly. Everyone's mouth movements and expressions all fit their moods, and really to make you believe how they are feeling. I saw very few instances of clipping either that other games are full of usually. I might would see a lance stick through a wall here or there or a tred on a tank do something odd, or maybe a leg when someone goes down go a little odd, but for the most part, these aren't that common. As I mentioned above in the story section, this game really does remind me of an anime or some form of that when it comes to how this game looks. While it isn't the level that you would see in a traditional on tv anime, it is pretty close I would say. Things look realistic and not at the same time. What I mean by this is things look like they could be in real life, but at the same time, it has that animeish feel on the visuals. I actually think this helps the game out quite a bit and also keeps the focus a lot more on the story. If it was more realistic, I could see this game being all about the death and gore of war. While the death part is still here, there is literally no gore and blood to speak of in this game. I actually see this as a plus rather than a minus really. You don't want to see these characters bleeding or dying in that way if something were to happen to them after you have gotten so invested in them during this game. So really when it comes to how this game looks, it is perfect to me. If looks so good that if you took the game away and just showed the story on its own in a show format, I believe it would pass as a nice show to watch easily.
Sound
Once again, I see this game shining in the music department. While there isn't a giant amount of music and sounds you are going to hear during the game, the music that is present does a great job at setting the mood when you are playing. The music during battles is tense and does its best to keep you on your toes about what could be coming up at any moment. More series battles even having more intense music playing as you are fighting, so be ready for it. The sounds as I said, are somewhat realistic and also slightly cartoony. That's how this game gets away with doing the horror's of war without going into all the gore and violence of it too much. When you shoot for example, it sounds like real guns, but when you hit people, it sounds like clacking noises such as if hitting metal and such instead of the sounds of shooting flak jackets or flesh. You will hear shooting and explosions all through the game as you are roaming a battlefield as well, so you will be able to hear fighting that you won't be able to see, just like a real battle where other things are happening all around you. Also, you will be hearing random chatter from your commander and squad mates as you are roaming the battlefield during your turns. You can also hear some enemy chatter as well, so keep that in mind. It usually isn't that important though. It is usually telling everyone to stay heads up whenever you take out one of their units. Still, the fact they took the time to go to all this effort to put not only intense music while you are playing a battle, but to add all the background noises and talking as you are playing, does show they are trying to really get you into the roles of these soldiers. Even the music when you aren't fighting is nice. It is very pleasant and happy when you are just navigating menus or doing squad tasks back at your HQ, so even there, you will have something nice to listen to. I do wish there was a little more music, but there is a nice select that you will quite enjoy, even a few fully sang songs in some scenes of the game, so look forward to it all.
Control
The control of this game is fine really. When you want to control your soldiers as they are moving around, it really just feels like a standard third person shooter game that has the camera behind the character. There is some trickiness at times though that I did want to point out. You have to be very careful when trying to turn your characters at times, as they do sometimes have a habit of taking more steps than you may want them to, which can have a few accidents happen if you aren't careful. Such accidents could include trying to turn around but walking too far to where you come out of cover and take a shot or run out of fatigue, or even worst, turning too quickly or at a pace you don't like and your unit stepping on a mine and taking great damage. The controls of the tank can be a little tricky as well, as the tanks controls are affected by the camera. You need to make sure you are moving the camera at the right spots as you are moving the tank, as at certain angles, turns and can turn into forward or backwards movement if you get the camera in the wrong spot. While for the most part, the tank isn't that hard to control, you still have to be careful with the camera or just the same as I said above, you could run out movement or hit a tank mine. For the most part though, you likely won't be bothered by the controls, as you have plenty of time to do everything else, including aiming, which I'm glad you have plenty of time to do. If you had to do it quick, I would have a problem here, but since the game encourages you to take your time and aim carefully, this isn't an issue at all.
Replay Value
Probably one of the harder categories to get high marks on for a strategy game, as many games like that become very predictable and have nothing new after awhile. This game though actually does offer reasons to keep playing. For one, there is a new game plus when you beat the game, so you can play through the game again with your same levels while playing through the levels again. There are harder difficulties available for skirmish missions if you want to challenge yourself even more, and even an extra missions or two if you missed them the first time through the game. You can listen to all the music you want from the game, and also you get a lot more background information to read, be it on the soldiers, the games history, or information on the weapons you see in the game. There is a lot of strategy in this game, even if there is some memorization that can happen as well. Your goal after the fact can be to enjoy the story levels again and the story again, even if there isn't much difference. With everything else being so good, you really don't mind trying old levels over again for better results. If you can't figure out the right strategies in this game, yes it can be very easy, but that's where the game encourages you to experiment to find out who does well where, and what strategies you can use to make this game go by faster. Keep trying it out for those A ranks. If you are expecting a ton of new stuff after you beat this game, you will be a little sad, but the fact that some new stuff is thrown at you when you beat the game, the game does at least try and reward you to keep playing.
Overall, I would say Valkyria Chronicles is definitely a game people should have in their libraries if they enjoy strategy games or rpg's. It is what I would definitely classify as a real hidden gem that needs more light shed on it. Sega did an excellent job on this game and it is sad most people really have never heard of it. IF you enjoy strategy games, rpg's, or just enjoy a game with a good story, I would say this is a game you should go hunt down and add to your PlayStation 3 collection. If you don't have the patience though to learn how to think of good strategies though, or if you are expecting a shooting war game like the Medal of Honor series though, I would stick clear of this game as it won't be what you are expecting in a war game. But still, you can tell Sega put a lot of effort into this game, and it is no wonder it got sequels, that hopefully one day I will get to play, even if sadly, the third game in the series is in japan only due to not a lot of people knowing about this series.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3 a nine point five out of ten.
Gameplay: 9
Story: 10
Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Control: 9
Replay Value: 9
Overall: 9.5
