Valkyria Chronicles' gameplay is some of the most innovative and addicting I've seen. Flawlessly combining real-time and turn-based strategy, it creates the perfect mix of control, exploration, variety, discovery, and strategy. And that's only on a single level, let alone the whole game! In each stage, you start off in a turn-based format where you select your unit on a map (called Command Mode). Once you select your unit, you go into a third-person perspective to move them around in real-time (called Action Mode). In this perspective, you can move your character around for a certain amount of time, attack enemies, capture bases, or interact with the environment to find new ways around the enemy. As always, there are classes for your units: Scouts, Shocktroopers, Lancers, Snipers, and Engineers. Your general is constantly in a tank, and if he dies, game over. Each class is made for its own specific purpose and setting up what goes where and how to tackle certain problems is 100% crucial to winning the battle. You CANNOT rush in and fight. That's a guaranteed loss. "Should I beat the tanks before so they can't hit me when I'm blinded by the sandstorm? Or should I get my Lancer close and take cover until the sandstorm hits to hit them when they least expect it?" "I should put my Sniper up here so I can stop any unwanted Shocktroopers." It really gets you thinking, and anyone whose up for a challenge will definitely enjoy it.
The actual missions are terrific, each giving you specific obstacles to overcome and many ways of tackling them. Correctly interacting with your environment is imperative and could show you a new path, give
you new ways to seek cover, or maybe get you that one perfect sniping
point you couldn't see from any other angle. It makes it so you're improvising just as much as you are strategizing, and could make or break the mission! There are so many different possibilities to beat a mission that you could redo one 50 times and still beat it again in a different way! Not to mention the controls in the third-person perspective are really tight. It's rare when the camera screws up and you'll never have a problem with movement or aiming. The most interesting mechanic by far, though, is the Potential System.
The characters' personalities actually come into play in battle. Every
character has personality traits, called Potentials, that affect how
they fight. Some are allergic to pollen, so
they're weakened if they fight in a field. Some are natural leaders, so
they get stat boosts when they're around 2 or more people. Now let me
just say, I LOVE this mechanic. Not only does it add a
whole new
level of strategy to the game that I've never seen before, but it makes
it feel like you're sending out actual people into battle. You actually
feel bad about yourself if you let them die.
Outside the fantastic battles, the leveling system is very cool. You don't level individuals, you level entire classes. For example, regardless of who you use in battle, all Shocktroopers are the same level. You also have skirmishes you unlock as you go on, which are bonus battles you can do to gain experience points for the training ground and money for upgrades. These upgrades you buy increase the armor on your units, improve their weapons, or, in the case of the tank, increase its movement, damage, defense, HP... The tank is pretty much fully customizable. There's also the optional parts for the tank, which are handled similarly to the Navi Customizer in the Megaman Battle Network series, except a lot less specific and a lot more forgiving: Take the part, assign it to a space, and try and have it fit, along with as many other parts as you can. No limit, no scans, just keep putting them on until nothing else can fit. Now, customization in ANY game makes me happy, so this is just great for me.
You can also unlock side missions and cutscenes that reveal the backstory and personality to the characters in the game via Ellet, the awesome journalist and best character in the game. Ellet allows you to look deeper into the characters' personalities. The extra cutscenes and side missions aren't just bonuses; If you don't do them you're not having the full experience. There's also plenty of bonus content to unlock. A constantly expanding gallery, a place to listen to the soundtrack after you beat the game, unlockable difficulties, weapons, allies, and more! Not to mention with all the new people constantly entering your squad, you'll want to do a lot of fighting to find out your perfect team and keep testing out the others as well! There's so much in this game to keep you coming back it's ridiculous. Now, looking at the game, you'll notice that the game is actually pretty short. There are only 19 missions in the main story. Most strategy RPGs have more than twice that. Now, I know what you're thinking: "19 missions? I can blow through that in a weekend if I wanted to." Well, see, the game knows it's short for a strategy game. It makes up for this by being hard as balls. It's also insanely unforgiving. This is because the enemy AI is surprisingly smart. They'll take advantage of everything you don't take account for.
The game's story revolves around Welkin Gunther, son of military hero Belgen Gunther, who returns to his home town of Bruhl from college where he's studying biology. He gets caught up in some military hoo-hah at his hometown and teams up with Alicia and some city guards to hold them off. Eventually, he and Alicia get drafted into the Gallia (his country) militia, and because of his father's status, Welkin becomes the commander of his squad. The story is about how Welkin's squad lead the country of Gallia to victory in the war. (not a spoiler, it's established in the intro) Opposed to what you might think, the story is actually very light-hearted, and I think that's what makes me like it so much. You don't need to be dark or serious to tell a really good war story. And as light-hearted as it is, it knows when it should take itself seriously. I think the best part of the story is how the creators chose to tell it. It's told through a book. The missions, cutscenes, bonuses, they're all in a book. That's how you navigate the hub of the game. Different pages are different parts of the story, different tabs bring you to different modes. (gallery, skirmishes, etc.)
But you know what's REALLY awesome about this style? You're able to go back and watch previous cutscenes. This is a great idea. I'm always getting called downstairs to do something, and I might miss a cutscene if I'm called at the wrong time. Knowing that I can skip it and go back to it once I'm done is great. It's like going back to reread a part of the book.
The characters in this game sell it completely. There isn't a single member of the squad I don't like or care about (that actually plays a role in the story). It's got one of the most loveable casts I've seen. It doesn't start off that way, but as you get to know the characters, you love them more and more. Welkin is a legitimately interesting protagonist, not to mention just an all around cool guy, Alicia is a great love interest. You can actually feel her and Welkin's relationship grow stronger throughout the whole game. The dialogue between the characters is very nicely done as well, so all of their interaction feels 100% natural.
The graphics and art are fantastic. Everything is well rendered, and I love the art style. The characters have great designs and I love how well the environments are done. There isn't a single map in this game that isn't worth a second playthrough. The animations are done very well, and it's fun enough just to move around the areas, let alone actually fight in them.
The sound design is fantastic. Oh my god, the music. This game has a great score. All of the songs are composed very well, and they fit every moment almost perfectly. Albeit, a few of the songs are a bit overused, but it's still a great soundtrack overall. The mission theme especially. It just adds this feeling of heroism to the battles that makes them a million times more fun to play. The sound effects are basic, but get the job done. Walking, shooting, the usual. Though, I do like the fact that you can hear rivers and the occasional animal in the forest.
Valkyria Chronicles is a fantastic game. Every aspect of it is done so well that giving this game any less than an 8/10 would be a crime. You get legitimately attached to every important character, the gameplay is immersive and addicting, the story is very well-written and progresses nicely, the score is great, and it looks great, as well. Its bonus content will have you coming back to the game for a long time, along with the fact that you can go back to it trying multiple new strategies to beat the game. Now I'm sure some of you are saying "But I don't have a PS3." Well, you're in luck! It had an anime adaptation a while back that was pretty loyal. So if you don't have a PS3, you can still get a bit of the game right now! You can find Valkyria Chronicles at GameStop for $25, which is well worth the fun you'll have with this game. So what are you waiting for? You know what to do!
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