Valkyria Chronicles is a lot of things. As a game, it’s a surprisingly successful hybrid of real-time strategy and third-person action. As a spectacle, it’s among the most beautiful and artistically vibrant games in the HD generation. Put together with an anime style story that fictitiously parallels the events of WWII, and you have a completely unique experience that not only leaves a mark through its originality but through good game design and enjoyable gameplay.
Valkyria Chronicles is set in a fictitious Europe (called Europa) in 1935, with two empires both of are fighting over a precious resource called Ragnite. One resembles the western forces and one the east (guess which ones are the ‘Imperial’ baddies). The story surrounds the invasion of a neutral territory, Gallia, wedged between the two powers but happens to be rich in the desired resource. The main protagonist, Welkin Gunter, is the son of a general from what was the first Europan war and Valkyria Chronicles essentially tells the story of his militia squad and their role in the war.
One of the less androgynous male anime leads.
The story is one of the strongest aspects of Valkyria Chronicles, despite a slow, plodding start. It seems that numerous events reflect occurrences from both WWI and WWII, while adding a typically cheesy anime and fantasy twist. Each of the 18 chapters is split into episodes, that each come together to tell a full story. It does distract from the continuity, but the memorable cast and emotively driven events make for one of the most memorable narratives on the PS3 and not just this year.
The story is very reminiscent of an anime, so it would make sense that the game would look like one as well. Rather than pushing the polygons, the developers have aimed for style over processing power. And the result is a phenomenally gorgeous game that stands out of the crowd. It makes a compelling argument for more games to adopt this style, as it looks fantastic without a lot of the usual technical shortcomings. The game also sounds just about as good as it looks, with good, meaty sound effects, decent voicing and a Japanese option. This is topped off with a serious and emotive soundtrack.
As mentioned, Valkyria Chronicles is the kind of game that transcends a single genre classification. To its credit though, the game manages to get by with a lot of the advantages of genres that it borrows from with very few of the disadvantages. Furthermore, each of the twenty-odd missions that you partake in will vary greatly from the last. The sheer variety in the missions and the fact that you’ll see and do something new and different in just about each one of them is an achievement in game design.
Not your usual command station.
Valkyria Chronicles has you taking command of a small militia squad, often headed up by a tank. After getting through a few of the early missions, which serve an introductory purpose, you’ll pick a squad of up to twenty ‘soldiers’ from five different classes: Scout, Shocktrooper, Lancer, Engineer and Sniper. Each class has its uses, as well as advantages and disadvantages. For example, the Scouts can move very far in one turn, but don’t have the fire power or defence of the Shocktroopers. While it is up to the player to choose the make up of their squad, there are times where certain classes are more useful than others. After all, anti-tank units such as the Lancers will take down a tank much quicker than bullet wielding Scouts, Shocktroopers or Snipers.
Though you have twenty to pick from, your squad for the mission will be usually much smaller. Once you’ve picked your squad and have been given your orders for the mission, you’re then placed on what looks like a hand-drawn map, detailing your position, the position of your objective and any enemies that you can see. You have a number of command points in each of your turns, where picking an individual unit will use one command point (tanks use two). Eventually, you’ll learn ‘orders’, which will also take up command points but allow you to enhance your squad members by ordering an increase in attack or defence and the like.
Once you pick a character, you are zoomed into a third person action perspective. From here, there is a yellow bar that indicates your action points, or how far the character can move. Pressing R1 will take you to an over-the-shoulder view and allow you to attack. Of course, you can move a character more than once per turn, but their action points will be less if you’ve already used them. Once you are out of command points, or are happy with your position, your turn ends and the enemy will take their turn. Thankfully, left over command points will carry over the next turn, but you can only have a max of twenty. This continues until one side takes victory.
Great! Now where is that enemy...
The great aspect of Valkyria Chronicles is not just the mix of genres, or the variety in the mission but the intricacy in the design that takes out a lot of the bad things about some genres while keeping the good. For example, rather than cluttering the interface with buttons, most trivial functions are automated with only significant actions that you can only do once a turn needing a button, and the RPG aspects such as levelling will apply to a whole class rather than individuals which is very much appreciated. Furthermore, Valkyria Chronicles is the kind of game that is easy to learn but hard to master. Getting really good at the game requires a good level of intricate knowledge and there are a heap of options for upgrading and customising your squad.
Valkyria Chronicles is one of the most accomplished packages in terms of design to be released in recent times, but it is not without its minor issues. In particular, the friendly AI at times has some strange and erratic detection patterns when it comes to the action stage. Hit detection is usually a minor issue, but when your entire strategy hinges on it coming off, it can be very frustrating sometimes. Other than that, there are a few minor control interface issues that can get in the way at times. That, and often you are subject to some vague directions that require some trial and error. Once, we were directed to a point, only to be vaporised by the enemy. Oops.
Given a lack of precision in the action at lower levels, the one aspect that strategy/action hybrids live and die by is the reliance on luck. So the game will often straddle the line between satisfaction when a move comes off and frustration when it doesn’t come off. It’s especially frustrating late in the game when the odds are really stacked against you. Finally, the game is a bit harsh with its rating system at the end of each mission. Basically, if you’re not getting good ranks at the beginning, you’ll be at a disadvantage at the back end of the game, as you won’t have levels to proficiently tackle the latter missions.
Mixing real time action and strategy was a great idea.
Eighteen chapters may not seem like a huge amount, but Valkyria Chronicles is a big game. To finish the main story within 25 hours would be an achievement, as missions can exceed the hour mark. Thankfully, you can save as you go. Once finished, you have skirmishes (replayable missions) that you can use for extra experience and whole heap of lore and information that you can read about the game. Finally, Valkyria Chronicles is a game aimed at what is referred to as the ‘hardcore’ gamer. It is a hard, unique and intricate game that will only be appreciated by those who really know how to play and those who like their games with an anime and fantasy twist.
Valkyria Chronicles is the kind of game that makes a compelling argument for developers to push the envelope and make something unique. It successfully combines genres and pulls off real-time turn-based strategy on a console with aplomb. However, it's not only the game mechanics that come off but the whole presentation of the game can be truly described as beautiful. While there are a few aspects that could have been tightened, such as the AI and mission descriptions, these are far outweighed by everything that is done well and done differently. As mentioned, each mission is unique challenge and will give you a real work out. It may not be for everyone, but those who do appreciate this kind of game will be treated to a unique and memorable experience.
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