Valkyria Chronicles

Having played the demo on the PlayStation Network this game is worthy of the 5 star treatment.

I'm not saying this is a game for everyone as it isn't, but for people who enjoy Final Fantasy Tactics games and Battalion Wars then this game would make a fantastic companion to them.

The story is set in Europa or Europe to folks outside the game and is set around the same time as the Second World War. You are a small resistance group who will fight to the bitter end to ensure the safety of your friends, family and rid the country of the opposing threat.

The artwork is truly unique and will either love it like myself or hate it but I truly believe it is the best sort of graphics seen even topping The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It blends in really well with the game and the reason the SEGA team opted for this approach was to gain your attention of the characters rather than focusing on the horrors of war which to me is an admirable approach.

The actual game play itself pits your team against the enemy opposition where you will have an objective, whether it be eliminating a certain person or conquering a piece of land you have to use your army to quell the oppositions. You have a range of different soldiers at your disposal which include Scouts, Engineers, Snipers, Tank Drivers and more which all have unique skills which you must use to your advantage.

Now to those who like collecting trophies sadly will be left disappointed as this game didn't have enough time to implement them at launch however that isn't to say they may release a patch for it though but fingers crossed and they will as I would like to see what sort of unique challenges would be set.

Overall this game is a real underdog considering a lot of the main stream games are released at the same time of this game but if you own a PS3 I would heavily recommend this game or at least try the demo out and see what you think as I think it is a true gem of a game!

Impossible to not notice, this game looks awesome. However eye candy alone isn't worth a purchase, and luckly here both gameplay and story are really well done. Also, the music is pretty epic.

At the beginning i though the particular looks of this game was making my eyes hurt just after a quick game, but when i noticed what a "quick game" meant in this case, everything got explained: it dosen't feel more than 5-10 minutes per battle, but it might actually be more like 20-40 minutes! So you go all "just another skirmish to level up my scouts" and then another one to buy that tank upgrade, and another one because last one didn't go as smooth as you'd hoped, and there we go, a whole afternoon is past without you noticing it. Wow. Several other games can do that, but you'll know a lot of time has passed. With Valkyria Chronicles, time just seems to slip past you.
Anyway, on the matter of the story it's a slightly unusual one, placing you (a young guy that loves nature and wants to be a science teacher) fighting for the freedom of your tiny country that is being invaded by a powerful military nation, looking for the land's abundant ragnite resources. In all of this you get with a weeeeird squad, seeing you as the squad leader, giving orders from a tank to a baker, a singer and a vegetable lover. That's the very basis of squad 7, however you can recruit more people, up to 9, from a very wide list that grows with the game progress, leading to some interesting mix. Now, given the whole recruiting bit the experience your team members gain in battle could seem to be lost if you only dare to change somebody, however the experience is given not to the single person, but to everybody with a certain specialization. Say you suddenly want to get new snipers, your old snipers experience gets passed onto the new ones. Easy, and you won't be stuck with the same people forever!
The actual battles are an interesting mix of strategy and real time, meaning that every unit requires some "Command Points" to act, but once you selected the unit from a nice old map looking screen, the game zooms in and you control directly that unit. For every turn an unit can use it's equipment once, and can move until the action points are over. The shooting bit changes the game pace, as all action stops while you aim at your target. The charachter will then shoot by itself, basing it's aim on where you aimed, and the gun/charachter precision. All in all, the thing works great, and it's a lot simpler to do than to explain.

Now, for the thing that really amazed me: since it's presented like a book telling the story of squad 7 durng the second Europan war, you'll go through chapters and so on. Also, there is an hystorical background in that book, meaning that you might want to read a lot of details about the war, the weapons, the people... seriously, a LOT of reading material. Optional so that if you don't feel like digging that deep into the plot, you are free to do so.
On the sound side, dubbing is great, and guns sounds as realistic as they could.

What weak points this game has? I'd say that id dosen't have an auto save function, but that's all.
So, i really suggest everybody to download the demo from the PSN and see for yourself what the gameplay feels, but this is really a great game, probably a "mandatory purchase" for any PS3 owner.

I've never felt compelled to write a review before, especially one from a free download, but Valkyria Chronicles has prompted just such a response.
I've always been a fan of turn based strategy games - Fire Emblem and Advance Wars standing out amongst this crowd - and having played the demo, repeatedly, it feels like a true blend of these two, producing something I am really looking forward to (all this from one level!)
The gameplay was inspired and simple but the graphics then take the whole game on to a higher level. The superb CANVAS system looks like all I've ever wanted a game to look like - clear, bright and detailed; you're drawn inside this cartoon game, you control every episode, beautiful!
I cannot wait for this to arrive, this short demo has me hooked and I'm sure there's more depth than a sea trench to discover.
Bring it on!

One of the best-looking games on the PS3, even if a lot of the many, many story sequences fall into talking-head mode. If you can tolerate a whole lotta plot between your battles, though (and it IS a good story, despite some cheap tricks and moments that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth), the meat of the game is very juicy and flavorful indeed.
Part RPG, part war strategy and part action game, you get a tactical, multi-unit system not dissimilar to Fallout 3's combat. Over the roughly 40 hours it took me to complete the game, the game constantly came up with new and interesting scenarios, leaving me with an immense sense of satisfaction upon completing the tougher of the battles.
This game deserves way more sales than it got. Get it while you have the chance.

This is ace, just got it 2 days ago and haven't been able to put it down. Just so we're all very clear, I'm a Final Fantasy nut (trailer on the network is incredible) so these games are always going to sit quite well with me but this one has some particular differences that make it stand out.
As I'm sure you're aware, it's a mix of turn based, 3rd person and 1st person combat. At the start of each battle, you're given pre-defined positions to set your different character classes into a la FF tactics if you've played that. You're then given a set amount of commands you can issue (command points), usually, one is used per player, this is done through an overhead map screen of you battlefield. You are then given control of this character in 3rd person and can move them as you wish; here, you're given a set distance you can cover, or more accurately, a set number of steps they can take. During this time, you can choose to fire your weapon, this is when you switch to 1st person and take your shot. You can then end the turn and the game plays out like this throughout. Once you've used all your command points, it's the enemy's turn and so on til you've whooped some imperial tail and you're patted on the back!
The bulk of the gameplay is very much strategy based, to be honest, usually not my thing but it works well for me here and if I can do it then anyone can. It's good fun as you so become a bit attached to particular characters and wen they get knocked down or, god forbid, die, you feel pretty bad about it.
As to the RPG elements, every battle you fight awards you with experience and what's basically money. You use the experience to level up your GROUPS of warriors as opposed to individual characters, this takes a huge burden off your shoulders as to choosing who to use when etc... You use the money to upgrade weapons, armour, tanks and the like, I always seem to have an excess of cash but I'm sure that'll change pretty soon! You can also swap your chosen squad of 20 around at any time, there are around 50 characters to choose from in all, they all have different qualities so making sure you have the right team in place is key. Some don't like the desert for example, causing a constant drain on HP whereas others thrive in the sand and it boosts all their stats, a nice touch and it makes the game all that more flexible.
The graphics are really something to go on about here, the comic book style is great. There seems to have been something of an evolution here between FF Tactics: War of the Lions, Prince of Persia etc... the new graphical sketch style is really refreshing. I think it takes a lot of pressure off devs to make something look hyper real, more often than not missing the mark and something coming out looking a bit rough as opposed to not real at all but incredibly stunning.
Anyway, I ramble, I think this is a winner to be honest, you can hop in and out of various skirmishes at any time making the longevity of this pretty good. I'll be playing this for a while yet, in fact, I think I might even phone in sick for a couple of days to crack on with it uninterrupted. Just get it!