"I can't see anything with this big gun in the way"

2008 turned out to be a great year for gaming. It seemed like every week there was something both new and notable being released, especially during the holiday season. But there was one shining gem that came out during that flurry of releases that seems to have been skipped over by a lot of people. That game is Valkyria Chronicles for the Playstation 3. In fact, this is what I choose as my 2008 game of the year.

The game takes place in an alternate universe World War 2 with a little bit of a fantasy twist. I found the story and characters both to be enjoyable. It even tackled mature themes, such as racism (even among squad mates) and concentration camps; things I wasn’t especially used to seeing portrayed in a videogame. And the graphics are a site to be seen. Not due to poly count, but a filter that makes these characters inhabit a world of beautiful watercolor, rather than the normal cell shading that is common with the anime art style.

So what is it? They call it a “Simulation RPG”, but honestly, I don’t think that title really explains what kind of game this is. I believe that’s largely due to the fact that its really hard to find games to draw a comparison from, as far as gameplay mechanics go. Missions play out starting with a briefing explaining your objectives and sometimes a strategic suggestion. You are then taken to a map, not a hex based landscape, but a literal, brownish map with different circles for places that you can deploy units at the start of the battle. You have a list of 20 units in your squad at a given time, however only up to 10 (or less depending on the mission) can actually be out in play at a time. Once you’re units are placed the player phase begins. At the start of the player phase you are given “Command Points”. The amount you are given usually ends up being enough to use each unit once in a turn.

When you click on one of the icons representing a unit, the camera drops down into a third person view. You actually move around as if it were a third person shooter. You have a bar displaying your AP (how far you can walk) and during the unit’s turn you have one action to make. This can be shooting, throwing a grenade, using a healing item, or if you’re an engineer, fixing a tank (I’ll talk about classes later). While you’re wandering about, every enemy that has both line of sight and is within range will be trying to unload as many rounds into you as they can whilst stopping to reload periodically. However, when you go into your aiming mode everybody stops (how polite!). Your cross-hairs will be in an orange circle, and when you line up your shot to the desired spot and pull the trigger, your shot or shots (depending on the gun) will all fall somewhere in that orange circle. The better the accuracy rating you have, the smaller that circle will be. If you are in their attack range, and they are a class capable of countering, that is exactly what they will do. An interesting thing mixing up the formula further, is that you can use as many of your CP as you want on a character, but with each additional turn they will have less and less AP to the point where they can only walk a foot. Also, you can decide to save some of your CP and carry it over to the next phase, but considering that your units tire when used more than once in a phase this should be used sparingly. At the beginning of each player phase you will get a little health back on each surviving character and one shot reloaded for each gun with limited ammo, then it’s off to the enemy phase.

The enemy phase plays out almost identical to the player phase. Your units will unload their rounds into the enemy from their respective locations as said enemy wanders around. However, you view all this from the perspective of the units you’ve placed on the field. This allows for some interesting stealth play. Enemy bases can be captured, if no enemies are currently occupying it, and can be used for deploying troops (up to your limit), as well as resupplying units. Many mission objectives involve taking over a specific base on the other side of the map.

If one of your characters has the misfortune of falling in battle you will have 3 player phases to get one of your other units in contact with the body to call a medic and get them off the field to safety. If an enemy unit gets them first or if you wait more than 3 phases that character is dead forever. Inversely, get your unit to a fallen enemy and you can potentially gather weapons from the opposing army. I am reminded a lot of Fire Emblem in that, though you have a vast army (there are 50 characters in the game), each one of them is a unique character with their own special abilities and back story, and if they die they are dead for good. No phoenix downs, this is war!

Characters are divided into 5 different classes. Scouts can cover a lot of ground fast and also have a decent range of fire and accuracy. Unfortunately, these perks come at the cost of both their defensive and offensive power. Shocktroopers are very balanced. They use machine guns instead of rifles, so both walking and firing range is reduced, but they can both take and deal damage well. Lancers are your anti-tank guys. They’re slow, but they’re also burly. Their weapons, however, are very inaccurate against small targets, like people. Next, you have engineers. Very similar to scouts in offensive and defensive abilities, though they seem to be even better at dying. On the plus side they have a ton of unique abilities. They are the only ones who can repair tanks, diffuse mines, give other people ammo and repair cover. Finally, there are the snipers. They are exactly what you expect them to be. I guess, technically, there is one more unit: your tank. You only have one (and later 2), but it is a powerhouse. It takes 2 CP to use, instead of the normal 1, and after you decimate some enemy forces with it, you will understand why.

There is a decent amount of customization in this game, which allows for lots of different play styles. Each of the 50 characters have special abilities that can randomly occur during that character’s turn. Some are positive and some negative. Since you level up your classes rather than your characters, you never have to worry about if a certain character is going to be under/over leveled. Later you are able to use money to upgrade various weapons and armor (including your tank) with branching paths depending on what strength you want to focus on. Some upgrades will even be visible on the battlefield.

Overall the game plays out in a very linear fashion. The main screen is pictured as an open book, with each new page being a new chapter in the story. On these pages are story segments as well as the battles themselves. Luckily, there are several side stories and extra missions that can be unlocked as you progress. Honestly, the gameplay mechanics are so fun and interesting in this game that they could have gotten away with a lack of variety in the missions. But instead, each new mission seems to introduce something new and fresh. Whether its a big behemoth of a tank for a boss, trench warfare, or a stealth mission, things never feel repetitive.

This was a game I was honestly sad to see end. After 40 hours, I was still ready for more. Luckily, DLC is on the way and there is also a new game plus with increased difficulty settings. Because of the different possible ways to approach missions, this is a game I could definitely see having a decent level of replay value. It’s really a fresh experience. If you enjoy strategy or just want to play something truly unique and interesting, I highly reccomend picking up Valkyria Chronicles.

Tags: ps3, strategy, Valkyria Chronicles

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.