Valkyria Chronicles

I started playing Valkyria Chronicles for the playstation 3 a few days ago and I am immediately impressed with the graphics in this game. They are done in a way that looks kind of like a hand drawn piece of art. I know the first thing people think when they see this game, "great another weeaboo game". The artwork and how the characters act is indeed like an anime. This does not take away the fact that the game has a very well thought out story, but if you really do despise anime you will at least enjoy the gameplay. Valkyria Chronicles starts with a young man walking down a dirt path towards his home town Bruhl in Gallia. This young mans name is Welkin Gunther and he is the main hero of this game. Valkyria chronicles takes place in a fantasy land that looks a lot like Europe split into two giant territory's the Autocratic East Europan Imperial Alliance in the east and quite a few allied democracies known as the Atlantic Federation in the west. These two forces are fighting over a resource known as Ragnite. Ragnite is used to fuel pretty much everything electronic. The Principality of Gallia a neutral country in this war is suddenly attacked by the Empire because a large amount of Ragnite is located in Gallia. Welkin the hero is swept up in the war when his hometown Bruhl is attacked and he helps the townspeople to escape. He is then drafted into the local militia to help fight the empire.

Valkyria Chronicles is at heart a tactics game. You start out each mission by placing squad units in specific locations. Every turn you can move a specific amount of units to defeat the enemy army. Each unit has specific functions such as the shock trooper armed with a machine gun for offence or the Lancer armed with a giant rocket launcher for killing tanks. You must use your units to defeat the enemy and capture their base. The gameplay is very complex in the fact that you have to use cover to your advantage and each unit has weaknesses to specific types of gunfire. You cant just run a scout in front of a shock trooper and expect to not be killed within seconds. The gameplay is very well thought out and is one of the best parts of this game.

The sound track is mostly orchestral music with a few vocal songs thrown in. The music fits in perfectly with every situation it is used in. Overall it adds to the game experience and helps get the player into the game.

If you enjoy tactics games or games that have an anime feeling to them pick up Valkyria Chronicles today for the ps3.

Gameplay Video