Along time ago, in a childhood far, far away,  Sega made a name for its company and consoles by offering up unique niche titles that couldn’t be found anywhere else. It then proceeded to tarnish that name by unleashing a relentless barrage of horrid Sonic the Hedgehog spin-offs and failed “Wiiquels” to the aforementioned niche titles such as Samba de Amigo and NiGHTS. Valkyria Chronicles is so good it almost corrects all those wrongs, and is by far the most enjoyable game that has ever seen the inside of my PlayStation 3.

Story
Valkyria Chronicles is a war-based drama set in the alternate universe country of Europa. The year is 1935, meaning there are no giant robot spiders or teleporting ninjas with laser swords, just a group of country-bred militia named Squad 7 defending their homes from a massive invasion and eventually, all-out war with the Imperial Alliance. There are around half a dozen main characters who make up the forerunners of your militia squad, and over 40 additional recruits which you can add to your command throughout the game. As a testament to this game’s massive devotion to detail, every single character has their own unique appearance, voice, personality traits, and back story. If that doesn’t impress you, you don’t play enough video games.

Scout vs. tank usually = bad idea.

Gameplay
The game unfolds via a storybook: Each chapter consists of several episodes—usually cutscenes or conversations—and one or two battles. The storybook approach is no accident, as the entire game is rendered in a unique visual style which really sets it apart from all the other strategy RPGs still stubbornly holding to their low-res, 2D sprites (yes, that means you, Disgaea).

But don’t let that fool you into expecting a light-hearted adventure where enemies leak rainbow joy after being shot in the head. This game is about a war, and war is ugly. Within the first few minutes of the game, several unarmed peasants are mercilessly gunned down…twice (not the same peasants, mind you)! What’s more surprising however, is that the game amazingly avoids the obnoxious Meowth character stereotype which plagues pretty much every Japanese anime, movie, and video game. You may not feel bad when you accidentally make random soldier #35 run over a landmine, but you won’t want any of them to die either (unlike Jansen in Lost Odyssey, who I attacked with my own characters every time I was forced to put him in my party). Death can come for any character, at any time; if a fallen ally is touched by an enemy or failed to be rescued by another Squad 7 member within a certain amount of time, they are permanently removed from the entire game.

Battles unfold in a combination of turn-based and real-time; during your turn, you get a certain amount of action points which can be used to take control of characters and move them around the open 3D map, attack, or recover health. There’s obviously more to it than that though, much more in fact. Each character belongs to one of five classes (scout, shocktrooper, engineer, lancer, sniper), and naturally have their own strengths and weaknesses. Some can move further than others but have lower accuracy or attack/defense power; some can damage tanks but are not especially efficient against ground forces, and so on. Striking a good balance for the current situation is a must when executing an effective strategy.

Your trusty map should be accessed often to assess the battle.

The environment itself will play into your strategy as well. Characters can take cover behind sandbags or in trenches, blow up walls and bridges to block enemy reinforcements, or use the weather to safely traverse a dangerous zone. The aforementioned personality traits (known as Potentials) will randomly activate, granting the current character a positive bonus or negative effect. Potentials can range from being afraid of heights to taking less damage when surrounded by characters they “like”.

Yet what really drives the game forward is the diversity in the missions. There are so many different strategies which players can utilize, and even the dreaded stealth mission is done here with unusual fervor. The game is always throwing new mechanics at you to keep things interesting; for example, one of the most thrilling missions requires you to actually climb atop a behemoth tank and destroy three exhaust outlets with grenades. This makes it vulnerable to your own tank’s weaponry so that you can destroy it before it steamrolls the allied base. Very cool.

Visuals
The stylized, cel-shaded graphics and storybook machinations give the game a visual persona all its own. Imagine a children’s pop-up book about war, love, and death instead of mutated red dogs or pooping. The comic book-style anomatopia accentuates the game’s unique aesthetics. Every sound effect is accompanied by visual text such as BOOM!,SHRAK!, or Ruuuuumble. It’s not distracting at all, but is just one of the many small touches that makes Valkyria Chronicles the amazing overall experience that it is.

It's like playing a graphic novel, just without any of the reading or crappy art.

Valkyria also has some of the best character designs I’ve seen in a long time. Although most soldiers wear their army’s standard uniform, they have unique faces and accessories (Alicia’s scarf and Cherry’s “Britney” hair-style come to mind) which, coupled with their voices gives them distinctive personalities. Selvaria, a powerful member of the enemy forces, is especially well-designed and memorable.

Lifespan
To extend the game’s depth, there are some welcome RPG paradigms such as leveling up classes, buying new weapons or strengthening old ones, and engaging in skirmishes which, unlike story battles in the first playthrough, can be replayed endlessly to gain experience, money, A ranks, or unlock hidden potentials. New Game+ will roll over all your characters and stats, as well as a few other features not available on your first time through, but the lack of trophies stings a bit. When all is said and done you will spend at least 25-40 hours on this game and for some, considerably more than that.

Recommendation
Valkyria Chronicles is unarguably the best game to bare the Sega logo since Panzer Dragoon Saga. Anyone with a PlayStation 3 should add it to their library immediately, and anyone without a PlayStation 3 should find a way to play it anyway. It’s the rare game that I was actually depressed when it was over and I had siphoned all the enjoyment I possibly could from its beautiful, luscious teats.

Valkyria Chronicles
System: PlayStation 3
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Find: Amazon - Gamefly - Goozex
Winner of the 2008 GEN Game Awards
All reviews are based on retail code unless otherwise noted.

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