A Beautiful Fusion Of Strategy, Art and Epic Storytelling

At my first impression when I saw the cover of Valkyria Chronicles, I thought, "Oh, here's another game title trying to make it in the RPG genre for the Playstation 3, i doubt it."

Little did i know that i would EAT those very words of mine after only a mere 2 hours of playing the game.

Valkyria Chronicles could easily be the finest and most beautiful strategy role playing game to date, and not only for the current generation of console games. I personally have played a number of strategy games out there, but none could compare to the simplicity of the combat system and the perfectly polished art design of this game.

Set in Europa, a fictional alternate version of Europe, it tells the story of Welkin Gunther and Alicia Melchiot in their struggle to defend and liberate their country Gallia, from the invading forces of the Empire, who seeks the precious and ancient material Ragnite, which is some sort of a multi-purpose energy source. Our two heroes will soon find out the true reason of the invasion and uncover an ancient truth about their country's history. This plot alone has awed me even now!

SEGA did a miraculous job in creating their proprietary CANVAS engine. Anime inspired characters come to life in perfect 3D and cel-shaded harmony. Colours were bright and was extremely pleasing to the eyes. Although it may not push the PS3's graphical capabilities to it's limits, Valkyria Chronicles looks extremely beautiful and groundbreaking at the same time. It was like watching a water colour painting come to life!

The english voice acting is superb (with characters saying things which they would actually say in real-life!) and very well choreograph into the story. could even have it in Japanese if I'd prefer with just a simple check in the options menu. This is how games SHOULD be. A strong cast of characters and fantastic (and professional!) voice casting makes a huge difference. I remembered one scene in the game which i was totally emotional about, I won't spoil it, but to those who has played it, you know which one! The addition of extra unlockable characters was a welcome entry.

The combat itself is revolutionary and challenging. Fusing 3rd person perspective and a tactical map layout was a brilliant design. The guys at SEGA really did a great job in creating the BLITZ system, marrying their skills from their other titles like Skies of Arcadia and Nightshade. The result is a simple, easy to use interface that offered countless strategy elements and fast pace warfare action. I believe that this simple design would be the foundation for other game developers to base on.

Though Valkyria Chronicles is truly a modern masterpiece in every way, it does have certain drawbacks (but really minor and easily forgotten). Enemy A1, although intelligent enough to use flanking maneuvers on my squad, can sometimes engage in seemingly unrealistic tactics, like running straight into my camp with all my troops waiting to make minced meat out if them. The inventory and squad layout menu could've been a little more user friendly too.

But all these flaws are microscopic compared to the grandeur of the whole game. Epic storytelling, rich colourful characters, perfect music and soundtrack and a solid battle system, I can safely guarantee that Valkyria Chronicles is a MUST buy for every Playstation owner out there. Even if you're not a strategy fan, you should still get it, it's that GOOD!