Valkyria Chronicles was one of the unspoken superstars in the PlayStation 3’s catalogue, but aside from a decent PlayStation 4 remaster, the series has taken some strange turns. First up, there was the PlayStation Portable sequels, which weren’t really what anyone wanted. And now enter Valkyria Revolution: a hack-and-slash JRPG that appears to squander the strategy spirit of the originals. Critics, thus far, aren’t impressed.
IGN - 6/10
Valkyria Revolution tells a decent tale of war, but the strength of that story is dulled by overlong, boring, and poorly animated cutscenes. It sacrifices the unique historical setting and art style of the Valkyria Chronicles series proper in favor of generic JRPG elements that fail to leave a strong impression, and its hack-and-slash combat offers little in the way of strategy and ruins its own flow with an poorly matched magic system.
Polygon - 4.5/10
The true misery of Valkyria Revolution is how much of the series’ roots show through, and how much Revolution itself doesn’t know what to do with them. The qualities that defined earlier Valkyria games are mostly vestigial, but Revolution doesn't present anything strong enough or distinct enough to replace them. What it does do often directly conflicts with those legacy bulletpoints, making a game that feels like a bland timesink at its best and a fractured mess at its worst.
USgamer - 2/5
Tries valiantly to weave a tale of political intrigue, but it's undermined by repetitive mission design, poor menus, and an anonymous cast. If you were hoping for a worthy successor to Valkyria Chronicles, you will be sadly disappointed.
We'll bring you our review of Valkyria Revolution as soon as possible (it seems like SEGA was less eager to send code to UK sites). Are you still planning to pick this one up? Sketch a response in the comments section below.
Comments 28
Seems like an spinoff that was not well executed. I have the game and have to say the gameplay falls into an akward middle ground between strategy and action making a very bizarre combination.
Saw some gameplay , I'm not impressed I'll wait for a price drop thank you.
Didn't expect anything else
"Genre:
Strategy"
Really? What I've seen doesn't look like a strategy game, unlike the superior Valkyria Chronicles.
This game and Akiba's Beat (as well as others like HDN Producing Perfection, Banjo Kazooie Nuts&Bolts and Resident Evil 6) are clear examples of what happens when you remove the style of gameplay that made its preccessor special. Only rarely can be done in a better and still polished way, like Danganronpa AE and MH world.
I might pick it up. ( as if i don't have enough games to be getting on with )
Mostly because I don't care for strategy games.
I am rather bad at stratertetrtertertterterttertergy
So I generally avoid those games.
So ironically this spin off interests me more then the original
Pre-ordered form Best Buy and even if with GCU discount, I'm gonna return it. I usually don't listen to reviews too much but this isn't what I expected. They aren't even mixed, just overall bad. Disappointing is an understatement.
Give us Fire Emblem Warriors already, Nintendo.
Give us Shenmue Collection already, Sega.
Played the JP demo liked it enough, Prime discount doesn't hurt either.
Getting it dont care sometimes i see sites trying to punish a game the most so they get the most views. My favorite site gave it a 6,5 and that is worth the gamble.
@KitsuneNight I dont know if you tried it but the story is fantastic that alone was enough for me to love the game. And i loved the gameplay to be honest. And for the price its a steal.
I saw gameplay of this a good while ago and just shook my head in disappointment. I loved the strategic gameplay of the first couple of games. You can't beat taking out a tank with a machine gun after that mad dash to its radiator at the rear. Fond memories.
The first game is really something special, the two portable sequels were nice games held back by the PSP hardware but this spinoff seems just like a move in the worst direction possible
While I might get this in a future sale, gambles like this really irritate me. The valkyria chronicles ip has struggled as it is to prove it has a market in the West to the extent where we didnt even see the third game on our shores.
The problem then comes with publishers seeing poor sales of spin off titles like this and deciding, well we tried but people clearly arent interested so we wont bring future titles out in those markets (or worse, the ip gets killed off). I really hope Sega dont take that stance this time and give us a proper new VC game in the future.
This looked like a trainwreck from the start. Shouldn't have slapped the Valkyria name on this. Even if it's a good game (doubtful), it's not a Valkyria game. It's the Highlander 2 to its source material.
@Rob_230 I agree but if it does not sell what do you want a developer to do I loved the first game bought it again on the PS4. But if people dont buy it you cant blame the developer for trying a differrent route even the wrong one.
That picture alone is more than enough to reason to avoid this game. It's all sorts of ridiculous. We get it, Japanese people. You like big boobs.
This game is not a good game at all. I'm trying really hard to give it a chance, but I'm 3 hours in and have only played maybe 45 mins to an hour. There are so many freaking cutscenes and a lot of information thrown around that I find it hard to care about anything that's going on. Especially how they're paced; you get a cutscenes then a loading screen then a cutscene and then you wind up back a HQ.
The combat is really painfully simplistic as you just literally press X to win most engagements, and can spam magic with a ridiculous mana pool to win the others.
The story seems pretty cool at first, but the way it's presented, with a crew of characters that is just plopped in front of you all at once, it is tough for me to care about them or pick favorites. They all pretty much do the same thing and that is be a lot weaker than Amleth, but still powerful enough to kill groups of enemies with ONE press of X (X makes you do your whole combo).
The voice acting is pretty, er, well hit and miss. Sometimes lines are executed well and other times they will make you burst out in hysterical laughter at how cringe and grating it is. Some of the dialogue especially is like the localization team was trying really hard to make the game way more edgy than it was intended to be. The result is stilted, stiff, and out of place dialogue from anime actors that are not used to it.
This game feels and looks like a mediocre Vita game that was hastily ported to console that doesn't quite know what it wants to be. There is about as much depth in this game as a puddle of water on a tile floor. I was expecting a fun hack and slash with strategic elements, but this isn't that.
I'll just stick with the first two games, Fire Emblem, and Xcom for my turn-based strategy fix.
I'll keep with the remaster methinks.
Shame... We want Valkyria Chronicle, but they made this simplified mess instead..
Then SEGA conclude that Valkyria IP has no market...
SEGA oh SEGA...
@KitsuneNight same here. Tactical or turn based games aren't my thing compared action role playing games. But I'll wait for a sale though.
@Flaming_Kaiser
No I haven't tried it.
I generally dont get along with strat games.
My strategy is:
build troops,
build moar troops,
build even MOAR ,
build still MOAR !!!
And then rush the enemy stronghold, casualties be damned.
that kind of " strategy" wont get me far in games like valkyria chronicles i bet
@TheHatredDMC
or a used copy i would be fine with that too
@whywai88
sega making stupid boneheaded mistakes ?
say it aint so !
I think it's time for Japan to literally calm their tits. I get that it's part of their culture, but that girl looks like she was created in the saints row character creator.
@RedMageLanakyn
well even she doesnt look all that thrilled
maybe her back pain is coming back again ?
@KitsuneNight I know, right?
A shame, but you could see this coming from a mile away. Hopefully Sega learns from this and makes Valkyria Chronicles 4.
Tap here to load 28 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...