When I first learned of Valkyria Revolution, I was interested. Valkyria Chronicles was a favorite strategy game of mine back on the PS3, and I was interested to see what surprises a reboot/reimagining of the series could do on the PS4. The answer, unfortunately, wasn’t great… and neither was the game.
Valkyria Revolution places the series in a more traditional fantasy setting and pulls back on the strategy mechanics. The game transitions from strategy-focused to somewhere between a light RPG and a Dynasty Warriors clone. Enemies come at you in waves, but rather than just button-mashing them away, you have to go into sub-menus and activate various magic and weapon attacks. The style is deeply rooted in anime, and while the story itself presents some interesting questions, its execution and character interactions leave something to be desired. Put simply, if you were hoping for a great strategy game for your PS4, this is not that title.
The visuals of Valkyria Revolution are its strongest attribute. While they don’t push the horsepower of the PS4 to its limits, the game looks great regardless. And again, there is an interesting narrative that’s built up as the game progresses. It’s everything else that causes the game to fall flat, I’m sorry to report.
Valkyria Revolution never feels good, fun, balanced, or engaging. Even once you have commands, spells, or weapon attacks memorized, the act of having to open up various menus to use them always… ALWAYS… breaks up the action. I’m not saying there isn’t a way to figure out a balance between Dynasty Warriors’ hack and slash fun and RPG mechanics, but this isn’t it. Not by a long shot. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to technical issues. It was often difficult to get squad mates to respond to my commands, but that honestly wasn’t much of a problem considering how most enemies were more than happy to just stand around until I could kill them myself.
I wanted to like this title- I really did. I invested myself even when I was relatively positive, I didn’t like it, in the hopes that something about it would change for me. My heart never grew three sizes, regrettably. If you’re a Dynasty Warriors fan, stick with it. If you’re looking for a good strategy game, consider the X-Com series. I can’t really recommend this one at all, and that’s a damn shame considering its heritage.
