Valkyria Revolution

For all its many faults, the script does at least make a valiant effort of recognising and explaining the politics of war and propaganda. That doesn’t change the fact that there’s an army of games more worthy of your money. [October 2017, p75]

This all may come across as overly harsh and a tad vindictive, but I really wanted to love this game. There's so many juicy elements in Valkyria Revolution that could have been molded into a truly wonderful experience, but all those pieces just never seemed to properly assemble. I appreciate that the designers tried something new with the combat, but trying to blend strategy RPG elements with a hack 'n' slash just didn't work in this case. If you're curious about the Valkyria franchise, my advice would be to pick up the HD remaster of the original Valkyria Chronicles. I can't speak for the two follow-up games released on the Vita, but I can say, with certainty, that Valkyria Revolution is not worth your time or money.

This revolution deserves to be mercilessly crushed. [Sept 2017, p.82]

By the time I finished Valkyria Revolutions, I was almost comically over it. The most telling moment of the entire experience came as I was nearing the end, and my wife came downstairs and asked me, "Ugh. Are you watching that game again? Play something more interesting!" That's right, "watching that game again." With so many cutscenes, only broken up by uninspired action with ideas that don't work or aren't utilized correctly, Valkyria Revolution is tough to recommend to anyone for any reason. If the alternate history angle of the story excites you, you'd be better off playing any of the Chronicles games. If action RPG combat is your thing, Dynasty Warriors, Hyrule Warriors or the upcoming Fire Emblem Warriors should scratch that itch much better than this game can. And if you are a longtime fan of the series, like I am, I can't do anything but warn you; this is not the game you wish it was, nor expect it to be. Please, Sega, let's go back to the way it was. This Revolution is not a welcome or a successful one.

Valkyria Revolution is an extremely wrong-headed attempt to re-invent a series that needed no such treatment, and falls short on just about every level.

An inexplicably dull follow-up to Valkyria Chronicles, that jettisons almost everything that made the original interesting in favour of bland Dynasty Warriors style combat.

Valkyria Azure Revolution is the spin-off no one was waiting for. Every component which made the Valkyria Chronicles saga so famous is absent from this bad "sequel". The graphics look awful on PS4, the casting is generic at best and its action-RPG mechanics are some of the worst we've ever seen in the last decade. Why would an action-RPG make you pause the game every time you want to use a skill? Why, SEGA ?

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.

Very tragic: There is actually an interesting game hidden somewhere in Valkyria Revolution. Well, sorta - there would be, if all the elements and layers would be connected.

I do genuinely think that the story itself is serviceable, but its presentation absolutely destroyed my interest in it. There’s some merit behind constructing a band of characters manipulating an entire nation for their own purposes. It’s a nice change of pace from typical RPG protagonists and though all the story beats aren’t all that good, there were intriguing ideas behind it all. It’s difficult to recommend Valkyria Revolution if you’re looking for an enjoyable game. This was an ambitious direction to take the series to and I don’t think it was the right call.

The result is a tiresome slog that proves the first casualty of war is not innocence, but brevity. Valkyria Devolution might have been a more honest title. [Sept 2017, p.108]

There is almost nothing to recommend with Valkyria Revolution as it fails to hit the mark in every aspect having, for some reason, changed pretty much everything which made the first game great. What you're left with is a very forgettable action RPG which frustrates with an overly long and dull story and simplistic and clumsy combat.

Valkyria Revolution is like a bizarre, alternate reality version of Valkyria Chronicles in which everything that the original got right has somehow been twisted into something awful. The devolution of interesting and quasi-relatable characters into eye-roll inducing stereotypes is upsetting, and the technical shortcomings of the game are disappointing. But it's the combat of Revolution that suffers most in comparison to Chronicles, and indeed, in comparison to practically anything else in the genre. Where Valkyria Chronicles was a constantly rewarding strategy game, Revolution is an action RPG so utterly devoid of any potential to challenge or delight that the only strategy you'll require is working out the quickest bus route back to the shop to get your refund.

Even worse, the real-time action, a departure from Valkyria Chronicles, fails to heighten the drama of the proceedings, constantly bringing to mind the superior combat system of 1990s RPGs Secret of Mana and Secret of Evermore.