POSTED 22/6/16


VALKYRIA CHRONICLES REMASTERED

SEGA

Is this the end when two worlds collide?

A strategic gem from the early PS3 days, SEGA’s decision to port Valkyria Chronicles futurewards was a good one. A jolly bloody good one, eh chaps?

Ahem, sorry about going all WWII stereotype on your arses, but VKR is most reminiscent of that black time in our history, except that it takes place on an alternative timeline, with some wonderful fantastical elements inserted. It may be set in ‘Europa’, but anybody with a modicum of historical nous will get the historical parallels.

It all starts due to an abundance of ‘ragnite’ in the Switzerlandish Gallia. It’s a fuel that everybody wants, but doesn’t have. So, like a bully in a playground who craves the innocent kid’s Matchbox car, two massive superpowers get all invasive to take what they want.

In what plays out as a tactical RPG, because it is one, you control a Gallian militia unit called Squad 7, aiming to stave off the invading forces – very much Goliath to your David - as best as possible. This involves real time meets turn-based assaults using command points, whereby you’re dropped into third-person shooterness to take out those dastardly enemy forces. You’ve several soldiers to choose from when allocating, with various variables in play, depending upon who, what and how often. This thing is deep – but it’s never overwhelming.

Visually, it’s scrumptious – like it escaped the drawing boards of Studio Ghibli. But what hits home the most is the emotional depth. The main protagonists, Welkin and Alicia, are both unwitting participants in somebody else’s war, but they can’t idly watch the town they – and their friends and families - call home crumble. It’s essentially an antiwar allegory, and it can be quite heartrending.
 
Beautifully updated, and with all manner of DLC shoehorned in, VKR won’t float everybody’s U-boat. But those who click will click hard.

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