![]() ![]() What’s worse, actually killing them usually requires repeated, hyper-fiddly aiming and specific units. Then they’ll lob unpredictable artillery strikes that shred through tanks.Įven bumping the game down to easy mode, which makes beating normal enemies trivial, barely affects these late-game, unstoppable killing machines. That means they can kill your troops with a single shot of automatic overwatch fire on your turn. It’s not until near the end, when the game starts leaning on some absolutely insurmountable boss battles, that save-scumming becomes downright mandatory.Ĭommon tanks and soldiers are eventually replaced by foes that automatically shoot you during either team’s movement, without even spending their attack actions. That lets you fine tune your tactics on the fly, offering the satisfaction of slipping your opponent's traps rather than the paint-by-numbers victory of restarting every battle with the optimal lineup from the jump.įor the most part, VC4 offers that satisfaction. You can sacrifice Command Points to evacuate and summon new soldiers from preset camps across almost every battlefield. VC4 works best when you don’t need to do that. After the surprise shows up, the best solution is often to just quit, reload, and try again with a team composition that meets your every “unexpected” need. Each story mission plays out more or less exactly according to its script, every time. The problem is that VC4 is a very linear game. Foes you thought were dead can be resurrected with special “Orders”- Valkyria Chronicles’ equivalent of map-wide spells that can buff and heal squads on either side. Special boss units will literally explode out of the ground mid-mission. The straightforward positional battling is exciting, but VC4 also throws in its fair share of unexpected circumstances to which you need to adapt. Or maybe your scout gets gunned down by covering fire before they even see their target. Then again, that grenadier might be equipped with an anti-vehicle launcher when they really need an anti-personnel weapon. Sending a fast, fragile scout into the heart of enemy territory might give a grenadier the line they need to mortar a high-value target. Most missions almost play out like puzzles. It’s up to the JRPG math behind the scenes-massaged by your reticle placement-to land blows and critical headshots.ĭeciding where to position which classes is half the fun-and often frustration-of VC4. From there you can move your units in real time, limited only by the soldier’s dwindling “Action Points.” While you line up shots as in any over-the-shoulder shooter, a weapon’s precise aim is out of your control. Battle begins from an overhead perspective but shifts to an over-the-shoulder view when you select a unit. ![]() The more things don’t changeĬombat and progression have been simplified compared to the previous sequels. An evil empire (a fantastical mix of Nazi Germany and the USSR) is invading the “Atlantic Federation,” and a plucky crew of volunteers from Gallia (basically fantasy Holland) signs up to bring the fight back to the fascists, big tank in tow.Īll of these beats feel so much like that first game that VC4 comes across almost as a soft reboot of the original rather than a side story. In fact, despite being the fourth game in the series, VC4 even returns to the series’ original conflict-a sort of Norse-flavored, alternate-history World War II. ![]() It has the same hooks of that original game, including the watercolor-and-pencil graphics and plenty of anime relationships to tease out over 35-ish combat-heavy hours. Now, two PSP sequels and one ill-conceived pseudo-spin-off later, that formula returns to consoles in Valkyria Chronicles 4. Links: Steam | Amazon | Official WebsiteTurn-based tactics with an action game twist: that’s the simple, potent blend that made the original Valkyria Chronicles so immediately striking back in 2008. Platform: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One, Switch, Windows ![]()
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