Valiant Hearts: The Great War Reviews
Valiant Hearts is confident in its direction and thoughtful in its design. As a puzzle-focused, story-driven experience it isn't going to be for everyone, but those who relish the days of LucasArts' point-and-click adventures will certainly find a lot to enjoy here — doubly so if you are a history buff.
Instead of simply running you through various battles of World War I, Valiant Hearts: The Great War uses the story of a French family to build a better understanding of the broader historical importance. This personal story serves as the perfect framing device for the game's documentary-style presentation. While there are a few missteps and areas where it could have been stronger, it is a beautiful and well-executed game that offers a unique glimpse into one of the deadliest wars in human history.
A touching and bold portrayal of World War One in wonderful animated style, Ubisoft Montpellier's Valiant Hearts shows that videogaming doesn't have to be an Anthem for Doomed Youth.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a superbly titled game. It is a valiant effort at a sincere depiction of war by developers whose hearts were clearly in the right place, telling a gripping story that is still respectful of its source.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War delivers a moving story that will surely leave an impression on you. The UbiART engine delivers another great artistic showpiece telling a story through animation, a powerful and harrowing musical score and documentary-like narration. Valiant Hearts doesn't depict what war may have been like, it makes you feel it.
Despite taking shape as a rather unambitious adventure game, Valiant Hearts: The Great War nonetheless tells a beautiful story of loss and companionship with overwhelmingly evocative success.
Overall, I couldn't have been more pleased with Valiant Hearts: The Great War. Beautiful art, moving music and a compelling story that has a heart wrenching and unexpected ending with plenty of subtext for you to chew on, it was an absolute treat to play. While the gameplay itself isn't complex, the puzzles were surprisingly fun even if not overly hard. It also wins extra points from me for slipping in historical facts and subtly teaching you a history lesson.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a poignant and powerful reminder of the significant human toll borne of the wars that we so often act out in our favourite video games. It doesn't exaggerate or embellish its subject matter, but rather tells a story rooted in historical accuracy and human emotion. And while the puzzler's gameplay isn't revolutionary by any means, its awe-inspiring visual design, clever soundtrack, and thoughtful plot will break your heart in the best possible way.
Playing Valiant Hearts now feels like a crime, but being on the Switch is a boon for this wartime marvel.
Valiant Hearts isn't necessarily lacking in quality or polish, just that perhaps we're looking at one game that feels like it wants to be three.
Valiant Hearts is a good game offering an emotionally satisfying experience. With about six hours of gameplay (depending on puzzling speed) it has solid value. As humans, we should all play this, even though it's not the best gaming has to offer.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a fantastic tale grounded deep in actual and awful history, history the game has no problem sharing with you as you play.
"Valiant Hearts" is able to convey this very real story of war through its cartoon-designed characters. It's gut-wrenching as realistic stories of wartime loss often are. That story occasionally gets lost while shuffling between the four main characters, but the message remains. The perils of war are far more real than the glory of the battlefield that is often depicted in today's games.
The title is certainly not without its faults with fairly simple gameplay and puzzle-solving, and a sometimes over-reliance on historical facts and pop-up text to describe its WWI-inspired world. Yet, like the greatest feats and tales of the first World War, this tale, though difficult to witness at times, is nonetheless an important and great one for the ages.
With Valiant Hearts: The Great War, Ubisoft Montpellier has created something magical. That is, a game which manages to convey the seriousness of war, while also being creative and imaginative. All of this is done in an incredibly respectful manner; so much so that the game acts as both a teacher and an entertainer throughout its colourful narrative.
This game made me shed more tears than any game I have ever played before, and I find that I am not alone in that sentiment. I even think this game communicated parts of WWI so well that it could be used as an educational tool, though the characters' story is fiction. I want my friends and family who don't seek out history for fun or play video games to play Valiant Hearts. I want to show this game to my favorite history teacher in high school– who was also a soldier and a lover of fine art, to see what he thinks, though I feel that I already know the answer. I want to tell everyone how wonderful and important the complete experience of Valiant Hearts: The Great War is so that many more people can enjoy it. Oh wait, I think I just covered that last thing.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War doesn't do enough with its puzzle-solving gameplay or its story to make the trip worthwhile.
In the end, Valiant Hearts: The Great War was an enjoyable experience with a satisfying story. The game doesn't include the years when the United States joined World War I, but at the end of the game there's an opening to include that story for a possible sequel.
You may find the title music serene if not melancholic when you first load up Valiant Hearts. When you return weeks later to replay favorite sequences and find collectibles you missed, you may find the same music moving for the way it tugs at the heart strings. You will know, as you're returning to the game, the music is a reminder of the tragedy and the beauty that lies underneath the cartoonish art and puzzles of Valiant Hearts.
A surprisingly sensitive, if flawed, retelling of a harrowing time in human history.