Valkyria Revolution Reviews
Valkyria Revolution has so much potential to it but the character interactions and terrible presentation lead it to be more boring than engaging.
Valkyria Revolution never should have existed in this state. While its predecessors were a breath of fresh air in the J-RPG genre, this spin-off is as generic as it gets. At times, it seems that Valkyria Revolution is a parody of J-RPGs, taking all of the tackiest elements and poorly shoving them together.
Valkyria Revolution tries a lot of new things, but loses the Valkyria-soul in the process. The combat system is stuck between action and tactics and the style is completely different. It's only saved by an interesting story and beautiful soundtrack.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
But that level of sensibility doesn't come front and center enough. Valkyria Revolution is constantly at odds with itself. It tries to be an action game, but at the behest of fans, more strategic elements were shoved in. You'll go into an action-packed warzone full of enemies to slice up, then you'll be rewarded with a seemingly endless amount of cutscenes lacking sound and fury and signifying nothing. Sega shifted its direction many times during its development due to feedback, and I'm not convinced it was the right move. Maybe if they had just stuck to their guns and made it a full action romp it would have turned out better.
Valkyria Revolution's biggest crime is that it is utterly dull. The tonal changes to the narrative, and to the combat system, are completely pointless, and not only do a disservice to the Valkyria name, they render it meaningless. Such are the differences between the two titles I don't understand why they bothered to sully the series' fantastic reputation with this release.
Valkyria Revolution will disappoint fans of the original tactics and will not be able to hook a new generation of gamers who prefer action. Weak story, flat characters, forgettable monotonous missions and the failed game concept bring only disappointment. It is very sad that instead of established tactical formula the publisher has decided to release such a controversial product.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Valkyria Revolution is a mediocre game, wearing the clothes – or, some might say, riding on the coat-tails – of a far superior predecessor. It's no exaggeration to say that the HD remake of Valkyria Chronicles for the PS4 (a 2016 rehash of a 2008 game) is also far prettier than Revolution.
Valkyria Revolution has the confidence of a much better game. The story is presented in a historical lense meant to pull at the player's heartstrings, the gameplay combines action RPG elements with strategy features, and the cast is depicted so as to highlight the realities of war. While that all looks nice in concept, Media Vision's execution is seriously lacking. The plot simultaneously needs to let scenes breathe more, instead of dragging them out for minutes on end. What should be thought-provoking combat turns into mindless button mashing. The depiction of war, as poignant as it can be sometimes, never manages to hold onto its brilliance for longer than a minute. There are genuinely great ideas present, both from its narrative and gameplay, but Valkyria Revolution fails to live up to the potential of either.
Valkyria Revolution fails to live up to the pedigree of its lineage. Though it tries something new with its dynamic battle system, the clunky execution will leave players frustrated and yearning for something different.
Valkyria Revolution should have been a single-season anime. Instead, we've gotten a game that's frustrating on the surface, boring in practice, and infuriating to reflect on. Save both your time and money.
Valkyria Revolution is a huge disappointment. The combat system is bland and repetitive and the characters are dull and uninteresting.
The true misery of Valkyria Revolution is how much of the series' roots show through, and how much Revolution itself doesn't know what to do with them.
Valkyria Revolution is an average action RPG with some strategy elements that is held back by way too many issues and only really has its soundtrack working in its favour.
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 Revolution 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.
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 one 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 ?
Review in French | Read full review
All in all, Valkyria Revolution is well worth avoiding. Unless you're a hardcore fan of the franchise's mythology, there's little reason to slog through this.
I really don't get what the developers were trying to achieve with Valkyria Revolution. It pretty much takes everything that was good about the prior games and just throws it out of the window, replacing it with tedium and banality.
This is a spin off that simply shouldn't be. It tries to take on too many ideas without forming an interesting and engaging core. With boring characters and a story that requires more cutscenes than gameplay, this game really exemplifies why "Show, don't tell" is still true.
So is Valkyria Revolution worth a look? My answer is no, not even for the diehard of diehard fans. Perhaps a rental if curiosity levels really cap out but seriously, let this one go. Remember fondly the series of old and let this call to arms go unanswered.