Valkyria Revolution Reviews
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 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 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 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'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.
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 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
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 has so much potential to it but the character interactions and terrible presentation lead it to be more boring than engaging.
Action-RPG Spin-off of the Valkyria series with a great story and beautiful presentation but catastrophic monotonous gameplay. A disappointment.
Review in German | Read full review
Valkyria Revolution is a noble effort at providing fans with a fresh take on the series but it unfortunately doesn't quite live up to its genre contemporaries.
For fans of the series that have been waiting to return to the world of Valkyria, I’m saddened to say that this opportunity isn’t really worth your time.
Valkyria Revolution is far from perfect. However, its gripping story, gorgeous soundtrack, and wealth of addicting customization options go a long way towards making what would otherwise be a rather ho-hum action game a bit more memorable.
Valkyria Revolution is a lifeless spinoff that lacks the spirit of its cult classic predecessor.
Valkyria Revolution fails to live up to the previous games in the series, and although it serves as a spinoff, the new system mechanics don't blend. The narrative approach is admirable; however, most sequences are dull and feel lifeless. Not to mention, the long loading times between each sequence leads to quite a bit of down time before you need to pick up the controller.
At the end of the day I have to say that you should really only investigate Valkyria Revolution if you're a big fan of the series and want to have a deeper look into the lore. If you're on the fence, either skip it or play Valkyria Chronicles.
Yet, I can't lie: I hope that Sega will interpret the reception of this game as a signal that we want more Valkyria Chronicles, and that this kind of spin-off is better explored when the hunger for the main course has been sated, and not when we're all starving.
While there is some fun to be found in Valkyria Revolution's battle system, it's just not worth sitting through the story bloat and excessive loading to get there.
Despite some promising elements, mismatched expectations and an unsuccessful attempt to set things right cause this Valkyria Chronicles spinoff to crumble under its own weight. Ultimately, Valkyria Revolution is a game that suffers from an identity crisis and ends up not being quite sure of what it wants to be. I just hope that the Valkyria franchise gets another chance to do what it does best and deliver a new entry that's more faithful to its roots.
Valkyria Revolution is a title that undoubtedly suffers due to the comparisons to its superior predecessor. However, when viewed as a standalone title, it features an interesting story with a cast of characters well worth exploring. Even though the combat engine is dull and flawed in many ways, it's serviceable for the scenarios that the game presents and at a bargain price, you could do worse than pick up Valkyria Revolution.