Reviews// Valkyria Chronicles II

In between missions, you're presented with a top-down view of Lanseal Academy, where you can view side-story scenarios and visit various places to improve your fighting proficiency.

The R&D Department allows you to research and build brand new weapons with the money earned from missions, while the Training Ground sees you levelling up your squad by base class. Some missions will have a level recommendation, so saving some EXP should be a big consideration.

A new feature in Valkyria Chronicles II is the ability to upgrade classes beyond Veteran status. With the characters you control coming from a training academy, performing various tasks earns a character 'credits'. One can earn credits from killing enemies, capturing bases, providing support fire and other things. When a squad member earns enough, they can be promoted to a tangent within that class, earning better statistics and abilities.

For example Snipers, which were a standard class in Valkyria Chronicles, are now a branch of Scouts, while Fencers – sporting smaller shields but wielding a hefty sword – are a branch of the Armour Tech base. Avan is the exception to the rule, as you can change him to any base class you fancy, meaning he can potentially become any tangent class you like.

With battle objectives ranging from defeating enemies to escorting vehicles and capturing bases, there's a whole variety of activities here for the strategy RPG player that will keep you hooked. Sega has managed to translate the incredible art style of the PS3 game into the PSP too, and on a sharp display the colours and landscapes just look fantastic.

For a portable game, it's incredibly deep too. Ranks and item bonuses are awarded for completing battles in as few turns as possible, but this is a game that requires a lot of thought, planning and tactics to succeed.

Particularly in the key missions that follow the main storyline later on in the game – you have the option to participate in 'Free' battles too, which are more straightforward and serve as a means to get more life out of the game whilst levelling up your squad. When you start to realise the range of options available, you realise that Valkyria Chronicles II is a game that you simply can't rush through.

In fact, in the same way as the PS3 original did, there will be times where you'll be simply banging your head against a brick wall trying to beat a particular level. Around the midpoint of the game you run into Valkyria – legendary combatants of myth that hold untold strength and agility.

Luckily, the enemy Valkyria aren't quite 'bona fide,' but they still pack a punch – and the bosses really don't let up. They will hunt you down like dogs. I cried a few times (maybe). With no quick restart option, and limited battery power, it can be just about the only drawback that can be made about the game - that I suck.

Hardcore strategists will love it though, and the wealth of backstory and canon Valkyria Chronicles II will keep everyone else hooked and frustrated, then hooked once again. With the classroom scenario, there are many underlying messages about the pain of war, the troubles of growing up and fitting in and the social strain that combat can bring. There are so many characters to select for your limited squad count, that you're bound to feel a deep affinity for one of them.

Valkyria Chronicles II also comes with an ad-hoc multiplayer mode, which is barrels of fun despite the fact that you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone in the immediate area wielding a PlayStation Portable, let alone another copy of the game.

But it's a clever twist on the single-player combat, where two or more players use Command Points to control Class G's squad at the same time. Co-op bonuses occur when linked players select units at the same time, or are in each other's vicinity when executing an attack. Unfortunately, it's one for the Japanese and only the hardest of hardcore Western players.

Conclusion

All in all, Valkyria Chronicles II is an endearing, addictive, utterly engaging game to the point of sheer frustration. Sure, the improvements and changes amount to nothing more than an evolutionary step rather than a revolutionary one, but that doesn't matter.

With the poor performance of the PlayStation 3 original, and for the sheer value of having a near-perfect replication of the same on a handheld, Sega gets a pass this time. Such superficial complaints don't detract from Valkyria Chronicles II being one hell of a good game, and an absolute must for PSP owners.

SPOnG Score: 91%