Valkyria Chronicles....why aren't you playing it?
The story takes place in a sort of alternate universe of our own, where the Second Europa War has started and the small country of Gallia is being invaded. You see the war through the eyes of Squad 7, led by Welkin Gunther, a nature loving young man from the small town of Bruhl. There are dozens of characters you can have in your squad, but the only ones that get story development are: Alicia (Welkin's love interest, of course), Rosie (a hot-headed red head), Largo (a sort of peace-keeper/grandpa of the squad), Isara (Welkin's little sister), and another who you get later on (he's suppose to be a secret undercover agent, so revealing him might ruin the story a bit). You really do get attached to your squad members as the battles rage on and the story progresses. The story doesn't really start out of the gates very fast, but it catches up and you won't want to miss a single event to find out what happens next. But the real draw to Valkyria Chronicles isn't so much the story, or the characters, but the battle system.
The battle system isn't that of your typical SRPG. It's something almost completely new that is actually fun and feels rewarding when you successfully finish a battle. Instead of the usual grid layout where units can only move a certain number of squares and then attack, characters move on an open map where they have a sort of, "Movement Meter"(MM). Characters can only move as much as their MM lets them. Everytime a character takes a step, the meter starts to go down and will continue to go down as long as the character is still moving. The meter stopping when you stop allows you to think about where you want your unit to go if you've already moved it and it's in a tight spot. The length of a character's MM is determined by their class, and what rank their class is.
When a character wants to attack, you press R1 to bring up the sights of your gun, or the range they can through a grenade. You can switch quickly between potential targets by pressing either R1 or L1, which makes it so that there isn't a lot of aiming involved. So those not so good at FPSs or Third Person Shooters won't feel left out or intimidated. There are really two types of shots you can pull off on somebody. You can either shoot them in the body, for moderate damage, or you can shoot them in the head, for heavy damage. But remember, the enemy can do the same to you. So standing out in the open with no cover when enemies are around, isn't a good idea.
Attacking with your tank is a bit different from attacking with a foot unit. Your tank has 3 weapons at the start (you get 1 more later, but at the rist of spoiling the game more, it'll remain a secret), Anti-Armor rounds, Mortar Rounds, and a mounted Machine Gun. You can only attack with one of these each turn the tank takes, but each can be used against a specific unit. Anti-Armor, obviously, is used against enemy tanks. There are 3 different areas to attack enemy tanks, each do different amounts of damage. You can attack the treads of the tank, which immobilizes it. You can attack the tank body itself, which will destroy the tank, but it will take a couple more shots more to destroy than the treads. Or you can attack a generator on the back of the tank, which results in an instant kill on the tank. The Mortar Rounds are good for taking out bunkers and grouped up foot units, and the Machine Gun is good for taking out a single foot soldier.
There are 5 different classes of foot soldiers to choose from when picking out your squad: Scouts, Shocktroopers, Lancers, Engineers, and Snipers. Scouts are your fast moving, long runner units. They have the longest MM and use rifles to attack, which means they can run in, hit somebody hard with a few bullets, and then retreat. Shocktroopers are your front-line soldiers. They can take more punishment than a Scout, but their MM is about half as long as a Scouts. They carry sub-machine guns which can take care of most foot troops very quickly. Lancers are your Anti-Tank ground troops. They carry giant lances which have an anti-tank rocket of sorts on it. They're slow, and have a MM about as long as a Shocktroopers, but they're essential to have in case your tank can't hit the enemy's tank. Engineers are one of the more multi-talented units of your squad. They can remove land mines from the battlefield, repair tanks, resupply your foot troops with ammo and grenades, and they also carry the same rifle as a Scout. They also have a rather good sized MM, so they can move and resupply units very fast. Snipers are one of those units you'll either love, or hate. Their MM is very small, so they can't move very much, but their strength if their ability to take out basically any ground unit in one shot. Their ability to land their shots is something that will make you either frustrated with the class, or never want to use anything else. The hit detection for your snipers seems off compared to the AI's snipers. The same could be said for the other classes too. It just feels like your troops can hit worth anything, and the enemy hits every single time with their bullets.
Your units gain experience from each battle, and level up, like in a regular RPG. At a certain level their class goes from being a normal Sniper or Scout, to being an Elite. This means that they get more movement in their MM, and they get a new weapon to add on to their primary one. Well, for Scouts and Shocktroopers, anyway. The other 3 classes just get more movement.
You also learn "Orders" through battles, or through training. Orders can be executed in a battle to strengthen your troops attack, defense, healing, and numerous other things. You can learn dozens of orders, which can turn the tide of a battle in some situations. The enemy can also use orders too, though. So it's not like you have an advantage over the AI there either.
There are also "Potentials" that each person has in your squad. They unlock more potentials as they level up. Potentials are like special abilities that a person has. For example, Rosie has the "Strong-Willed" potential, which allows her to run into a storm of bullets and take less damage than normal. Potentials happen at certain moments in a battle. There are also negative potentials, like "Pollen Allergy", which reduces the hit % of that person for that turn. There are hundreds of potentials between all the members of your squad. Knowing when they'll be activated and what they do can also help you out greatly in a battle.
If there is one thing you should take into each battle, it's that if you mess up, or make a wrong move, the AI will make you pay for it. The AI is no slouch in VC. If it sees an opportunity to attack your tanks generator, it will. If it sees one of your units isn't behind a sandbag or behind cover, it will send troops after that person. You have to plan each move accordingly, or it could cost you the whole battle.
When you aren't fighting, you'll be in Book Mode. The game is told like it's being read to you through a history book, or somebody's journal of the events. In Book Mode, you can visit HQ to recruit new troops for your squad, go to the training ground to spend the EXP you earn, go to the R&D facility to upgrade your weapons or tanks, the War Cemetery to visit the graves of your fallen comrades, the Royal Auditorium to get rewards from the Princess, and a couple other areas that are mentioned more in the game. You can also fight Skirmish battles from Book Mode, which allow you to fight in previous battles you've done to earn more experience and money.
Graphically, VC is one of the prettiest SRPGs out there. The cell shaded characters and buildings, look life like and bring you into the conflict more. The different weapon and armor upgrades for your squad are shown very well. So you can see how your squad has evolved from what it was at the start of the game.
The sound is on par with the graphics. The voice acting is very well done and each VA brings out the life in their character. You really start to feel like you know the members of your squad and what they're thinking. The sound effects for the guns and other weaponry are also very realistic. Your heart starts to pound faster when you hear that tank coming around the corner, and the turret begin to rotate to aim at your troops. The soundtrack is passable. There aren't really any outstanding themes, but it's not like the soundtrack is awful either.
The complaints for Valkyria are few, and are nothing compared to how well the rest of the game is executed. Also the fact that, well, the game is just plain fun to play. It also feels very rewarding to complete a battle knowing that you outsmarted the AI and successfully took the objective. If you have a PS3 and have yet to buy this game, shame on you!