If there is one game that is criminally overlooked this year it would have to be the PS3 exclusive:
Valkyria Chronicles
because crouchin on a tank is awesome
It managed to pull off 33k sales in America since it launched according to the NPD sales charts, which if it hasn't clicked, means it totally bombed. You may say that its a very niche game for the unpopular console and it launched at a very bad time in the year, but 33k is still very bad even considering those factors for instance games like:
Sold more copies in a single week than VC did for 3 and 1/2 weeks.
Even other RPG games such as Lost Remnant pulled off over 3x the number of sales in the same period.
Why it is AWESOME:
The game is a Strategy role playing game (SRPG) set in an alternate Europe during the outbreak of the Second European war and chronicles the battles of a militia military unit led by the son of a war veteran of the first European war, who incidently has a kickass tank lying around at his house. You fight to defend your country against the invading Imperial forces (read: Nazis) who wish to take over all of Europe.
The gameplay is simply unlike anything I have ever played before, it is apparentely very different from any other SRPG (apparentely because the only other SRPG I have ever played is Advanced wars). You are given control points which you may use to move units in real time across the map utilising a 3rd person view and movement scheme, emeies that can see you will open fire in real-time as you move around the battlefield.
Alicia about to get pasted by a tank
You may choose to aim and shoot at any time during your movement and aiming is done manually with the analog stick. Proper line of sight, unit positiong, aiming and cover is implemented into the game making it feel more involved than your traditional RPG. All in all the gameplay is VERY addictive and is the main reason why I would recommend you buy this game. If I had to describe it I would say it is sort of like a mix between a RPG, a RTS, WW2 and Gears of war.
Watch the trailer!
Its EPIC!
The only gripe I have the game is the sometimes pretentious story, some darker themes are introduced throughout the game but they are usually underdeveloped and the character developement for the enemies are also underdeveloped. However the characters in your squad are largely likable and they are well developed by the end of the game as well which is a plus. Also there are some pretty interesting twists throughout the story which helps keep it interesting. Overall I thought the story was more than servicable and I enjoyed most of it.
Imperial soldiers
The presentation is also top-notch, the graphics like really nice as you can see from the screenshots, it looks like a watercolour painting come to life. The musical score is also excellent being composed by the composer who did FFXII, it really pulls you into the epic war mood.
So why should you buy it instead of other big PS3 titles like LPB, Call of Duty WaW and Resistance 2?
Firstly it is a damned good game (incidently it is probably my favourite game this year), secondly you don't have to enjoy JRPG games or even RPG games to enjoy this (I normally don't play JRPGs because I don't really enjoy them).
Thirdly and most importantly because it is sad to see a game of this caliber be totally ignored at retail, if you are waiting for the price to go down before buying or are interested but would rather buy it after playing the other Christmas games let me tell you it is already getting difficult to find at retail and the prices on ebay have started to go up, buy it now if you are remotely interested as SEGA will most likely not do a 2nd print of it since it failed so bad at retail. Trust me, you will not regret getting it.
DO YOUR PART!
nb.This game is still 19.99 at Gamestation in the UK if anyone is interested.
Get your freinds to buy it as well! they will thank you!
Maxvest, don't wait because it most likely won't drop. Stock is very limited at the moment and the chances of a reprint is low due to low sales.
@ half-left
As a person who doesn't usually like JRPGs and games like that, I recommend you try it, it plays alot differently to any JRPG I have ever played.
I want to. God I want to. But I'm a poor college student, and with the next semester on the horizon (plus a new 100 dollar student fee) I have to pick and choose what I spend money on. But I LOVED the demo.
Agree it looks good, and I don't normally get into these types of games. But with the holiday lineup already piled on as it is, and all the games I've yet to finish I can't get myself to buy it. Maybe I'll give the demo a shot when my PS3 gets back from service.
I agree with most of the comments above, i'm not typically interested in this type of game, but the demo really made me interested in it. Once my pstriples gets home I'll gladly pick it up, hopefully used.
I played the demo and rented it from Gamefly and I love it. All I am waiting for right now is to see if I get it from my parent's for christmas. If I don't, I will be ordering it immediately.
As for it bombing, it is typical in today's gaming climate, especially around christmas. A new and original IP gets lost under the fall barrage of games in which established genres/series are more appealing to most than unfamiliar territory. It is exactly what happened to LBP (although not to this extent).
I'm really bummed by the sales myself. I asked for it for Christmas which is the only reason why I haven't bought it yet. If I don't get it for Christmas, I'm buying it the day after!
I'm on a game per month limit I imposed on myself in order to save cash. And since I've already bought my december title (L4d) I'm thinking I'll get this and LBP (which I was getting later) for christmas just to support the companies.
Yeah, this game is in the top 2 PS3 games I've played this year, Just behind MGS4 and infront of LBP. It's just pure class. It deserves better than 33,000 sales, And It basically guarantee's I won't get to enjoy a sequel =(.
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
jkh13's blog
Follow
RSS
Contact
I'll buy something else instead, and maybe rent VC.
It sort of reminds me of Ring of Red.
@ half-left
As a person who doesn't usually like JRPGs and games like that, I recommend you try it, it plays alot differently to any JRPG I have ever played.
I'll get it when it's cheaper. That's still impressive since I don't like these kinds of games usually.
That makes me sad. :(
As for Valkyria, I absolutely love the demo, and I'm seriously considering picking up the full thing.
As for it bombing, it is typical in today's gaming climate, especially around christmas. A new and original IP gets lost under the fall barrage of games in which established genres/series are more appealing to most than unfamiliar territory. It is exactly what happened to LBP (although not to this extent).
It really is a shame good games don't get bought.
voice acting seems horrible
The voice acting is really very good but if it really bothers you do have the option to switch it to Japanese with subtitles.
In short loved what I played of this game. Need to pick it up at some point.