Overall, Valkyria Revolution does many things differently than Valkyria Chronicles and will be quite divisive. As a fan of Chronicles, I found that game to be better overall and yet the faster pace of Revolution makes this more fun to play – the story just doesn’t hold up as well and the graphics are less impressive here than Chronicles. The action RPG shift works at keeping things interesting on the battlefield at all times and keeps you on your toes too. It does suffer from some iffy textures, but the game is greater as a whole than the sum of its parts. It’s a fantastic gateway game for the franchise for newcomers and offers veterans a completely new gameplay experience in many ways while also keeping some elements similar enough to make for a smooth transition.

Overall, I started the game with a bit of skepticism since I was only familiar with it’s turn based system which I quite enjoyed for the setting it was in, as it presented you with time to think and was more of an RTS, tactical kind of approach which I enjoyed greatly. At first it was a little odd to adjust to, but the faster pace gameplay fits the setting better than a turn based system would with all the options for combat they’ve put in and it actually gets quite addicting to play the different class roles, I miss the old play style, but I can enjoy both quite easily so I don’t feel I’m losing out. The games’ value is great too at $59.95 upon release, I’m actually quite pleased it’s not more, it’s around the average price for this kind of game, but in a world where a lot of games are $80+ for base editions and $100+ for special editions it’s a welcome bracket to fit into.

Valkyria Revolution is an experiment, more similar to a musou than to all of its predecessors, and this won't resonate with the majority of the fans of the franchise. But, taken for what it is, it's still a decent action game with light RPG and strategic elements.

Valkyria Revolution is nowhere near as good as Valkyria Chronicles and luckily it may be just a short detour into a hybrid musou/action territory. Story is kind of OK but plagued by overstaying cutscenes and loading screens, while everything else is shallow and very low budget.

It isn't clear why this real-time game was created at all, when the world would be far happier with another BLiTZ system title. It makes it tough to recommend, even for a Chronicles aficionado, because the other things that went into making the earlier game so enjoyable – a jaunty alternative history/fantasy plot populated by an interesting bunch of characters – feel half-baked here. Everything, from gameplay to graphics to the storyline, is worse.

This all may come across as overly harsh and a tad vindictive, but I really wanted to love this game. There's so many juicy elements in Valkyria Revolution that could have been molded into a truly wonderful experience, but all those pieces just never seemed to properly assemble. I appreciate that the designers tried something new with the combat, but trying to blend strategy RPG elements with a hack 'n' slash just didn't work in this case. If you're curious about the Valkyria franchise, my advice would be to pick up the HD remaster of the original Valkyria Chronicles. I can't speak for the two follow-up games released on the Vita, but I can say, with certainty, that Valkyria Revolution is not worth your time or money.

Ladies and gentlemen, we present you “The Worst of jRPG”. [09/2017, p.57]