Valkyria Chronicles - PS3

[Shino]

I know that this game has faded away in the midst of all the good games that came out this month. But I feel it has been wrongly overlooked by too man.

This game is a stratRPG made by Sega's team that did Skies of Arcadia. And it is unlike any stratRPG I've played before.

Visually it just down right stunning. Imagine a more adult Eternal Sonata style, with the canvas like feel of Okami. That's what the graphics look like... and it's gorgeous!

The story is pretty good and is presented in a way that is just awesome to me so far. It presents it like a story/history book and each scene from the story and each battle is a picture in the book. And you can revisit each scene at any time just by turning the pages back. Excellent idea!

It's more modern than fantasy as far as the subject matter. It's about two halves of a continent that are at war with each other due to a precious resource. One small nation does not get involved, but is then invaded by the "Empire."

The game adds a shooter element to it. During your turn, you have action points that you use to move around and each soldier can attack once. But after attacking, then can continue to move as long as you have action points. Something most StratRPGs don't let you do.

You can also actually aim where you want to fire. So instead of just saying that you want to attack this enemy, you get to actually aim your crosshairs on him/her and decide where you want to shoot him. Head shots are obviously more powerful, but you also have a much greater chance of missing.

You also get a tank pretty early on in the game which is awesome.

Fantastic game, and there is a demo (a very easy demo... the game is harder) out on PSN right now. If you get even the slightest bit of enjoyment out of StratRPGs... go check this one out for sure.