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Was it really four years ago now that the Second Europan War began? Is the PlayStation 3 really supposed to be six years old? I refuse to believe it. It's just not possible. Whenever I slip the Valkyria Chronicles Blu-ray into a console that's supposed to be at the end of its life cycle I get no sense of age, no feeling of a looming obsolescence or an imminent loss of status. No; time stops.I have a theory: each Valkyria Chronicles disc holds some special, secret power within it, and that power is the ability to make any PS3, no matter how old, battered or weary, immediately look its very best. It's like pouring an elixir into your disc drive. Valkyria Chronicles is a very special game and when we look back on the history of this console, when we write our retrospectives and compose our memoirs, we will cite it as one of the finest titles to grace the platform. This is not something I predict. This is something I know.
And yet the game is also nuts. I mean, it's just barmy. Valkyria Chronicles remains an excellent tactical wargame with all the finest traditions of squad selection and small-arms tactics, a rarity on any console and something that prefigured the new XCOM. Though that's not all it is. It's also chirpy, cheesy and downright daft. One moment you find the plot has weaved its way through a fantasy interpretation of World War II to suddenly present you with a sombre labour camp and the game's analogy for national anti-Semitism. Then, your sergeant is suddenly yelling at you about his love for vegetables, and with good reason, since his spontaneous passion for potatoes has just granted him special powers.
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