I dont review games often, but i feel that this game deserves my attention. Forgive my informality, im just going to type things as they come to me 
Gameplay:
First off, this game is a tactical RPG of sorts. Imagine it like a 3D Advance Wars, only when you go to move or attack with a unit the camera switches into a 3rd person view and its a hybrid turn-based/real-time action going on. In other words: its everything at once. The problem with games that try to combine everything into one game is that they always miss some key element somewhere. Not with Valkyria Chronicles. Everything plays perfectly, the whole game is fluid and feels incredibly polished. There are several units you can deploy as you see fit: Scouts, Shock Troopers, Lancers (pretty much guys with rocket launchers), Snipers, and Engineers. You also usually have your trusty tank, Edelweiss, with you. In the first few missions i got attached to Scouts and quickly learned that you need to use every single unit you have or you will die. Quickly. The gameplay gets an 9/10. Everything it tries to do it pulls of flawlessly, but it can be a bit of a pain due to some spikes in the difficulty.
Graphics:
This game is rather hard to judge in this regard. The entire game looks like it was hand-drawn with colored pencils. Its gorgeous and mesmerizing until you get used to it. Theres a few noticeable bits of crappy anti-aliasing going on, but you really have to look for them and it doesnt affect the game at all. I'll give it an 8/10. Its nothing spectacular, but the art style is second only to Little Big Planet.
Sound:
Its just traditional war music here. Like all the other war games have. Its unobtrusive, but adds a lot to the mood. The sound effects are great. The game is based in Europa in the 1930's so the guns are old-school rifles and such. The guns sound great, not too dry or empty sounding. Overall the guns are very realistic. The voice acting for some characters are great while the other characters are just good. The good characters are about average by today's standards, but the great characters are very believable and are fun to listen to. Its no Final Fantasy, but the music fits, voices fit, gun sounds fit, so it gets an 8/10.
Replay Value:
When you start a mission you get to choose what units to send to each location on the map. you can also choose to level up your units in any way you see fit (all the scouts get leveled up at once, its not on a person-by-person basis, which would have sucked). Edelweiss can be upgraded many different ways but you can only strap so many bonuses on at once, so you must choose carefully. There are some minor skirmishes as well as some giant fights thrown in, so there is always variety. Replay is a 9/10. You wont want to play this game again as soon as you are done witht he first play-through, but you will want to keep it around because you will be playing it again some day.
Conclusion:
The only gripes i have with the game is that when the enemy is attacking or moving the camera angles suck. They give you the perspective that your characters have, which is great because you can only see what they see, but sometimes you left your guys looking at walls and there are no ways to turn them (which is forgivable because they all have different ranges of view for counter-attacks) or switch characters. The game is obviously a Japanese game that was brought over here, but its a good thing, nay a GREAT thing, in this case. If you have a ps3 and like rpgs/tactical games you should have this game. Its a rare gem from the slowly dying SEGA. Overall (not an average (unless i accidentally stubled upon the average )): 8.7/10
Gameplay:
First off, this game is a tactical RPG of sorts. Imagine it like a 3D Advance Wars, only when you go to move or attack with a unit the camera switches into a 3rd person view and its a hybrid turn-based/real-time action going on. In other words: its everything at once. The problem with games that try to combine everything into one game is that they always miss some key element somewhere. Not with Valkyria Chronicles. Everything plays perfectly, the whole game is fluid and feels incredibly polished. There are several units you can deploy as you see fit: Scouts, Shock Troopers, Lancers (pretty much guys with rocket launchers), Snipers, and Engineers. You also usually have your trusty tank, Edelweiss, with you. In the first few missions i got attached to Scouts and quickly learned that you need to use every single unit you have or you will die. Quickly. The gameplay gets an 9/10. Everything it tries to do it pulls of flawlessly, but it can be a bit of a pain due to some spikes in the difficulty.
Graphics:
This game is rather hard to judge in this regard. The entire game looks like it was hand-drawn with colored pencils. Its gorgeous and mesmerizing until you get used to it. Theres a few noticeable bits of crappy anti-aliasing going on, but you really have to look for them and it doesnt affect the game at all. I'll give it an 8/10. Its nothing spectacular, but the art style is second only to Little Big Planet.
Sound:
Its just traditional war music here. Like all the other war games have. Its unobtrusive, but adds a lot to the mood. The sound effects are great. The game is based in Europa in the 1930's so the guns are old-school rifles and such. The guns sound great, not too dry or empty sounding. Overall the guns are very realistic. The voice acting for some characters are great while the other characters are just good. The good characters are about average by today's standards, but the great characters are very believable and are fun to listen to. Its no Final Fantasy, but the music fits, voices fit, gun sounds fit, so it gets an 8/10.
Replay Value:
When you start a mission you get to choose what units to send to each location on the map. you can also choose to level up your units in any way you see fit (all the scouts get leveled up at once, its not on a person-by-person basis, which would have sucked). Edelweiss can be upgraded many different ways but you can only strap so many bonuses on at once, so you must choose carefully. There are some minor skirmishes as well as some giant fights thrown in, so there is always variety. Replay is a 9/10. You wont want to play this game again as soon as you are done witht he first play-through, but you will want to keep it around because you will be playing it again some day.
Conclusion:
The only gripes i have with the game is that when the enemy is attacking or moving the camera angles suck. They give you the perspective that your characters have, which is great because you can only see what they see, but sometimes you left your guys looking at walls and there are no ways to turn them (which is forgivable because they all have different ranges of view for counter-attacks) or switch characters. The game is obviously a Japanese game that was brought over here, but its a good thing, nay a GREAT thing, in this case. If you have a ps3 and like rpgs/tactical games you should have this game. Its a rare gem from the slowly dying SEGA. Overall (not an average (unless i accidentally stubled upon the average
)): 8.7/10
