14 DAY TRIAL // Sega's Valkyria Chronicles for the PS3 proved to be a real success in 2008, so it's only obvious that it will have a sequel. Valkyria Chronicles 2 will be a tactical, role-playing game, and it is to be released this time on the PSP. The game will hit the Japanese shelves sometime this winter, while the American release will follow in the summer of 2010.
Players will be once again expected to fill the soldier uniforms to defend the fictional European country of Gallia, but, this time around, from internal strife and not an outside threat. Two years after the story set in the first Valkyria Chronicles, Gallia has fallen prey to civil war, as a rouge army makes a play for power. Gamers will be expected to take control of a group of young military-academy cadets, as they fight to bring back peace to their country.
The game will drift from the gameplay of the first installments, delivering a turn-based type of combat, but allowing real-time movement of the characters across the battlefield. The developers did their best to port the look of the game, keeping the engine that proved so appealing for the PS3 release, as well as the Japanese-anime style of the characters and and the design of the environment.
The cross-over to the Sony hand-held device is, according to game producer Shuntaro Tanaka, meant “to allow a broader spectrum of users to discover and enjoy what makes Valkyria special.” How well this will work remains to be seen, especially since the game will also give some school-life drama, as the story develops and characters interact.
Fans seem to be already unsettled by the fact that Tanaka charts this game as a genuine sequel and not as a simple spin-off of the original title. As a stand-alone release on the PSP, chances drop of a Valkyria 2 on the PS3, but the voice of fans swayed the minds of game producers in the past, so we'll have to wait and see how the game develops.