Valhalla knights 3 Review

The Valhalla knights series has been a bit of a stop and starter, and has definitely been annoying for those who were fans of the original from 2006, with its sequels being again on the PSP but then taking a turn onto the Wii. So for those who are more faithful fans of the series, they will be glad to see a sequel finally .

So we finally have the sequel and on the vita no less, obviously continuing from its very Sony hand-held orientated beginnings,  and those who did play the originals will be very happy to see that they have taken advantage of the vitas higher performance. As a added bonus if your anything like me, you will be even happier to know that the developers have not added back screen, gyro scope or annoying touch screen additions and shoe horned them into the game outside of an on screen keyboard. Though I know the features are there to be used, if they are blindly shoe horned in, it really makes it look half assed and I would rather they features not be used than used badly. This is what I wish I could say, unfortunately there mini games with the touch screen, that focus on you touching up shop keepers for the ultimate goal of getting them naked, enough said really.

Though away from this, Valhalla knights 3 focuses on you and a small band of prisoners who have been arrested and thrown into some sort of prison city, with shops and everything, not the worst punishment in the world. Of course your character and one of the accompanying prisoners are actually spy’s searching for some lost treasure that is clearly on everyone’s mind, and it makes logical sense to send two unarmed spys into the middle of a giant prison. Of course no one can ever say that Valhalla knights is popular due to its story, but it isn’t a story  that really drives me to continue playing. What Valhalla knights IS known for however is the high level of grind that is here, quests are available to a staggering degree, grinding is something that is always prevalent in Japanese RPG’s, so though of you who are fans of this type of time sync will feel right at home here.

Though quests are good, one thing that was always very off putting from the first Valhalla knights was the difficulty curve, which sometimes felt vertical, gold is hard to come by and items are expensive, and XP takes a while to gather to level up. Thankfully Xseed saw this as a problem and changed how the start of the game plays out, you now get more gold and more XP, this allows you to actually be able to buy equipment and potions that will let you stay alive. Most of your income will come from quests and I will say this is hit or miss, most quests will be “Go here and kill X amount of Y and gather some Z” , if your into grind, well its your lucky day, if not? Not so much.

One of the most improved aspects of the game from the PSP will be the graphics, and they do look nice, environments are nicely detailed and the lager screen and resolution lets you see further into each of the levels than you usually could of done. But one of the strange parts is that all the in game faces never change, they are also solid and unmoving which makes for some more funny cut scenes, horribly depressed characters with deadpan faces.

Following the success of the wii début of Valhalla knights, multi player has been brought back, but with the vita we no longer have to deal with only ad hoc multiplayer now we can enjoy playing together over the internet. Allowing 4 v 4 multuplayer battles to ensue online is very fun, taking your character and seeing if it can compete with others is something akin to PvP in MMO’s and when you win, it just feels satisfying. Though for those who are fans of playing with friends in the same room, do not worry Ad Hoc is still here, and works just as well as it did before.

One of my biggest problems with this game is the lack of clear instructions or direction, it’s one of those games that gives you an objective and lets you figure it out for yourself. Now this isn’t always a bad things but I do not like it, it means I spend way too much time wondering around trying to find an objective and something it’s not even in a very obvious place. I spent the first hour in game wondering around trying to find out where I was supposed to go, it was quite exhausting when I just want to kill some things. Thankfully when I did finally get into combat it was very enjoyable, this is a game that is clearly aiming for the monster hunter market, so combat needs to be up there, and it works well. You won’t be wishing every other game’s combat system follows Valhalla knights 3, but it’s simple, almost too simple for my liking, you have light and heavy attacks and that’s really all you get, if you choose certain classes you can’t even switch weapons.

All in all Valhalla knights 3 is a game defiantly aimed at fans of the series, It might seem an old school RPG and off putting to some, but there is a great game, and a massive time sync to be had here. There are many people who focus too much on one thing, and for this game its the fact it has fan service, but there is much more to this game than just that, 3/5 for a entertaining time sync.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.