Valiant Hearts: The Great War
***I received this game from a friend that I consider my brother and know in person, Earl[33rd], and thank him immensely for the opportunity to play this heart-pulling title!
Also a special thanks to LockeProposal of Locke’s Big Day Out for reviewing this lengthy review! Valiant Hearts is a game that is, simple enough, one that focusses on the story as an experience with puzzle elements, with World War I taking the setting in comparison to the generic World War II setting. This title takes approximately 7 hours to finish-probably much less if you do not mess up on the puzzles as much as I did-but thought the game to be challenging as it was intriguing. Oh, and this requires UPlay, which does not take long to set up.
Apart from the practical things you might hear about Valiant Hearts, I must say that the game pulled at my heartstrings quite severely, boasting an amazing story that is effectively presented in ways that will be explored below. Even if you believe yourself to be proficient in World War history, the pure magnitude and scope of this game's masterful storytelling will find ways to show you something new. It does well to explore the conflict, more as a person affected, and less as a distant observer.
There are a few things that I found really interesting about this title:
Voice Acting (or the lack thereof) - Valiant Hearts takes an interesting approach on telling this gripping tale. Though there are short phrases utilized by some of the characters to give them more depth-such as Freddie saying, “Good dog,” whenever the companion is pet throughout the game-the story is only told primarily through between-chapter narrations, as well as through other means, described next. This take actually turned out pretty well, in my opinion, as it allows the characters’ actions to tell the tale rather than context having to be provided by openly speaking.
Collectibles - Normally, collectibles in video games are just that: collectible figures that are meant to distract the players or add extra content without contributing or taking away from the story. This is one of those rare occasions-shared with other games such as The Darkness II-that actually utilizes collectible items as background to the story in contexts with history. Also, the items are pretty well placed, so they do not feel as random as collectibles in other titles.
Diaries - As explained previously, there is almost no voice acting in this title, but that does not limit the characters from giving their view on story progression. You can access these through the Start/Esc menu, and can give perspective to how the characters are thinking at given times. Some diary entries may be a bit repetitive at times (e.g. Freddie speaking of a certain person and not being able to relieve his pain of loss) but still are a nice little read.
Comparison to History - Valiant Hearts moves between specific movements between key battles and events during World War I. The history lessons given in the Tab menu, diary entries, and collectible backgrounds allow the player to draw context between the game and the true history of World War I. For example, the Germans were the first to utilize chlorine gas as chemical warfare during this war, and these gas attacks appear in numerous portions of the game. However, if you review the entry on chlorine gas in the Tab menu on the level when the deadly gas is introduced, you are given a background from history as to why this agent was introduced in the game.
Multiple-Character Perspective/Gameplay - Because this title is, more or less, a puzzle game, you can pretty much expect that each character has their own special skills. (MINOR SPOILER) Almost every character has the ability to utilize the dog throughout the game, so this is not a skill limited to Emile as the story progress; however, abilities that are character-restrictive such as Emile’s shovel and Freddie’s wire cutter (not necessarily true in this instance) add a depth to the game and make it so each character is truly unique in style of play.
TL:DR - This is definitely a story-driven/-based game a seemingly minute amount of gameplay; though this may be true, the story itself was so well written and the puzzles were so intriguing that this was not too big of a deal. Though some of the content may not be appropriate for certain age groups, I would have to recommend this to anyone just learning about the first World War, or anyone generally just interested in taking contexts of history and implementing them into a narrative form. Oh, and tears are guaranteed. Thanks for reading.
Do you feel this review helped in any way? Feel free to visit my Curator Page at Spearpoint Reviews.
Originally posted June 18, 2015. Last edited May 1, 2018.
Also a special thanks to LockeProposal of Locke’s Big Day Out for reviewing this lengthy review! Valiant Hearts is a game that is, simple enough, one that focusses on the story as an experience with puzzle elements, with World War I taking the setting in comparison to the generic World War II setting. This title takes approximately 7 hours to finish-probably much less if you do not mess up on the puzzles as much as I did-but thought the game to be challenging as it was intriguing. Oh, and this requires UPlay, which does not take long to set up.
Apart from the practical things you might hear about Valiant Hearts, I must say that the game pulled at my heartstrings quite severely, boasting an amazing story that is effectively presented in ways that will be explored below. Even if you believe yourself to be proficient in World War history, the pure magnitude and scope of this game's masterful storytelling will find ways to show you something new. It does well to explore the conflict, more as a person affected, and less as a distant observer.
There are a few things that I found really interesting about this title:
Voice Acting (or the lack thereof) - Valiant Hearts takes an interesting approach on telling this gripping tale. Though there are short phrases utilized by some of the characters to give them more depth-such as Freddie saying, “Good dog,” whenever the companion is pet throughout the game-the story is only told primarily through between-chapter narrations, as well as through other means, described next. This take actually turned out pretty well, in my opinion, as it allows the characters’ actions to tell the tale rather than context having to be provided by openly speaking.
Collectibles - Normally, collectibles in video games are just that: collectible figures that are meant to distract the players or add extra content without contributing or taking away from the story. This is one of those rare occasions-shared with other games such as The Darkness II-that actually utilizes collectible items as background to the story in contexts with history. Also, the items are pretty well placed, so they do not feel as random as collectibles in other titles.
Diaries - As explained previously, there is almost no voice acting in this title, but that does not limit the characters from giving their view on story progression. You can access these through the Start/Esc menu, and can give perspective to how the characters are thinking at given times. Some diary entries may be a bit repetitive at times (e.g. Freddie speaking of a certain person and not being able to relieve his pain of loss) but still are a nice little read.
Comparison to History - Valiant Hearts moves between specific movements between key battles and events during World War I. The history lessons given in the Tab menu, diary entries, and collectible backgrounds allow the player to draw context between the game and the true history of World War I. For example, the Germans were the first to utilize chlorine gas as chemical warfare during this war, and these gas attacks appear in numerous portions of the game. However, if you review the entry on chlorine gas in the Tab menu on the level when the deadly gas is introduced, you are given a background from history as to why this agent was introduced in the game.
Multiple-Character Perspective/Gameplay - Because this title is, more or less, a puzzle game, you can pretty much expect that each character has their own special skills. (MINOR SPOILER) Almost every character has the ability to utilize the dog throughout the game, so this is not a skill limited to Emile as the story progress; however, abilities that are character-restrictive such as Emile’s shovel and Freddie’s wire cutter (not necessarily true in this instance) add a depth to the game and make it so each character is truly unique in style of play.
TL:DR - This is definitely a story-driven/-based game a seemingly minute amount of gameplay; though this may be true, the story itself was so well written and the puzzles were so intriguing that this was not too big of a deal. Though some of the content may not be appropriate for certain age groups, I would have to recommend this to anyone just learning about the first World War, or anyone generally just interested in taking contexts of history and implementing them into a narrative form. Oh, and tears are guaranteed. Thanks for reading.
Do you feel this review helped in any way? Feel free to visit my Curator Page at Spearpoint Reviews.
Originally posted June 18, 2015. Last edited May 1, 2018.
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