• Posted October 13th, 2008 at 23:36 EDT by
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• 7 Comments

Review Score

Valhalla Knights 2

PSU Review Score

4.0

Avg. user review score:

2.8

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Summary

Even with its impressive character customization options and solid visuals, Valhalla Knights 2 falls short of being a must-own title on the PSP by a very wide margin.

We like

• Expansive character customization
• Eye-appealing visuals

We dislike

• Shallow story
• Micromanagement frenzy
• Flawed gameplay, both offline and online

See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings

(continued from previous page) ...teammates killing the weaker monsters while the stronger guy waltzes over and slaughters one or two of your party. This wouldn’t be so aggravating if it weren’t so difficult to revive a fallen allies. Due to the genius idea that party members can only be resurrected near towns, you're obligated to venture across two or three maps to do so. And when you head back, if a party member dies again, it's time to rinse, wash, repeat. The other unnecessary issue -- due to the speed of battle -- revolves around the nullification of strategy. Instead of being able to utilize key items or abilities, the rest of your party usually just plows through the competition.

VK2 had the chance to redeem itself of these inexcusable problems through its ad hoc two-player mission mode, but it fell short in that regard as well. If you and your friend happen to be light years apart from one another within the game, it creates for a lopsided experience. The two-player mode automatically loads the game at the highest player level. Therefore, if one of you is sitting at level ten and your buddy is at level two, he’s going to get destroyed within each dungeon you enter. This is a huge oversight. Frankly, I’m quite surprised it was released in this fashion. Furthering the disappointment, the ad hoc also gives gamers the option to battle it out six on six. You’ve probably guessed by now that the same hindrance of the mission mode decimates any hope that the Player vs. Player aspect will play any better. You’re right. Sadly, if one of your characters is a significantly higher level, you’re capable of taking down an entire opposing party with ease.

When that dark tunnel feels like it’s never going to end, you finally see some semblance of a light. The visuals and detail within VK2 are nothing to scoff at. In fact, they are quite impressive for a handheld title. While some of the environments feature bland textures, the character and monster detail are top-notch. Combined with the cinematic experience of battle, you almost feel an incentive to continue playing. The sound bites from the heat of battle are acceptable for a real-time role-playing game, so there isn’t much left to be desired on that front either. Fortunately, like the character creation, presentation is one thing VK2 got right.

Overall, Valhalla Knights 2 is an extremely slow-developing dungeon crawler that won't appeal to most. The tedious micromanagement and the shallow story end up being too much for the great character customization and visuals of the title to overcome. What we’re left with is a very bland RPG that is destined for the bargain bin. Valhalla Knights 2 is clearly overshadowed by the plethora of other great RPGs already available on the PSP.