Date played: March 5th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10
March is a pretty awesome month for PS Plus, Valiant Hearts being one of the free games. It's a game that is hard to describe... It's a 2D game that uses the same game engine as Child of Light and Rayman, so it has a very colorful, distinctive, hand drawn art style.
Set during World War 1, the game follows the story of a few characters. The main story is about a French grandfather, Emile, who gets drafted as a flag carrying soldier. His daughter is married to a German man, Karl, who is drafted into the German army, leaving his wife and son to tend their farm in rural France.
During his first combat assignment, Emile carries the flag and avoids gun fire and bombs, only to be captured by Karl's unit. During training, he met an American who enlisted in the French army, Freddie. The American can use a set of pliers that can be used to cut through barb wire and other objects. In a few levels, he had to place dynamite to blow up Axis installations.
As a prisoner of war, Emile becomes a chef for the Germans. After I made some delicious soup for them, the camp was attacked and gave Emile a chance to escape. A German war dog helped him out of the debris and became his best ally. Many of the following levels had me guide the dog to different objects to progress. He could fetch levels, distract enemies and dig holes to find useful items.
In a stressful scene, Walt, the dog, became stuck in some barb wire as a large vehicle was speeding towards his position as Emile unsuccessfully tries to free the animal. Freddie happened to be in the same area and saved them in the nick of time. They teamed up from there and moved forward, trying to survive. There's a plot about a scientist that was captured by the Germans too. This guy is held in a large dirigible piloted by none other than Karl, the husband.
There's some light puzzles, a few stealth sequences and other fun stuff to do in Valiant Hearts, but it's the good story, excellent characters and beautiful art that keeps me interested. At the end of the chapter, there was sort of a boss battle where Freddie threw grenades at the dirigible's engines until it flew away. We made a narrow escape by jumping into a car that was speeding away. The driver of the car is a young woman who is looking for her father, the scientist captured aboard the dirigible.
In one of the most memorable action sequences in recent memory, I drove the car away from debris, machine gun fire and bombs. On it's own, the gameplay wouldn't be that awesome, but the whole sequence was set to Hungarian Dance N.5. The sound effects were synchronized perfectly to the music. It's awesome...
Chapter 1 ended on a cliffhanger as the dirigible was about to crash. Chapter 2 will star the girl who drove the car, but that's all I know so far. I can't wait to play more of this awesome little game.
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10
March is a pretty awesome month for PS Plus, Valiant Hearts being one of the free games. It's a game that is hard to describe... It's a 2D game that uses the same game engine as Child of Light and Rayman, so it has a very colorful, distinctive, hand drawn art style.
Set during World War 1, the game follows the story of a few characters. The main story is about a French grandfather, Emile, who gets drafted as a flag carrying soldier. His daughter is married to a German man, Karl, who is drafted into the German army, leaving his wife and son to tend their farm in rural France.
During his first combat assignment, Emile carries the flag and avoids gun fire and bombs, only to be captured by Karl's unit. During training, he met an American who enlisted in the French army, Freddie. The American can use a set of pliers that can be used to cut through barb wire and other objects. In a few levels, he had to place dynamite to blow up Axis installations.
As a prisoner of war, Emile becomes a chef for the Germans. After I made some delicious soup for them, the camp was attacked and gave Emile a chance to escape. A German war dog helped him out of the debris and became his best ally. Many of the following levels had me guide the dog to different objects to progress. He could fetch levels, distract enemies and dig holes to find useful items.
In a stressful scene, Walt, the dog, became stuck in some barb wire as a large vehicle was speeding towards his position as Emile unsuccessfully tries to free the animal. Freddie happened to be in the same area and saved them in the nick of time. They teamed up from there and moved forward, trying to survive. There's a plot about a scientist that was captured by the Germans too. This guy is held in a large dirigible piloted by none other than Karl, the husband.
There's some light puzzles, a few stealth sequences and other fun stuff to do in Valiant Hearts, but it's the good story, excellent characters and beautiful art that keeps me interested. At the end of the chapter, there was sort of a boss battle where Freddie threw grenades at the dirigible's engines until it flew away. We made a narrow escape by jumping into a car that was speeding away. The driver of the car is a young woman who is looking for her father, the scientist captured aboard the dirigible.
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| The 4 heroes escape chlorine gas |
Chapter 1 ended on a cliffhanger as the dirigible was about to crash. Chapter 2 will star the girl who drove the car, but that's all I know so far. I can't wait to play more of this awesome little game.
