Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PS4) – 100 years is not so long ago
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PS4) – 100 years is not so long ago

Is the First World War really a fitting subject for a video game? It is if this new title from the makers of Child Of Light is anything to go by.

It’s the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War this year. So much has changed in terms of society and technology in that time that it actually seems very appropriate that one of the commemorations takes the form of a video game. What’s really surprising though is that the game manages to tackle the horrors of the conflict in such a human way, and even have some fun while it’s about it.

The First World War is not well represented in video games, for obvious reasons of both taste and the fact that the technology of the time does not translate well into an action game. There’s been a few stodgy strategy titles through the years, but it’s only really Xbox Live Arcade title Toy Soldiers and combat flight sims that have ever provided any real entertainment.

That’s probably for the best because pretending to be a soldier during the First World War is not a subject that lends itself to light entertainment. And yet one of the most impressive things about Valiant Hearts is how it mixes its very serious subject matter with an often whimsical style of storytelling and a varied cast of very sympathetic characters.

Valiant Hearts has been created with the same UbiArt Framework 2D graphics technology originally created for Rayman Origins and recently applied to fellow downloadable title Child Of Light. Fairy tale beauty is obviously not the goal here but the game’s comic book style art can be both poignant and even beautiful. And yet it hides nothing of the graphic horror of the war, and indeed uses it as ironic counterpart to the opening sequences in pre-war France.

The game’s story follows five very different characters: ageing French farmer Emile, who ends up as a prisoner of war; revenge-obsessed American Freddie; German conscript Karl; Belgian nurse Ana, whose father is a kidnapped scientist; and George the British pilot who doesn’t know how to fly. Although some of their stories naturally interlink already (Karl is in love with Emile’s daughter, for example) the threads of the plot are also tied together by Walt the war dog.

There’s surprisingly little spoken dialogue, but the animation is almost always strong enough to convey what’s going on. And in fact the wordless storytelling is usually preferable to the heavy-handed narration, which hammers its points home with all the subtly of a piledriver. Things get so bad at times you get the sense that Valiant Hearts must’ve started out life as a pure edutainment title, with encyclopedic-like entries awkwardly jammed into the game to explain everything from what a tank is to the history of Prussia.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PS4) – war, war never changes
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PS4) – war, war never changes

Whenever the game sticks with the personal stories of the five protagonists though it manages to rise above its didactic tendencies. In terms of gameplay Valiant Hearts is difficult to pigeon hole, but it’s probably best to view it as a mix of graphic adventure and puzzle game. The game is never trying to stump its players for long though, and favours variety and plot relevance over brain-teasing difficulty.

This generally works very well, with everything from point ‘n’ click style inventory puzzles to simple stealth sequences, fetch quests, block-pushing, and some relatively in-context logic puzzles. There’s even a rhythm action game for Ana the nurse, but you do get the feeling that most of these sequences are only in the game in order to provide the player with something to do – to prove that this is in fact a video game and not just an animated movie.

There’s very little traditional action, but that doesn’t mean there’s none at all. Although an on-rails driving section where you’re trying to avoid a giant German tank, or an attack on a Zeppelin using a church organ, are the game at its silliest and least convincing.

There is a tonal inconsistency in Valiant Hearts, not just in terms of its gameplay but also its storytelling. But everything comes across as so sincere and well intentioned that it’s almost impossible to dislike. We’ve no desire to ever play through the six hour adventure again, but we’re glad we did the first time round and Ubisoft deserve every bit of praise for green-lighting such an unusual game.

It’s not the best way to learn about the The Great War but it is a very good way to approach the subject for the first time, and to get at least some initial understanding of the enormity of its carnage and waste of life. The fact that you can play a relatively entertaining video game while you do so is almost just a bonus.

In Short: A heavy-handed but impressively sincere attempt to tackle a subject most other games would never dare, with the end resulting being both affecting and entertaining.

Pros: Five very different characters, whose stories are well told and instructive – especially in terms of portraying the human side of the war. Excellent art design and animation.

Cons: The puzzles are all fairly obvious and few offer any real challenge. The action set pieces often come across as silly. On-the-nose narration leaves no room for subtlety.

Score: 7/10

Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and PC
Price: £11.99
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Release Date: 25th May 2014
Age Rating: 12

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