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Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Ubisoft's new downloadable title left a lasting impression with Arttu at Ubisoft DigiDays in Paris.

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Unlike it's sequel, World War I hasn't spawned a lot of video games. Even more rare are games set during a war that doesn't revolving around killing off as many soldiers on the other side as possible. Valiant Hearts: The Great War checks off both these boxes and perhaps this was the reason why it garnered so much attention at the recent Ubisoft DigiDays event in Paris.

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At its core Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a 2D puzzle adventure that is heavily storydriven. Mechanics on offer range from simple physics puzzles to light stealth, and it makes use of a lot of concepts from the point-and-click genre. In fact we were reminded of the nice little indie game Machinarium from a few years back.

World War I, referred to as The Great War at the time, turned the lives of 70 million Europeans upside down with the advent of a more modern warfare. Valiant Hearts focuses on the events on the Western front as it lets us experience it from the perspectives of five very different characters. Each character starts their story separately, but through circumstances the quintet end up working towards the same goal of reuniting two lovers torn apart by the turmoils of war.

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Another uniting factor is a military dog named Walt who will faithfully be your companion in the trenches during the entirety of the five years the story encompasses. Walt serves as a helper in various puzzles, but he can also be under direct player control as you progress in the game. Much like Walt each character has their own set of skills and style of play. As the story threads start to intertwine you will be able to play as several characters in one single level. However, you won't be switching between them like in The Cave or classics like Lost Viking, instead you'll play with each character as the story dictates. In similar fashion the story won't offer alternative endings or player affected twists, but instead it will keep to a linear path. Director Adrian Lacey simply stated "history is what it is", when asked about it. The team wanted to tell a specific story and they've taken inspiration from historical sources such as actual letters written during the war.

From a visual standpoint Valiant Hearts: The Great War features a striking comic book artstyle. It is being developed by a fairly small team (14 people at Ubisoft Montpellier), and makes use of the UbiArt Framework engine made famous by Rayman Legends and Rayman Origins. According to Lacey the engine allows for more flexibility and it makes it possible for graphical artists, animators and level designers to work simultaneously in real time.

"Our goal has been to create a sort of living comic book, which allows for not only emotive storytelling, but also provide a basis for some robust gameplay", said Adrian Lacey.

Hand-in-hand with the more serious themes Valiant Hearts: The Great War also offers a lot of black humour. When asked about some sources of inspiration, Lacy mentioned Rowan Atkinson's Black Adder Goes Forth Series, which just happens to be one of my favourite comedy series starring the actor perhaps best known for his work as Mr. Bean (turnips, anyone?).

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Along with another UbiArt Framework title from a small team, namely Child of Light, Valiant Hearts: The Great War was the big surprise of Ubisoft DigiDays 2013. Although the game wasn't playable at the event, the presentation and subsequent chat with the developers did enough to convince me of its merits. The non-violence approach to a war themed game is something I truly admire. There is every reason to expect lots from Valiant Hearts once it hits current generation and next generation versions of PlayStation and Xbox next year.

Valiant Hearts: The Great WarValiant Hearts: The Great War
Valiant Hearts: The Great WarValiant Hearts: The Great War
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Valiant Hearts: The Great WarScore

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

REVIEW. Written by Gillen McAllister

"Imagine if the Beano or Dandy devoted themselves to realistic World War I comic strips. There's no punches pulled here, and certain sub-chapters are hard to stomach."



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