Valkyria Chronicles 2 is the game I've championed most in my entire life; it has been unfairly maligned by the few who've heard about it, including by its own series fanbase. From the moment it was announced, this game was fighting an uphill battle - it was on the PSP, a handheld that was very much despised at the time, and not many people were willing to even give it a fair shake. It was a sequel to one of the most beautiful, originally designed PS3 games - how could a handheld version ever hope to measure up?

This parody video I watched before playing the game for the first time encapsulates the many criticisms faced by Valkyria Chronicles 2. A school setting? Preposterous! Valkyria Chronicles is a game for macho men who smoke Marlboros. Never mind that it's such an anime game that they adopt a pig with wings as their pet mascot, this is blasphemy!

A commercial failure in the West, so much so that the third game didn't even get localized, most people are willing to take VC2's criticisms at face value. But where it has languished in the public imagination, it sure captured mine. It did when I was 12, and it still does now that I'm 25. This is the number one contender for my favourite game of all time, with only Resident Evil 4 giving it a run for its money. I hope that by reading this, a few more people will be willing to give this game its fair shot, especially now that we're looking back and realizing the PSP was actually a pretty good system.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 is the best game in the series. Unable to deliver the huge, singular maps of the original game, it opted for smaller environments interlinked by base camps. This makes it a great deal more strategic than VC1, and incentivizes using more characters. Where VC1 was built around bolstering your units, whether through orders or physical support, and rushing the objective, VC2 grants you a motive to cut your enemy off. Units can be deployed from base camps immediately, instead of having to wait a turn. This means you can blitz enemy camps with your infantry to take them over, then deploy specialized anti-tank and shielded units from that same camp to clear them out. Lancers, hobbled in the first Valkyria Chronicles due to their low mobility, are far more useful this time around, and environmental effects can be negated or negotiated through proper customization of your tank or APC.

Orders (instabuffs given by your leading unit) are now more costly, lessening their potential for abuse from the first game. There are more specialized objectives than simply taking over base camps or killing all enemies: you may need to retrieve hidden packages around the map, or escort a vehicle across the battlefield without letting the enemy blow it up. It's clear to see that not only did this game manage to retain the core gameplay of the PS3 original, it improved it. Valkyria Chronicles 2 is painfully addictive, better balanced, and far more strategic.

The only flaw is the randomized credit system, which may decline to give you the required materials to change your characters to a different class. You can plan out by viewing what credits a mission gives in the briefing, and you can use your units accordingly, but luck is still involved.

This is an unpopular opinion, even among the series fanbase, but having replayed both games now I can say it with confidence: VC2 outshines VC1 even in its story. The premise of a civil war was one begging to be explored after the revelations of the original game. The 'school setting' is a military academy in a country whose army is so depleted through the events of the first game that soldiers-in-training now have to act as full soldiers. The villains are compelling, the protagonists are likeable, the English voice acting is vastly improved, and Raita Honjou's character designs still captivate. The story events are no longer rendered in real time, but the character portraits are satisfactory - in all honesty, an improvement, as less time is wasted waiting for their animation to complete - and the FMVs are beautiful anime cutscenes by A-1 Pictures.

I've played the Valkyria series many times in my life, and none of them have as memorable a cast as this one. The removal of permadeath (now 'dead' characters simply get hospitalized for the next three missions) is a welcome decision, because in the first game, there was always that temptation to avoid using non-leader units, because they could die permanently and force you to either restart the battle, or carry on without them. They were also far less fleshed out. In Valkyria Chronicles 2, every single side character has a story arc of their own, encouraging you to get to know them better and keep using them in battles - to have them grow on you both as people, and as soldiers. Of course, some homages to anime tropes are particularly blatant - one character straight up poses like Kira from Death Note - but so what? Why does VC2 in particular get singled out for being 'too anime?' Did the first game's designs not clue people in?

We knew VC2 could never match up to the PS3 original's spectacular visuals, but even by PSP standards, the graphics are nothing special. Character models are low-polygon with flat and basic textures, and there isn't a great deal of detail to the environments. That said, it's not a bad-looking game. The tank models are quite impressive, and everything that is necessary is easily visible. Do I wish this game looked better? Certainly. But it's not a huge sacrifice. From a gameplay perspective, nothing's been cut back on. The maps are rife with potential for strategic decisions, for defilade, for judging which unit can cover how much distance - and while it cannot port over VC1's raw beauty, it still brings over its personality. Machine guns still go RATTATATATA, laser attacks go FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM, mortars go BAKOOM!, tanks go VRM VRM VRRRRM, and it's all backed up by good sound design and a stellar soundtrack. Those action onomatopes always entertained me, okay? They're important.

For me, Valkyria Chronicles 2 is a game that keeps on giving. Even after the credits roll, it has so much substance. This game deserves a reappraisal, and perhaps a remake for an audience that would be more receptive to it - anime is more mainstream now, the PSP isn't as hated, small-scale games are better appreciated instead of being lambasted for a lack of polygons, and men are allowed to vape grape juice. Sadly, I don't think it will ever happen. This is the red-headed stepchild with a red-headed protagonist of the series, and it will always be the scapegoat for why Valkyria Chronicles never had much of an impact in the West. But I urge you to play it regardless. Mired in the swamp of pre-judgement - the graphics aren't as pretty, the characters are too cliche, the Valkyrias' titties are too big or aren't big enough - this is, in truth, Valkyria Chronicles at its incredible peak. What a game. How much it has meant to me over the years.

Give this game a chance. Do it for me. I'll be your best friend.