It has certainly been a while since my last review. lol
Story - Two years after the events of the first game. A rebel group, led by egotistic aristocrat, forms in Southern Gallia with the intent to begin an ethnic cleansing campaign against Gallians of Darcsen descent, along with the Queen of Gallia who too was revealed to be Darcsen. But with Gallia's military still weak from the events of the first game, they are unable to stop the rebellion from gaining momentum. Soon the Gallian government is forced to send military academy cadets to the front lines to stop the rebellion and the cleansing. The main character, Avan Hardins, soon witnesses the results of the rebellion and learns that his brother Leon, who killed in some sort of secret mission. Wanting to learn more about his brother's death and protect his country, Avan enrolls and is accepted into the Lanseal Military Academy. Using his instincts in battle he quickly becomes the class president of Class G, a class of lower class students who are looked down upon by other classes and teachers. Despite this setback, Class G under Avan’s leadership quickly becomes a major fighting force against the rebellion, which is when the story really gets going…
Overall the story is just as enjoyable as the first game. Unfortunately the main characters in this game just aren't as interesting as the first game, as they're more of the generic shounen manga stereotypes. However, unlike the first game, the villains of this game really shine. As IMO, they just make you not like them at all, like any villain should. But what really gets to me about them is how their ideology changes throughout the game which makes for many interesting plot twists and characters overall. Especially if you've played the first game and know that they're hypocrites in their ideology.
Gameplay - Unlike most tactical RPGs the battlefields are done as a 3rd person shooter. Each turn you are given a predetermined amount of command points. In order to control it costs you 1 CP, 2 CP to use a tank. Once a character is selected, depending on the character, you can move up to a certain amount of space around the map. Once used up then your character cannot move anymore meaning you can now go into action mode in which you can do multiple actions such as attacking, healing, ect. Any character can be selected any amount of times per turn as long as you have the correct amount of CP left, although each time you use a character their ability to move around the map goes down each time you select them until the next turn.
Depending on the mission given you can have multiple objectives to complete such as capture the enemy base, kill a boss, find and collect a certain number of items, eliminate all enemies, or move a certain unit to a specific place on the map.
Each mission you complete you gain a certain amount of exp, money, and various items you can use to power up your party. However unlike most RPGs, leveling up is done by leveling up an entire character class, not a specific unit.
The only way you can lose is if your all your own bases are captured, all 20 units in your party are defeated, or your party's morale falls to 1.
Morale is a new feature for VC2. Starting at 3, depending on how well you do in the mission, such as killing enemies or capturing bases you can raise it up to 5, which slightly raises your units’ stats. However, the opposite effect can happen if Morale falls under 3, such as losing bases and characters being defeated.
Unlike the first game, instead of 1 large map to play on you have access to around 2-5, depending on the mission, to move through. However, unlike the first game as well you can only have up to 6 units on the map in total. So this does increase the emphasis of strategic planning much more than the first game as well.
The biggest change though is the revamped class up system. For each mission you complete, and depending on which units you send into battle, you gain a certain number of certificates, they vary by the mission. Once a unit gains the correct amount of certificates needed then you can spend them to class up said unit, and the process begins again. The main problem though is that certificates gained each mission are given to your units at random, so even if you use a certain unit a lot in a mission it doesn't really pay off and makes the whole system quite tedious and only starts working near the end of the game.
The game is told through months, or 12 chapters. Each chapter you must complete a certain amount of given missions in order to unlock the story mode mission and then progress to the next chapter. Unfortunately most missions are repetitive and it can really get annoying to complete each over and over again.
The only other complain that I have with the game is the uneven difficulty. While it can be overcome with a good strategic mind, some of the story mode missions can be just outright cheap or too easy: Ex. In the 4th Story mode mission, you must deal with the final boss who'll move across the map with infinite movement, machine gun style sniper rifle, and a shield to block all attacks, so you can see where I'm going with this...
Graphics - They're quite good for a PSP game, but they're a total let down from the original water color graphics of the first game. This game is instead told through anime style cut scenes similar to the Valkyria Chronicles (1) anime. It's o.k., but it is a major let down from the game that created a new art form and standard for games. I will admit though that the PSP maybe could not handle them, but it's a letdown none the less.
Music - Like any RPG the music is a must to make the game complete. The game goes for a more school life anime oriented soundtrack rather than the original war themes of the original. But seeing as the story is much different it does fit the game rather well. Unfortunately I was not paying much attention to the music so I only remember a few really good tracks.
Main/Title Theme
Theme of Class G
Theme of the Rebels
Theme of (the) Valkyria
Liberation Battle
Extras/Re-playability - Unlike the first game there is much more available after the game is completed besides other diffculties and more missions to complete. There is DLC, plenty of unlockables and achievements to complete as well. So this is a major improvement over the first game.
Final Thoughts - There is plenty of improvements in this game that makes this a good sequel, but it just lacks the magic of the first game, that and long load times. Like the original it has fallen under the radar of most RPG fans, which is a shame as this series is really the best Sega has put out ever since the fall of the Blue Blur. It's definitely an impressive and forgotten game for the PSP, that is a must buy for any fan of RPGs as it’s one of, if not the best on the PSP.
Rating: 8.5/10
Recommendation: 8/10
How much I paid for it: $35 (Used, but I did get lucky as it was in very good condition, you usually pay $40 new),
Next Review: Pulseman (Sega Genesis/Virtual Console)
). It's just what people often get focused on is that it's a port and a few minor errors in the game. So to get them out of the way: Bad translation, awful password system, 
)
). The Special stages are some of the best ones in the series, although I still suck at them. The only real downside to this game is the lack of some of the innovations of Sonic 2 such as Super Sonic and the lack of the same graphics. The maze-like structures of some of the levels can also be very frustrating at times as well. Overall this is one of the best games in the series, and it features much more to come back to than the other games in the Genesis series by far.
