When comparing Valkyria Chronicles 4 vs Overcooked 2, the Slant community recommends Valkyria Chronicles 4 for most people. In the question“What are the best games for the Nintendo Switch?” Valkyria Chronicles 4 is ranked 35th while Overcooked 2 is ranked 36th. The most important reason people chose Valkyria Chronicles 4 is:
In this alternate version of World War II, you and your squad fight to defeat an empire with gameplay that really makes you feel like you're out on a battlefield. As the commander and tactician, you take turns controlling your different squadmates around the field, expending Action Points as they run to where you want them to go. Managing your AP while sending your squadmates to the most strategic location can be a challenge, but it pays off to outsmart your enemies. There may be times when you feel overwhelmed, but you have options at your disposal. Using the terrain to your advantage to send grenadiers to lob explosives over buildings for cover fire, while expending the rest of your AP to get your other squadmates to safety is one tactic that you can pull off. Figuring out the best approach to tackle any given situation helps you tackle anything that the game throws at you.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Tense and challenging tactical war battles
In this alternate version of World War II, you and your squad fight to defeat an empire with gameplay that really makes you feel like you're out on a battlefield. As the commander and tactician, you take turns controlling your different squadmates around the field, expending Action Points as they run to where you want them to go. Managing your AP while sending your squadmates to the most strategic location can be a challenge, but it pays off to outsmart your enemies.
There may be times when you feel overwhelmed, but you have options at your disposal. Using the terrain to your advantage to send grenadiers to lob explosives over buildings for cover fire, while expending the rest of your AP to get your other squadmates to safety is one tactic that you can pull off. Figuring out the best approach to tackle any given situation helps you tackle anything that the game throws at you.
Pro Side stories help you grow attached to your squadmates
Valkyria Chronicles 4 really gets you to care about your team. There are special side stories for each individual member, showing you more about their past and who they are as actual characters. It's a nice addition that lets you empathize with their personal struggles and appreciate how serious, funny, or down-to-earth any one of your squadmates are.
This is especially important since, if anyone dies during combat and you're unable to get a medic to them in time, they will permanently die. These side stories are a good motivator to make you want to keep everyone alive because you're attached to the characters, and not necessarily just because of how useful they might be in battle.
Pro Great starting point for Valkyria Chronicles newcomers
Despite this being the fourth entry in the mainline Valkryia Chronicles games, this is actually a good starting point for anyone new to the series. The tutorials are simple to understand, the gameplay is easy to grasp after a couple of battles, and the story doesn't expect you to have any prior knowledge of the other games. You can jump right in with this one and not feel like you're missing out on anything.
Pro Charming watercolor art style
Valkyria Chronicles 4's graphics are straight out of a storybook. The visuals look a lot like watercolor illustrations, giving them a unique charm that you don't see a lot of from other games. Green pastures in particular look beautiful in how vibrant and full of life they are. And the anime-style character models all look excellent, fitting right in with the environments as a cohesive look.
Pro Simple to pick up and learn
Whether you played the first Overcooked or not, Overcooked 2 is easy to figure out right from the get-go. The recipes for each dish are familiar even if you're not much of a chef, so you can remember which raw ingredients you need as you make your way around the kitchen and work with your co-op partner(s). Once you play a few rounds, you should have a good handle on things, helping you focus on getting everything done as quickly as possible from there on out.
Pro Hilariously fun couch and online co-op for up to four players
Playing Overcooked 2 with friends is the best. There's so much going on at once in the kitchen, with barriers moving in your way, hazards popping up like cars in the middle of the road separating the two halves of your area, and ingredients, dishes, and half-prepared dishes to move from one place to another. Working together and communicating with your friends through couch co-op or online play is a constant stream of laughter and excited shouting as you mess up, learn, and hopefully get things done. If you don't have anyone to play with, then you can hop online for matchmaking instead.
Pro Fast and frantic cooking action
Overcooked 2 is really fast-paced and keeps you on your toes. You play as a chef in a crazy kitchen with a ton of things going on all at once, with you mixing, preparing, and cooking in between the chaos of moving platforms and environmental obstacles. There's a time limit constantly ticking down at the bottom of the screen; finishing your tasks on time or ahead of schedule earns you a better score in the end. Tossing ingredients to your teammates across the kitchen, or across the moving platforms or obstacles like bodies of water, is a fresh new addition in this game that wasn't in the first Overcooked, making things even faster this time around. It's such a manic yet well-done mix of many different genres and ideas that all come together in the best ways.
Cons
Con Anime tropes distract from the story
The story does a wonderful job of showing the gritty reality of how war changes people, but there's a serious issue with the way the narrative gets interrupted by anime tropes. Too often, grave moments during cutscenes get sidetracked by anime-like slapstick humor that ends up ruining the moment. These scenes would have been fine if they happened at more tactful times, but sadly, this just isn't the case. So if you don't have much tolerance for these types of tropes, you may not like the story all that much.
Con Battles can take a long time to finish
Valkyria Chronicles 4 isn't the type of game you can pick up and put back down. Battles are quite long and involved, usually taking about an hour to finish. On top of that, there are no checkpoints during battle, so if you lose, you have to start all over again. If you don't have that kind of time or patience, then this may not be the game for you.
Con Can be incredibly frustrating
Trying to work at such a fast pace with so many obstacles and general mayhem going on at once can wear on you after a while. There's a lot to keep track of at once, and it's easy for things to spiral out of control as your mistakes pile up. If your group isn't doing well and you're running out of time, you might find yourself losing your patience with your team and yelling at them. This might not be the game for you if you don't have a team that's willing to be patient and cooperative with each other, even when you're not doing so well during a particular round.
Con Single-player isn't as fun as co-op
If you only want to play alone, then Overcooked 2 might not be the best game to pick. All the fast-paced fun from co-op mostly comes from communicating with your team and trying to pull off your task together before the time runs out. You control two characters at once while playing alone, but this still lacks the team-based chaos that makes the game so addicting. You could instead go online for matchmaking, though you might get paired with people who don't want to talk or work as an actual team.
Con The controls are a bit sluggish
There's something about the controls that feels heavy and deliberate, and not necessarily in a good way. The feeling goes against the fast-paced nature of the gameplay that demands you in one place and then the next. If you played the first Overcooked, you may notice the difference right away. This change shouldn't be too much of a hassle, though it's still noticeable.