Let me be clear: Valkyria Chronicles is good. Really bloody good. Absolutely compelling, terrific fun, full of depth and replay value. Can’t wait for the sequel. Wonderful, wonderful game. I really enjoyed it.

I just wanted to be absolutely clear because, even with the praising preface in my returning Very British Gamer column on the game, it still feels like I launched a scathing attack on it. Truth is, I could’ve been talking about one from a large number of video games in that column. It just so happens I’ve been playing Valkyria Chronicles.

I’ve got war and politics on the brain, subjects not too compatible with praise when it comes to gaming. It’s very hard not to at the moment with the Chilcot inquiry, and I think a lot of my thoughts on that have been bleeding into my writing of late. After all, my first piece for Games Abyss also went up, and it’s all on current affairs and gaming. Hopefully I can redirect my writing into less serious matters. I can at least say that my next major freelance piece won’t be on matters so grave, so that’s good.

Anyway, I’d be honoured if you checked both those bad boys out and let me know your thoughts. I’d say more, but BioShock 2 is here and demands my attention. One last thing before I go, though. It’s time to ‘fess up again: I was so so so wrong about Valkyria Chronicles based on my demo analysis back in 2008. Looking back, I just didn’t get the game at all. I’m not going to speculate on whether that says more about me than demos or vice versa…