Have you all ever heard of the definition of insanity? Well, the made-up definition anyway, not the one that describes when your cousin Timmy starts babbling nonsense and collecting the heads of small animals. The made-up definition, for those of you who don’t know, is when someone tries doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome every time. For the longest time, I justifiably thought this definition of the word was complete bullshit, but however, I now firmly believe that that definition is correct, for I am insane. Why? Because every time I play one of these Valis games, I expect it to be anything more than being good or mid, adding something big to change things up to make the games more interesting, and yet, it never happens. You’ll know what I mean if you play through the games yourself, especially with Valis IV.

In terms of the main Valis series, this would be the final game that it would ever get before being thrust into a seemingly inescapable hiatus, only coming back on little occasions for a while, such as that one time when they released a pornographic visual novel game called Valis X (close that other tab, you pervert). So, since this was the final true game that we would ever get from this series, I was expecting something different, something new to make the game substantial, SOMETHING! However, instead, I was met with the same monotony and generic elements each of these games bring, making for yet another good, yet disappointing title. I will say, I think this is an improvement over Valis III in several ways, but it doesn’t make the game any better than it already is.

The story is actually a bit of a twist on what we normally expect, where Yuko is no longer the main character, and a new villain by the name of Galgear breaks free from his prison, using the power of a Titan ring to take over the world, so it is up to the new protagonist Lena, along with her twin sister Amu, to become the new warriors of Valis and take down Galgear once and for all…………. ok, so it isn’t that different from what this series has given us before, but hey, it’s at least somewhat different. The graphics are pretty good, not looking too different from the previous games, but at this point, that is about as much as you can expect from this series, the music is pretty good, having plenty of rocking tunes to listen to as you slash through whatever monsters that lay before you, being great to hear for the most part, and the control/gameplay is exactly what you would expect from Valis, so for those of you who are familiar with the series, you will feel right at home here!........ while also wondering why you are still playing these games.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Lena, Amu, or another character known as Asfal that you meet up with later on, go through 9 different acts through plenty of different locations through the real world and the land of Valis, defeat many different enemies that will make sure to bombard you and ensure you will not have an easy time with this game, find plenty of different upgrades and health items to use to give you an advantage over all of your foes, and take on plenty of persistent, yet predictable boss fights, that are usually pretty simple to take down, aside from the final boss, which can FUCK RIGHT OFF. But anyway, yeah, what more did ya expect, it’s a Valis game. You run around, you slash things, you jump on platforms, you don’t blow up. If you liked the previous games, you will like this one as well, but don’t go in expecting anything game-changing out of this sequel, or any of the games after the first one for that matter.

Earlier, I did mention that this game is basically a better version of Valis III, because while it doesn’t really introduce anything new for the series, it does take some of the elements that were brought in from Valis III and makes them a lot better here. Like with that game, you can swap between up to three different characters during stages for your entire journey, and unlike with the characters from the previous game, these ones are actually useful! Each one has their own unique ability, such as Lena being able to slide and Amu being able to double jump, and each of these abilities can be pretty useful, not just for fighting enemies and bosses, but also getting through certain sections.

In addition, there are parts of the game that do actually require you to switch between characters in order to get through, which some may call unnecessary and stupid, but I myself really like these sections, because, as small and meaningless as they are, it allows me to test out these other characters, see what they can do given the situation, and get a proper fit for one of them that I will stick to for the rest of the game. Not to mention, there are also a lot less moments of bullshit that you can find throughout this game (unlike with Valis III), so that makes it much more palatable as a result, giving me no reason to ever want to go back to that other game ever again.

However, that’s all that Valis IV has going for it in comparison. It is still the same song and dance we have performed time and time again, with no real extra bells and whistles added to make it seem all the more enticing or appealing. You still get the cutscenes between each level that helps explain parts of the story, which even include scenes that detail where Yuko has been all this time, making them somewhat more interesting then before, but there is nothing more than that. I mean hey, I guess if I have to give the Valis series as a whole some kind of praise, I can at least say that it is refreshingly consistent, not wanting to take too many risks, and just sticking to what they know works at the end of the day. The only downside to that though is that, by sticking to that safe path they took, they ran into the problem of stagnation, and look where we are now.

Overall, despite, once again, not providing any substantial additions to this walking corpse of a franchise, Valis IV is an improvement over the previous title with all things considered, refining several aspects of that previous title and making them much better, while also still providing a simple, yet effective experience through its short playtime. I would recommend it for those who were big fans of the previous titles, as well as those who are a big fan of old-school 2D platformers in general, but in case you aren’t either of those things, you don’t absolutely need to see what this title is all about, and can just play through any of the other games to basically get the same experience as this. Although, I will say, none of those other games managed to have the address of the development studio in them……… no, seriously, Laser Soft actually put the address of their office in this game, for a contest or something. I would go and visit this address to see what I can find, but I’m afraid it will probably only lead me to a patch of forest somewhere. Or maybe some kind of pachinko parlor.

Game #509