I’ve always been into stealth-action titles so regardless what any of the large gaming websites said I was almost certainly picking Velvet Assassin up, and I decided to do so for the PC.

Velvet Assassin is a stealth-action game set in World War II. The game’s protagonist is Violette Summer, a British agent working deep behind the German lines. Her character is inspired by real life World War II SOE agent Violette Szabo, who after a fierce fire fight and out of ammunition, was captured during her second mission in June 1944. She was tortured, endured hard labour and was finally executed in February 1945, at the age of only 23. Violette  Szabo was the second woman (out of four total) to be awarded the George Cross, the highest civil decoration of the United Kingdom.

When you start the game Violette has already been captured, she is laying wounded in a hospital bed, guarded by German soldiers. There she relives her missions in a series of flashbacks, which make up the gameplay.

Velvet Assassin looks like it is powered by the very popular Unreal engine (Unreal Tournament, Gears of War, Mass Effect), but it is in fact Replay Studio’s own “Replay Engine”. It runs great and looks good, though it would have been nice if the developers had included higher texture resolution options and more settings for the PC version. It is obvious that little was done to make use of high end PCs, as the game menus don’t even have mouse support. There is support for Nvidia PhysX but I never saw any effects. Those complaints aside, the game still looks good and is quite atmospheric with very distinct lighting. I found the audio to be excellent, with music and Violette’s voiceover standing out. The German soldiers also speak German (with English subtitles) and not broken English, which is a plus.

The gameplay in Velvet Assassin puts all emphasis on staying hidden and taking out enemies silently. Stealth kills are easily performed by sneaking up on an enemy from behind. Once close enough the screen turns red and you perform a cool stealth kill with the click of a button, literally. The stealth action is intense and feels rewarding, and the game boasts having 50 stealth kill animations, depending on Violette’s currently equipped weapon.

There are guns in the game, but the bulk of the job is done up close with Violette’s knife. You do not want to be discovered in Velvet Assassin, if Violette is spotted the German guards will very quickly gun her down, even on normal difficulty. To help prevent instant deaths and make it possible to get through certain areas the game does give you a rather unique time-stopping ability. When used, the game shows the captured Violette convulse in her hospital bed, and she is given a dose of morphine from a nurse. Back in the game time is standing still for a few seconds, hopefully giving you enough time to get out of a sticky situation.

Gameplay-wise Violette has a few standard abilities found in some form in all stealth games, such as peaking through keyholes, dragging bodies, using disguises, manipulating certain objects and a variety of ways to attract attention. As the game is set in World War II, you see nothing of the extra gadgetry found in the Metal Gear or Splinter Cell series, leaving Violette equipped only with a flashlight plus certain mission-specific equipment. You’ve got no “radar” telling you where enemies are either. The HUD consists of a character silhouette which represents your health bar, and with a purple outline indicates if you’re hidden or not. It also displays which weapon you’ve got equipped and if you have any morphine, but that is all.

During the missions you can find hidden secrets and collectibles, which in turn grant you experience. The experience can be used to upgrade three of Violette’s stats to increase health, and allow for longer “morphine time” or faster sneak movement. In the 360 version of the game the collectibles and rated performance (given at the end of each mission) are no doubt linked to achievements as well.

If you’ve read this far you may think that I’ve only got praise for Velvet Assassin, but that is simply not true. For starters the game employs a lacking check-point system, which can lead to frustration. Given the slow style of the gameplay it can quickly get annoying if forced to replay the same section over and over. On rare occasions you’re also not sure how the “rules of stealth” apply, and you are left wondering if you got spotted because you made a mistake, or if a bug/random circumstance is to blame. My advice is to apply some trial & error on the stealth mechanics right away and learn as much as possible about what you can and cannot do. The non-stealth combat is also lacking, this is something I can forgive for the most part, but when you’re forced to fight, the clumsy mechanics and stupid enemy AI doesn’t enhance the gaming experience. The game could also have been a bit less linear, many situations can tackled in more than one way, but I would have liked to have seen more optional paths.

Flaws aside I enjoyed Velvet Assassin, and I can at least recommend it to fans of the genre, especially as stealth-action games are few in numbers these days. Remember that this is a slow phased stealth game though, it’s not Metal Gear Solid 4 where you can run and gun if you so prefer. If you’ve got an able PC I suggest the PC version, as it is cheaper than its 360 counterpart.

-Daniel Lindberg

Tags: PC, Replay Studios, review, SouthPeak, Velvet Assassin, Violette, Xbox 360

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