Velvet Assassin does a good job as a first person sneaker but largely felt unrefined with certain elements and story
I love first person sneakers since my first introduction to the Thief series and stumbling onto the Splinter Cell series in a bargain bin. Although Velvet Assassin strives to fit in with these genre defining games it largely looses out.
Violette despite being a slim and sexy heroine does not act or react like she looks. She only has one sneak speed when crouched and I found myself frustrated with her slowness. She also cannot jump or crawl under areas that should be easy for a well trained assassin or 400lb couch potato. Her ability to hide in the shadows is a little to "all exposed or totally hidden" for my taste. I really wanted a some variety to her ability to hide in hard spots. I may be tainted from Thief and Splinter Cell as those games have situations where you are partially exposed and not quite sure if you are going to get caught or not. Violette does do one thing amazing well which are her silent kills. The sheer violence and skill work well considering her primary weapon is a knife. I actually find myself gasping at a few of the kills especially the multiple stabbing. The look on her face is impressive as well with the reaction she has when making these kills as if she is enjoying every minute of it.
Violette's morphine kills I felt were appropriate considering she is reliving these moments you are playing while in a coma. I thought this fit the storytelling element of the game which could account for a lapse in her memory while in the coma. These are fun and very rewarding when you run face to face with the enemy and gut them alive. I do feel the nightgown she wears during this sequence is a little odd though.
The enemies and the ways they can be killed can be ridiculous at times and frustrating in others. The Nazi's don't really seem overly concerned for more then 30 seconds when one of their buddies is lying dead in a pool of blood. They simply go back to their patrol rather then sounding an alert and bring all hell down which I would assume should happen in real scenario. They also seem unconcerned when the radio they were just listening to "mysteriously" is switched off. Rather then wondering why this happened, they simply turn it back on and go back to their programmed routine. I found the random oil slicks, electrified puddles, and exploding barrels to be a just dumb. It would seem that the downfall of the Third Reich was from to many soldiers being fried in these puddles and burned alive in small oil spills. Although these are fun to watch they do make the game way too easy.
The developers did make a great world with amazing sounds that set a tense atmosphere as well. The sights and sounds of the game are superb and the music sometimes gets your blood pressure up if you are spotted as the music pounds through the room with a good sub woofer. The voice acting was largely well done but one little thing always drove me nuts. EVERY time you need to find a key she says the same dumb line "I needed to find the key. I knew it must be around here somewhere..." After hearing that for about the 25th time it just sounded dumb.
Overall, I would recommend this game as it's fun to play but do what i did and pick it up for $10.