Velvet Assassin comes across as another 'me too' game. It isn't bad, but also isn't a much of a stand out title.
Players assume the role of Violette Summer, a British assassin that is frequently sent behind enemy lines. Never taking any equipment with her, Violette is forced to rely on stealth to complete her objectives. The mechanics of the game are simple and make sense within the game, but are quite unrealistic. When in the shadows, your character is completely invisible unless the enemy is less than a couple feet away. Even in broad daylight, you are undetectable by enemies that are close enough to you that you can almost tell what color their eyes are, even if they are in the same shadow you are. There was even one occasion where I walked into the light behind a soldier that was facing the wall. His shadow and my shadow were completely visible on the wall where he was looking, but he had no clue I was there. The vast majority of the game is made up of staying hidden long enough to memorize the enemies basic patrol routes, then sneaking up behind them and stabbing them with your knife. There are environmental kills, such as electrocuting an enemy in a puddle of water, lighting up a puddle of gasoline, or shooting a poison barrel. While these kills spice things up a bit, they also alert all guards in the area, while stabbing a guard in the shadows goes completely undetected. It is also a bit difficult to tell the different between a water and gas puddle. Enemy corpses can also be dragged in order to keep them away from their fellow soldiers. Actually, the most entertaining moments were when I dropped a corpse in a well lit area and ambushed another guard that ran up to check on his downed ally. Oddly, when left alone after finding a friend dead, they will look around for less than thirty seconds then resume his patrol like nothing happened. One more move that comes in handy is the ability to peak through a key hole, which gives you just enough of a view to see if the room is safe. While most of the game consisted of stabbing your victims, it never really got repetitive and remained entertaining. There are a variety of animated assassinations that help keep things interesting. They usually look good, but aren't particularly graphic. After some of them, I wasn't even sure how the enemy was actually killed. Occasionally, one of these kills will result in Violette automatically shooting the enemy, but it doesn't use up a bullet. It's quite unrealistic, but also good due to the extreme lack of ammunition in the game.
The lack of ammo is understandable in order to maintain the stealth gameplay, but also quite unrealistic. Enemies can expend an unlimited amount of bullets, but after they are killed, you cannot even so much as pick up their gun. New weapons are found only in lockers that are conveniently placed right before scenes that will require them. The lack of ammo is actually a blessing in disguise because in the few scenes that force you into a shootout, the enemies show off their incredibly low IQ and lack of any military training. Every gunfight can be handled the same way; run around a corner and wait until the first guy comes around the corner. Shoot him in the head and leave your crosshair there, because every single other enemy will come to that exact same spot. Even worse, enemies can be lured into traps way too easily. I've watched entire groups run into a cloud of poison or into an electrified puddle, one after the other. Levels are separated into different sections and sometimes there will be a quick fade to black when you go through a door. If you are running from the enemy when you go through one, they won't follow. You can even look through the keyhole and see them on the other side until they give up. These sequences are usually short and rare, but the final level seems to forget the game is supposed to be stealth based. The entire level has no hiding involved and is both boring and frustrating. The end of the level sends wave after wave of magically appearing enemies, a first for the game and it is completely out of place. Add in a horrid ending and you end a halfway decent game on a miserable note.
There are several different varieties of hidden items around each level that provide you with experience. This experience can be applied to three different statistics: morphine, stealth, and health. To be honest, the only one of any use is the stealth statistic, which increases the speed at which you can sneak. The morphine ability is lost in the last two levels (without warning), so putting points into it is a waste. The strength statistic increases the amount of hits you can take, but since the point of the game is to not get shot at all, this doesn't really provide much help. Each time I did die, some extra health wouldn't have kept me alive.
The one aspect that was supposed to set the game apart is the morphine mode, but this feels completely out of place. Morphine can be found sparsely scattered around each level. Using it freezes all enemies in place and Violette runs in slow motion wearing nothing but her nightgown. When activated, she can instantly kill a single enemy regardless of whether or not they were aware of her presence. I only used this mode a couple of times in the beginning but found it less than helpful since it isn't particularly difficult to sneak around.
My favorite moments in the game were actually the ones that make you feel like crap. Occasionally after killing an enemy, you will find a letter near their body. Many of these are from the soldier you just killed to their wife or girlfriend at home telling them how much he misses them, hates the war, and can't wait to come home. I couldn't help but feel bad as Violette was reading these letters aloud. These moments help drive a point home that many other war games like to avoid; not all German soldiers were evil Nazis. Many were just normal people who joined the military in their home country. As the game progresses and you start going after higher ranked enemies, you start to read letters and overhear conversations from some sick and twisted individuals that are expected of the Nazi party.
There isn't really much story progression to speak of. In the beginning, your character is in a coma and most of the game is a flashback to past missions. Each mission takes place months after the last and there isn't any connection between them. You aren't ever really given a face to the enemy or speak to a single ally. The lack of any character interaction hurts what little plot there is.
The graphics aren't particularly good. Since most of the game takes place in the dark, there isn't really ever anything to look at. Even in the lit areas, everything is either gray or brown. The lighting effect do look cool, but the objects they light up are bland and dull. The effects aren't any better. Fire is little more that orange balls of fuzz. Blood is just a red mist that sometimes appeared several inches away from the enemy's body. There is no animation for opening doors and they just open automatically when you press the button. Also, there is no animation for getting on ladders and the screen actually goes black for a second when you get on and off one. There aren't any impressive cutscenes, either. For example, one mission sends you to light up the location of an enemy sub that is docked but it is too dark for the bombers to see. The mission ends with you driving away from the gate to the dock and Violette saying, "The sub was destroyed that night." Incredibly lame after an entire mission of build up for a huge explosion. Although there are several complaints about the graphics, it is important to note that they aren't exactly bad either. There may not be anything impressive to see in the game, but they don't hurt the experience either. One positive thing to note is the character faces. The character models may not be top of the line, but the way a dead soldier stares back at the screen as you drag him into a corner is creepy and helps set the mood of the game.
Velvet Assassin comes across as another 'me too' game. It isn't bad, but it also doesn't feel as if the developers were trying to make a stand out title. If you are a fan of stealth games, it is definitely worth a rental, but there isn't enough to keep you coming back to justify a purchase.