A heart-pounding,emotional yet mature ride during the darker times of WW2.
Graphics: 9 (sepia / great environment effects like fog and lighting / gotta love Violette's stabbing techniques)
Sounds: 9 (scores that hit the beat / decent voice acting and stay true to the German language)
Value: 5 (two levels of difficulty / PC version has no achievements / very little replay value)
Tilt: 8 (obvious care was taken to immerse the player into the world / mature feeling)
The reality is that the vast majority of WW2 video games are designed for the FPS player. Granted that there are even those that simulate the intensity of this horrific war, making players willing to learn more about this period; like the early Call of Duty or Medal of Honour series where the scenarios are like re-enactments from the war. Yet, no matter how good a game can get, a fresh approach to this era is always welcoming thus arrives Velvet Assassin: a stealth based game that effectively brings in the horrors of the war into a different prospective.
Taking on viewpoint of a British spy Violette Summer, you'll be operating deep within enemy lines disabling fuel depot, stealing documents, locating captured secret agents and of course assassinate German officials. All of this is taken place during Violette's flashbacks in her bed guarded by two unknown French resistance fighters. How she got there was that in her last mission, she was mortally wounded by a sniper whilst attempting to assassinate Kamm, a highly ranked German military officer. As a matter of interest, Violette Summer was actually modelled after a real-life spy named Violette Szabo and most of her missions were loosely based on her expedition behind enemy lines.
As comes to expect with the title 'Velvet Assassin', this is a stealth based game where timing is critical and failing will result a quick death. Thankfully, the visuals in this game are superb with excellent shadow effects that Violette can hide in. Also she can hide among tall bushes in broad daylight yet once alerted, Violette's overall silhouette will change from blue to flashing red. In this instance it's highly advisable to run the hell away until things calm down. Once so, then it's a matter of trying again.
Now this is the downfall of this beautiful game. Because the AI are not quite so bright, you can literally assassinate most Nazis in the brightest of lights, sprint out of there, wait for a little while (as most Nazis won't open doors), then when things go quiet, they all go back to their normal routine even though there's a dead body in the middle of the room. Of course you cannot perform this feat over and over again as Violette cannot take much damage, period. Other words, if you wish to perform this, you need to stake out the best escape route (normally behind closed doors is your best option as the Nazis rarely open them).
For the non-daredevils, there are other ways you can eradicate those Nazis. Some carry grenades and if you managed to get close enough, you can pull the pin, let him walk back and watch the explosion. Other forms of indirect attacks are electrocution (Nazis standing in water and conveniently a lever is nearby), firing at oil cans / spills for a flaming good time or simply shoot the Nazis. Shooting them though should be your last resort as the gunplay can be awkward at times (think of the gunplay in Mirror's Edge).
Violette can also perform non-confrontation actions like whistling to attract their attention and disguising as a Gestapo. I'm quite fond of whistling as when the Nazis stop that 'search-and-destroy' moment (as indicated by the heavy, industrial-like music), I pounce like a panther to its prey. Dressing up as Gestapo have its moments though however don't stray to close to a Nazi officer or they will see right through your disguise. And besides, silent kills are almost out of the question due to the clothing she wears.
Yet, the main attraction is that Violette is able to go into 'morphine' mode. What this entails is that for a very limited time, when using the syringe, time stops. Similar to the effects of top athletics going 'into-the-zone' where the surroundings are simply running in s-l-o-w motion. So killing a Nazi is regarded as a silent kill and yet once performed the kill, the time reverts back to normal. The premise behind this is that because Violette is viewing these events as flashbacks, there will be times that her stress levels increases ten-folds. And because of this, she will shake and shiver therefore her care-takers will give her a syringe to calm her down. And because of this, Violette confuses reality and dream.
Whilst Violette has a main goal to accomplish, as noted in the pre-mission out-take, there are also hidden missions and collectables to locate. Hidden missions are not mandatory however completing those earns you experience points to enhance Violette's skills. This goes to same as locating collectables and granted, some are quite difficult to locate. These two are good diversions to your main goal as it adds realism in that there will be on-the-field objectives – stuff that you might find equally important.
At the end of each mission displays a summary of your achievements. That is the collectables you located, kills and silent kills, total playing time, experience points earned and lastly your overall rank. Sadly though, it doesn't mention anything in the manual or in-game of what it takes to get the prestige Assassin Rank. But thankfully though, I managed to grab that rank in every level except for mission eight (for which I achieved Agent). Again I couldn't explain how to get that rank; just pray. This also serves a good way to show off your achievements as sadly though, there are none comparing to the Xbox counterparts.
So what to do with all the experience earned is to enhance Violette morphine usage, stealth speed and strength. Increasing morphine earns Violette's ability to increase time in morphine mode and able to carry more (up to three), strength is the ability to take more hits and stealth is for stealth speed. Yet the stealth skillset isn't really noticeable until you reach four stars (out of five). For my playing style, I increased morphine first (very valuable), then stealth then strength. My reason for leaving strength last is that I wasn't planning to get hit at all.
Graphically and sound wise, this game excels as there are obvious care from the developers to ensure that the player gets the full experience. From the main character Violette to the Nazis, buildings, waterways and so forth are brilliantly rendered. And thankfully, the lighting efforts are also outstanding as the dark is your only companion. The colours used are obviously the darker shades surrounded by a sepia tone which undeniably brings dismay (in a good way). When spoken, Violette has a subtle British accent and thankfully, not overdone and the Germans will speak in their foreign language (with subtitles). And if you want heat-pounding tunes, take note of the last two missions…guarantees a rise your stress levels.
Depending upon your actions depends upon the time to complete the game. Considering I'm a perfectionist (well most of the time), it took me close to thirty hours to finish. And that's includes redoing some missions as I missed some collectables. Yet, on the other foot, there is an achievement (on the Xbox of course) that can be earned when finishing the game within five hours! Well, talking about from one extreme to the next! So I really don't know the recommended completion time however I hope the above gives you some sort of idea. Also the replay value is quite low as considering there are only two levels of difficulty, I went straight to hard and found it quite easy. Yes I took my time however there were less than a handful of frustrating moments. I guess for me what's frustrating is that I couldn't get that perfect silent kills score!
Yet I can say though that if you are new to the stealth style game play, Velvet Assassin certainly is a great game to start however veterans will be disappointed with the lack-lustre AI. Yet there will be moments sending you on a emotional, roller coaster ride and some sinks like a lead balloon. On the other hand though, Velvet Assassin certainly brought intensity and dreadfulness from the war as this was rarely shown in previous WW2 games. Obviously developers Replay Studios took great care in making this a heart-pounding,emotional yet mature ride during the darker times of WW2.