Velvet Assassin

If Max Payne's mother was a Splinter-Cell-like spy in WWII, the game about her life would be called Velvet Assassin. Velvet Assassin is a third-person stealth-action spy game in which you take on the role of Violette Summer, a slinky British saboteur who has fallen in to a kind of injury-induced coma. From a bed in a French Church-turned-hospital, you play through each mission as she recounts the series of events that have led her to being bed-ridden.

Velvet Assassin Review from a famousblueraincoat
Played 15+ hours on Xbox 360
Available for Xbox360 and PC
"Splinter Cell during WW2 with Max Payne's British Spy-Mother"

The setting is interesting in that it's supposedly based on real spy missions of the second World War. The opening credits give the feeling of a kind of creepy thrilleresque view of war and playing a part in the nitty gritty of it. This gave the expectation of a very serious and intense (albeit campy) take on a badass female spy's point of view of the war.

The first chapter finds our heroine parachuting deep into occupied France to destroy a fuel depot. The first encounter with a drunk Nazi soldier on a bridge is easy prey for teaching the simple sneaking mechanic. As you approach him from behind, the camera turns red until you trigger an assassination sequence. The second encounter in which you are to sneak through the tall grass to take out two soldiers chatting is wonderful. It shows how when Violette is hidden, a purple silhouette appears around the healthbar in the bottom-left corner. Taking out the first body disposing of one body while they separate, teaches the importance of covering your tracks and sets a nice pace.

Finding the entrance to the bunker, we are introduced to the mechanic of 'Morphine' mode. Syringes of morphine, when found, can be used as a kind of 'super invisibility power' allowing you to run directly at enemies undetected, and take them out without setting off any alarms. At this point, even though it was early on, I found that the pace mentioned earlier made to grind to a halt. It's the first time that you encounter the dreaded case of "button-mashing-restart-at-the-checkpoint-if-you-can't-get-it-exactly-right".

Not only is is impossible to see how you are being discovered by the enemy in some of these instances, it's also impossible to fight back until later in the game where you are introduced to other forms of weaponry. The rest of the mission is spent stealthly navigating the darkness of a bunker, in which checkpoints are few and far between and variety is already sparse. After the first mission it becomes quite clear what I was in for.

Throughout the following missions, you are introduced to the German officer costume which allows Violette to gain access to areas that require a lot of movement in the open, however when strolling too close to any enemy soldier, they are alerted to your disguise (obviously, they recognize your Britishness).

This game was admittedly hard to review. I hated playing every minute after finding out how little variety there was. Every weapon functions the exact same way except for the major difference of whether it is melee or ranged, not really ranged or really ranged, and slow or fast shooting. This saddened me somewhat as my expectation was initially quite high.

Although it was campy and melodramatic, I was really let down as the presentation and storyline began so solid. Stealth navigation through tight corridors, creeping through beautiful rooms stepping around the sunbeams streaming in, peering through keyholes to see if its clear to move forward, all of which are exciting and made all the more tense by the mysterious and enigmatic character plot. However, the narrative and delivery seem to be describing a completely different game than the one you actually engage in playing.

It's impossible to take the plot seriously when the fluidity is so interrupted by the incessant bugs and random detections by enemies. Several times I would creep around, or stay stationary in the dark to avoid or take out an enemy and was discovered by an enemy and killed. I would then retry the same maneuver with success. This kind of randomness was infinitely frustrating and ultimately broke the game for me. Additionally, getting stuck in a closing door or wall and having to restart to the last checkpoint ought to have been rectified before release.

There is no sense in re-playing the the last three kills in an area, just because you screw up on the fourth. What could I possibly be testing here? Mindless repetition? My patience? Is this intended to be challenging or merely to elongate me playing experience? These frustrations, although I personally felt strongly about them, might not be experienced by everyone that plays this game.

Afterall, there are some great aspects here. The graphics, as mentioned, the ambiance, the storyline are all candy-like in their fulfillment. Additionally, it's surprisingly lengthy with 20 missions. If you ever get that far, the last few missions are particularly interesting.

It's pretty, and it's fulfilling on the same level that a good action movie is; entertaining, but is a bit low on intellectual content. This is not something you'd want to be experiencing for longer than a few hours. Velvet Assassin is worth the rent, but I would only recommend it to someone who didn't get enough stealth-kills from the past ten iterations of Splinter Cell and its clones. High production value polish on an old and worn out idea, and there is very little payoff.

Velvet Assassin seems tired. Although it has its strengths in art-style and tense narrative, it is ultimately ruined by the utter lack of imaginative gameplay. Certainly no one intends to make a bad game, but for all of the work put in to the environments, history and delivery one would think that the game could at least be slightly fun or interesting to play.