Title: Velvet Assassin
Developer/Publisher: SouthPeak Games/Replay Studios
Platform: Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: 04/28/09
Number of Players: Single Player
Velvet Assassin lets you take control of Violette Summer, a French agent sent behind enemy lines in World War II to put a stop to Nazi goings-on. Unfortunately, she winds up in a hospital somewhere in Germany, where half of the story is told, through flash-backs. Does Violette have what it takes to sneak around and thwart the enemy, or will she simply be captured? It’s up to you to help Violette in this stealth-shooter.
The game starts out showing Violette in a hospital bed, where you learn she’s been for a bit, although you’re not sure exactly where she is or how she got injured. However, you do learn of her identity and what she has been up to. The game’s levels start with a briefing from Violette, telling you what her mission was and how she went about it. Once in the level, you can hit the pause menu to check out a map and see what your objectives are, among other things.
The game itself is a third-person, stealth-shooter, with a strong push towards stealth. The first times in which you get a weapon aside from your knife, you’re only given 7 bullets, which means you can’t do much with them. So, instead of shooting, you must sneak up behind your enemy, and stealthily take them out with your knife, via an action command/prompt. Aside from learning walking patterns, there are a few things you can do to distract those dirty Nazis to move in position to take them out. Your main tool is to whistle, which will get them to come your way. There are also times when you can turn off a nearby radio, which will also get them to walk over to inspect it. You can also position a dead body in their midst, getting them to investigate long enough for you to sneak up behind them.
Unfortunately, at least for myself, I found this action very slow going and frustrating. To be fair though, I didn’t particularly enjoy Splinter Cell, or any of those other stealth-shooters. With Velvet Assassin, you must plan out your attack strategy very well, learning enemy locations and movement patterns. If you are spotted, you’re pretty much dead, unless you’re lucky enough to be nearby an area where you can run and hide. If you try to stay and fight, you’re going to die, unless you have a better weapon than a pistol, which isn’t often.
Like other stealth games, you can hide in the shadows and slowly walk around or crouch, which is pretty much required. If you aren’t crouched, you will be heard and spotted, so you are always moving slowly. When in the shadows, you are pretty much undetectable, but enemies will spot you within a couple feet of their person, so you can’t be right in their face and not be seen, which is good. When you do get close enough to an enemy to stealthily take them out, the screen will become red, and a prompt will appear on-screen. There are a handful of animations here, so they aren’t too repetitive, and a new one comes about every now and again. Some are a bit brutal, but there isn’t much, if any blood or gore; just interesting knife placements.
Some areas of the game will provide you with a Nazi uniform to put on, so you can walk amongst the enemy undetected. However, this isn’t completely true. There is a meter on the bottom of the screen, and if it completely disappears, your uniform will cease to be valuable and the enemy will try to take you down. So, in order for you to stay in disguise, you must walk slowly, don’t get too close to any one enemy, and don’t do anything suspicious, like pull out a weapon. This mixes up gameplay a bit, but not by much, and it makes some things a bit odd. For instance, I came to one part where I was wearing the uniform and tried to sneak up on a guard, however, every time I tried to do so, he would turn around just as I was behind him. Naturally though, when I took the uniform off, I was able to get right behind him and dispatch him with ease; makes perfect sense.
When you do get to an area where you just can’t figure out how to sneak up behind someone, or there are one too many guards to deal with, you can use your morphine to help out. There are numerous syringes scattered throughout the game, which happen to contain morphine. You can hold a single syringe at a time, which is lame, but they are fairly helpful. Whenever you need a little help, you can use your morphine, which will slow down time and allow you to easily kill one soldier. However, once you kill that single soldier, the effects go away, so it’s best not to use it when there are numerous guards around. One good idea is to use it when there are two; shoot one in the face with a gun, and then go into morphine mode and knife the other; simple enough.
At the end of each of the 12 levels, you are rated on your performance; from the number of kills, to how you got those kills, whether stealthily or not, to the number of collectibles you obtained and the time it took to finish the level. You receive EXP points for every collectible you find, and for every 1000 exp points you gain, you get to upgrade Violette. You can upgrade her sneaking speed, morphine time, or strength/health. These are all pretty helpful, but the choice is yours.
Overall, Velvet Assassin is a decent stealth-shooter, but if you don’t like moving slowly, meticulously planning out your kills and actions and having to replay levels again and again because of one mistake, then you won’t enjoy this game. It does provide a decent World War II story, and presents a normal woman sneaking around behind enemy lines. Your main weapon is a knife, but there are a few guns you can obtain throughout your adventure, however gun play is very much frowned upon and won’t get you very far at all, except in certain areas. If you like the genre, then you’ll enjoy this game, but if you don’t, this title will in no way convert you.
The Review
Story:
The story follows a young secret agent as she sneaks behind Nazi enemy lines during World War II. Unfortunately, she winds up in a hospital, where her story unfolds through flash backs. As the story progresses, you learn about what she has done, and exactly where she is and what problems she is facing. It’s pretty decent.
Gameplay:
Personally, I don’t enjoy these types of games; slow moving stealth-shooters. You have to basically stay crouched the entire game, staying in the shadows, as you position yourself behind a lone soldier and silently take him out. However, if you do enjoy these games, then this one won’t disappoint. There is always fun to be had dispatching Nazis, and with numerous collectibles to discover and areas to sneak around in, you’ll be pleased. If you get satisfaction out of being a ninja, then you’ll be happy, as there are definite areas in the game which will test your skills.
Sound/Music:
The sound and music aren’t anything too note worthy, but the voice work is pretty good. Violette is well-voiced, and all of the Nazi soldiers actually speak German, which I thought was pretty cool and authentic. There are subtitles though, so you can follow along.
Graphics:
The graphics are par for the course; definitely nothing that will blow you away, but nothing terrible. They work.
The Good:
If you like stealth-shooters, then you won’t be disappointed. This game will test your patience and sneaking abilities, especially in some areas where if you make even the slightest mistake or time your movements wrong, you will be found and killed.
The Bad:
Fairly linear levels, where there is only one real way to take out a guard, or group of soldiers. You can technically do it a couple ways, but it’s obvious how the developers want you to do it, and you’ll be lucky to survive if you can manage otherwise. While you have a gun, there isn’t really an appropriate time to use it, and the fact that you are lacking in the ammo department doesn’t help.
The Ugly:
Stupid areas where you have to wait for minutes for a couple of guards to have a conversation. You can’t sneak around them, and you can’t take two soldiers out at once…you must wait…hopefully you don’t die, or you get to sit through it again.
Final Score: 3/5
Tags: Replay Studios, Review, SouthPeak Games, Velvet Assassin, xbox 360
Your use of the term “Nazi” is a bit off, a Nazi was a member of Germany’s Nazi Party during World War II. A majority of Germans, especially those in the army were NOT members of the party.
All S.S. members on the other hand were Nazi party members since it was a requirement to join what can be seen as the “Nazi Army”.
In Velvet Assassin many of the Germans you come across are not Nazi’s but simply “Heer” (German for soldier). The developers (who are German) even tried to differentiate such stereotypes about Germany during the war in the game through the various documents, letters, etc you come across.