Game Name: Velvet Assassin
Developer: Replay Studios
Publishers: SouthPeak Interactive, LLC; Gamecock Media Group

I’ve been checking some online reviews for Velvet Assassin and if I can sum up the majority of the reviews in just two words, it would be “frustrating” and “painful.” Taking cues from Metal Gear and Splinter Cell, Violetta stars as a British agent in Velvet Assassin, a stealth game that takes place during World War II.

Velvet Assassin, unlike the mentioned games, tries to force you into focusing on just stealth because your health and range of weapons and ammo are very limited. The enemy AI goes on a routine walk, and you have to figure out these patterns in order to be able to sneak up behind them for the killer blow. In fact, that’s the majority of the game, sneaking up from behind and stabbing those Nazi troublemakers.

I must warn you that you must have extreme patience to play this game. Other than certain portions of the game, you’ll be sneaking and waiting the whole time for the right kill moment. The game is a hit and miss affair when it comes to gameplay. When you’re on a killing spree, you’ll feel like an expert assassin, but when they find you, you’ll wish that you were built like Snake or Sam. It’s not all a lost though since you have Morphine at your disposal. It gives you the powers to alter your clothes into a sexy night gown with flowers floating around, making you invincible for a short period of time.

I find it funny in the game that every time you encounter Nazi soldiers conversing, one is always complaining about their current status and the other soldier doesn’t want any part of it. I start to wonder why the developers didn’t add an option of convincing these disloyal soldiers to join my cause.

The graphics in terms of light and shadow is pretty good. The same can’t be said for the character models. You’ll start to notice that you’ve been killing the same looking Nazi soldiers over and over again. You’ll even see this in other games. Metal Gear avoided this problem by having the generic enemies wear masks.

There are many moments when I enjoyed the game, but moments when I wanted to quit. Sneaking up and killing can be fun, but not when you’re doing it over and over again with the same knife and the same sneaky walk. Give me some variety here, like maybe a wire for choking like in Hitman, random items like pipes like in Silent Hill, or maybe even an option to throw some objects to distract the enemy. But everall not bad coming from a small developing team even though I recommend this game for hardcore stealth fans and those who can’t wait for Splinter Cell: Conviction.

P.S. If you play until the end, make sure to maximize your health.

Grade: C-

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