Velvet Assassin is a stealth game, similar to Commando’s or even a few Tom Clancy titles. The main premise here is that you play Violette Summer who is actually based on a real World War 2 spy Violette Szabo. As Violette you must infiltrate and eliminate German soldiers using stealth and skill, all without any backing from the British Government.

 

Velvet Assassin starts off with Violette lying in a hospital bed after a mission gone horribly wrong. Velvet Assassin is a gem for the fans of stealth games but newcomers may find the gameplay tedious and make the mistake of running and gunning. If you are detected consider yourself dead. Stealth games are known for their punishment for the gamer being discovered and Velvet Assassin is no exception.

 

As stated before the game is based on Violette Szabo and these are her missions. Velvet Assassin takes many elements from the Commando’s game such as ensuring there is always a way to get past a check point or a certain patrol by using the environment and some ingenuity on your part.

Whether it is changing the angle of your approach or shooting a barrel surrounded by Guards.

 

 

 

 

Graphically Velvet Assassin, is your run of mill game. No amazing visuals but also no terribly obvious pixilated objects or textures. While they may be standard this does not mean that they look bland, rather the way they are interweaved with the static backgrounds and moving environment lead to a very artistic finish.

 

Gameplay wise, Velvet Assassin keeps on par with previous espionage games. The weapons while limited are vital to you mission goals, and also add as a reminder that you don’t have a chance in a gun fight. As expected hiding is the key part to Velvet Assassin, which is surprisingly well handled with the use of the HUD which provides the players with a silhouette of Violette which indicates one of three things, a white silhouette means she is exposed in the light, a red silhouette means she has been detected and a purple silhouette indicates she is hidden.

 

If spotted Violette enables a lifeline called Morphine Mode which then flashes back to Violette in a hospital gown drenched in her blood. In Morphine Mode, Violette can execute any alerted guards for a short period of time, or try escape, another feature is the Blend Stealth mode which is usable if Violette has picked up a female SS uniform, Velvet Assassin offers this mode to the player at pre-defined points.

 

 

 

 

Velvet Assassin has everything a fan of the stealth genre could ask for. But there is one more feature that takes Velvet Assassin and pushes it ahead of the rest. This is the experience aspect of the game, as you play through the game you gain experience points, once the player has 1000 XP they can upgrade various skills for Violette such as improving stealth or upgrading her skills based on your individual play style.

 

Violette’s movements have been captured using Actor Melinda Cohen, she is also the voice of Violette. This helps to immerse the player into Violette’s world as the voice correlates perfectly to various actions.

 

While there is no multiplayer feature, we do look forward to see what Replay Studio’s will grace us with next. Velvet Assassin could possibly be the beginning of a great new stealth studio!

While there were a few issues where stealth didn’t quite function optimally there are no real glitches that deter a gamer from experience the stealth from the World War 2 era.