Game Review: Velvet Assassin (Xbox 360)

Robert

May 08 |13:02 PM

Velvet Assassin Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: SouthPeak Games
Genre: Action
ESRB Rating: Mature

The real story of Violette Summer is a fascinating one. During World War II, she served as a special agent trying to complete missions for a British secret service. Unfortunately, her time of service was cut short, but that didn’t stop Southpeak Games from trying to make a game out of her campaign, Velvet Assassin. It’s a splendid idea, and if it played in a similar way to Splinter Cell or even Metal Gear Solid, it would really be getting somewhere. Unfortunately, it’s so damn limited and difficult that it’s not only lacking the longevity to keep you involved, but also the fun.

As you go through the game, you’ll have to rely on your stealth to survive. Summer is highly experienced in using stealth to her advantage, hiding in bushes and behind walls so she can sneak up on one Nazi guard at a time, putting them out of their misery with a knife before they even notice what’s up. Direct encounters where they see you indicate that you’ve already lost the battle. You’re best off just restarting from the previous point of the game, because the sound of an alarm or a group of guards indicate that you aren’t going to come out of the fight alive.

That leads to one of two gigantic problems with the game. First off, despite Southpeak’s attempts to make the game a whole one linear stealth affair where you’ll easily see what your next objective is, they’re not always successful. A guard could see you out of the blue, even without the benefit of a flashlight or even if you’re hiding out of their plain view. That’s unfair enough as it is, but there’s also another factor – the placement of checkpoints. Velvet Assassin is absolutely relentless when it comes to checkpoint spots, as you’ll have to reach them in one piece or else start all the way back at where the last one was. If there was one after each guard, that would’ve worked much better. Instead, it’s a frustrating affair. Chances are most players won’t even make it past the second or third level without throwing their controller into a wall.

That’s too bad, because some of the gameplay has potential here. Had the stealth worked better, there’s a real placeholder for the sneaky combat and getting a jump on specific guards. But again, frustration rears its ugly head. You can only progress so far without acquiring a certain key from a guard, and it’s useless trying to get a hold of their firearms. In fact, you can’t even strip the guards of anything more than their pistols, meaning that the only way to get the heavy firepower is by raiding a locker.

Some things about Velvet Assassin don’t make sense anyway. The whole game is told in a flashback perspective, as Violette is lying on a bed healing from wounds. That would make sense if a. you didn’t die so often (that would kill the point of a flashback to begin with), b. you didn’t remember every specific detail (like the explosive barrels that are in soldiers’ bedrooms – yeah, novel place to keep ‘em!) and c. the morphine trips. You’ll find morphine needles strewn across the game, which you can use to speed yourself up and get some quick kills. While this is probably the most satisfactory part of Velvet Assassin, we can’t imagine how someone could clearly remember morphine-induced death trips. If it was us, we’d rather forget about ‘em, personally.

Velvet Assassin does have a good presentation, although not great. There are occasional fuzzy parts in the visuals that take away from the realism, and the camera perspective isn’t the greatest at times. There are also some schnazzy outfits within the game, although changing into them doesn’t make sense. Sure, some guards may fall for a soldier’s uniform, but it proves itself useless when a guard hears you sneaking up on him with rubbery boots or a “stretchy” dress. Forget it. The sound is probably the most authentic part, with lots of German dialogue and dramatic music overtones throughout. It actually changes tone when you close in for a kill, an important factor in a game such as this.

Still, forget it. We spent hours trying to perfect the system that Velvet Assassin introduced and found little fun out of it. Those who prefer a challenge that’s stealth induced may see something of merit here, but for everyone else, this is pretty much nothing more than an exercise in futility. We understand Violette had to kill members of a corrupt army. But did she really need to go and kill the entertainment, too?

In a nutshell: Velvet Assassin’s extremely high difficulty level and lack of fun make this a killer title that’s hard to recommend to anyone.

Overall: 4/10

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Game Review: Velvet Assassin (Xbox 360)
Friday, 08 May 2009
Platform: Xbox 360 Publisher: SouthPeak Games Genre: Action ESRB Rating: Mature � � � The real story of Violette Summer is a fascinating one. During World War II, she...

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