Velvet Assassin
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Velvet Assassin
By Kabir Singh & Brian Edey
Velvet Assassin is a stealth based game that takes place in Nazi occupied World War II. The heroine is a British spy/assassin named Violet Summer who is tasked with destroying, hampering and otherwise disrupting the Nazi war effort. As the game starts you see Violet lying in an unconscious state on a bed with a hypodermic needle by her aside, which contains the powerful opiate morphine. The player is not quite sure what brought Violet to this state but the story unfolds as a series of flashbacks during Violet’s morphine ridden dreams.
Gameplay
Stealth action is the name of the game in Velvet Assassin, and it is executed very well. Violet must skulk from shadow avoiding detection of Nazi foot soldiers while infiltrating bases, obtaining items necessary for completion of the mission. The stealth mechanics are quite well done, challenging and very satisfying. Patience is a definite virtue in this title as the impatient player is quick to be discovered and slain in a hail of fire. When Violet enters a shadow or bushes that will conceal her from prying eyes (eyes at a distance mind you ... up close you will be detected) a purple aura effect surrounds her informing the player that she is “concealed”. While a nice touch I found that I enjoyed finding dark shadows and determining whether I was concealed or not on my own, as I did in Splinter Cell, it seemed much more rewarding (yes there was a light meter but I chose not to use it for immersion purposes). It just pulls you out of what is a rather visceral experience.
While the stealth action was rife with tension and stress filled minutes of hiding in the shadows waiting for an opportune moment to strike, the enemy AI walked very fixed paths. More variety in enemy patrols makes the enemy more lifelike and challenging, this was just plain predictable ... but the situations you are put in are still challenging enough, but like the purple aura, the weak patrol schemes pulled you out of the experience unfortunately.
What I did enjoy in this stealth game is the lack of ammo, and the lack of precision of the gunplay. Some may gripe that the gunplay was too weak and did not control well but I found this to be thrilling. You could not always rely on a sidearm to get you out of situation brought about by poor skulking. This added the tremendous tension and forced me to really plan out my actions, making the experience all the more real and tangible for me. The threat of being found or stumbling into a room with German troops in it was very palpable and incredibly enjoyable. This was a plus for the visceral experience.
Sadly, the use of morphine as a type of limited “bullet time” pulled me out again. In a tight spot, if you happened to have found some morphine (located quite sparingly) you can use the morphine which allows Violet to run faster and makes her temporarily more resilient to damage. When you activate the “morphine-time” Violet’s clothing changes into the negligee you she her in as she is lying in a morphine induced stupor in the opening cut scene. Seeing the heroine switch from field gear to night clothing in the middle of combat seems rather odd and is one more factor that pulled me out of the experience.
Violet also gains XP (experience points) for her actions and finding collectibles. This XP can be used to level up Violets abilities such as her walking speed while in stealth mode, or how much damage she can take. I have always found levelling up always to be a fun mechanic and it is no different in Violet Assassin.
Audio and Graphics
I have mentioned above how visceral Velvet Assassin can be and the audio adds greatly to this. It is important to note the quality of the voice acting and dialogue. It is quite superb, and the accents are fantastic and emotional overtones are clearly heard in the voices. Other in game noises are very solid but I just can’t help but notice the voices and how much I enjoyed listening the NPC’s chatter, or hear Violet’s British accent narrate her tale.
Graphically Velvet Assassin looks quite good. The dark settings are very atmospheric and some have an almost ethereal quality to them due to the use of lighting bloom effects. In some instances I felt that the bloom effects were overused to the point of washing out Violet’s facial details but it’s still quite solid. Realtime lighting and shadow effects are very well done indeed! Shadows look crisp and dark, with vivid contrast against the light creating some very sumptuous visual moments in the game. Velvet Assassin can look very very good quite often. There are some graphical hitches though, as Violet’s skin can look very much like a mannequin, but I am not sure if this intentional since she is her “reality” bed ridden and loaded with pain killers. When I looked at the texture detail I felt that they were a touch on the bland side but serviceable. Sam Fisher had his fiber optic cable to peak under doors, all Violet could do is look through the key holes, and this mechanic looks terrific. It is very well executed and I never really got bored of looking at. If you choose to play this game, spend a moment and look through a keyhole and admire.
Value
With twelve very challenging and thrilling missions there is a lot of value to be had here. IF you are not a stealth game fan, the action may be too slow and require too much thinking/pre-planning for fans of more action based genres. There is solid stealth gameplay to be had and to be enjoyed.
Conclusion
The strength of this game is the visceral experience. It all feels very real and can be very tense, much like the enjoyable tension you feel in a good scary movie. This is all very good, but some poor choices in game design sometimes pull you out of the experience which is not so good. The flashback system of storytelling can be a little disjointed but if you are patient and can use your imagination to let yourself go inside of the story than it is a very enjoyable ride, well worth a rental and I feel well worth owning as well. Although once completed I feel there is very little need for a second run through. There are flaws but the strengths of this game carry it through and make it a solid addition to any stealth fans collection.
Pros
+ Solid graphics and superb lighting
+ Awesome voice acting
+ Very visceral, tension filled experience for a patient gamer
Cons
- Some poor design decisions can pull gamer out of the experience
- Difficult gunplay can turn some gamers off, but I found it to increase the excitement and challenge
- Overuse of bloom effects
- AI could use a lot of tweaking to allow for more random patrol patterns
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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