DigitalBattle.com

WW2 games are a plenty of, ever since Medal of Honor took the FPS world by storm (and Call of Duty following in its footsteps), there has been no shortage of games set in World War 2. However, there are only few stealth games in that setting, and one of them is Velvet Assassin.

You play as Violet Summer, a british spy/assassin sent behind enemy lines for Queen and country. But not so fast. You start by waking up at a hospital after a mission went wrong. You’re woozy from the morphine and have nightmares of the past missions, which serve to tell some of the backstory.

The gameplay is your usual stealth action; you sneak around, way behind enemy lines and complete missions, which vary from blowing up important buildings (like fuel depots) to straight out assassinating Nazi leaders. The gameplay is very intuitive and the sneaking works great. To some extent. What Velvet Assassin does great — the sneaking — is countered by what it does bad; the enemy AI. You can sneak behind enemies, but those enemies are rather dumb, actually, they’re plain stupid. They walk through pre-determined waypoints, and will often ignore when they see you or when you do obvious stuff, like cut the lights. This takes away a lot of the rush from sneaking, because you know that you’re sneaking behind morons. Also, the stealth action is somewhat linear; there’s usually only one way of getting to your objective. This means that there is very little replay value in the game, as there is no multiplayer either.

The combat is mostly comprised of you sneaking up and surprising the bad guys by slitting their throats etc. However, there are other ways of killing your foes, like setting electricity through a water pit once a guard steps on it, or pull a valve that releases toxic gas, thereby killing your foes. In addition to this, there is the usual way: shooting them. However, the shooting mechanics are poorly implemented, and it’s best avoided. But at a few places in the game, you are required to shoot several enemies, which can become quite frustrating. Also, the amount of ammunition is quite limited, so you’re best off fighting your enemies in another fashion.

Another thing that the game does well, is the atmosphere it creates. It’s by no means a “light” game. It’s very dark, both technically and artistically, as you frequently come across atrocities of war committed by the Nazis, like mass graves of executed prisoners and resistance fighters. There’s a great sense of realism to the game, from the grim visuals, to the soundtrack, which create great sense of realism and danger.

Technically, the game looks great, especially the dark parts and shadows. The lighting is done very well and serves as a way of immersing the player into the game (and helps greatly with the sneaking). The sounds and voice acting are on par with what’s expected — not perfect, but not bad either. The soundtrack is especially moody and creates a feel of suspense. However, the game does stutter occasionally with low FPS, and there are a few bugs which should’ve been ironed out.

In all, Velvet Assassin can be recommended for the fans of WW2 games and especially stealth action games. However, there isn’t much of a challenge because of the horrible AI and lack of polish,. Furthermore, there is little replay value and no multiplayer feature.

The Good:
Great atmosphere
Harsh realism
Decent stealth action

The Bad:
Lacks polish
Very linear
No multiplayer
Occasional bugs

Overall score: 6/10

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