A decent stealth game that gets the atmosphere and tension down to a "T" but not worth the asking price.
Velvet Assassin is a stealth game and nothing more. If you've played any of the Splinter Cell games you will be right at home here. However, unlike the PC version of Splinter Cell games this seems to be more geared toward the consoles or XBox 360 as many in-game elements suggust.
You'll play as a British agent or secret agent (like - James Bond) who is actually a female that has been hospitalized after an unknown tragic accident. As you play through the story you will have various tasks like destroying a fuel depot, etc. Your main task is to get to your targets without being noticed by the guards and killing them if they get in your way. It's a simple and effective stealth concept but the way you perform these tasks is a bit arcadish compared to past PC stealth games due to the storng XBox port feel the game has.
The controls are geared more toward a XBox control scheme. You can not navigate the main menus with the PC mouse which is a shame. The steath kills are animated cut sceens that are a bit cheesy to me. From climbing latters, going through doors or crawling under objects are all animated where you will appear on the other side without actually going through the areas in real time.
What saves this game is it's errie - surreal atmosphere. The story is not bad but it can get confusing sometimes especially on what happened to her and why she was in the hospital injured. The games music is well placed as you will hear creepy sounds in dark hallways or structures. The graphics are wonderful and very vibrate which is a plus. I liked how the designers used color to set the mode in various levels of the game. One level you may have bright reds and oranges and another you will have dark greens and blues. Very creative to make the atmosphere look right for such a setting.
The game is not very long and you will finish it fairly quickly if you have played these types of games before. I just didn't like the console feel it had but it seems that more PC games these days are becoming console ports where it plays on a PC but everything else is like the console version. It's sad that developers are that lazy and cheap. I also feel this game is way too expensive for what you get. The story and gameplay does not warrent the $50 price tag. My advise is to wait until this game comes down to $30 or below. It's just not worth the full price with the quality, length and the fact there is no multiplayer.
If your looking for a different kind of stealth game where you can play as a female British secret agent that stabs Nazi's to death then Velvet Assassin is a good game to buy. Just don't pay full price for this average steatlh title.