VELVET ASSASSIN (PC)
Violette Summer is in a coma. Postrada in a despznable hospital bed, gradually recalls his experiences in the Second World War. Clinging to her dose of morphine, the heroine relives the high points of various sabotages that made a dent in the historical legacy of German barracks. Replay Studios offers us the possibility of enjoying a peculiar infiltration title that focuses on the artistic plane, leaving aside the gameplay, with a good theoretical base but tedious in practice.
The route of the war games is so prolific, so extensive, that there is hardly any margin for works of different caliber to shine without attracting attention. Velvet Assassin is one of those titles that has gone unnoticed by many fairs, raised a stir around a few users who have dared to praise its artistic aspect, without a doubt the highlight of the work of Replay Studios. The line that has followed until it has finally seen the light has gone through several delays, changes of concept in the gameplay and other tasks for which the official launch has been delayed countless times - it was initially scheduled to arrive on the market at the end of 2008-.
At this point it was difficult to know exactly when the European public could enjoy it. The impressions offered by this House of the title showed a cover of interesting concept that, nevertheless, seemed to have complications when putting into practice the classic history of sabotage. If there is something that has differentiated it from the rest of the competitors, it is precisely the character of its protagonist, based on a real character who suffered the unspeakable during the Second World War, time in which the setting of the video game is inspired. Violette Szabo is one of the most representative figures of the time, awarded with several medals to the value after joining the SOE -Special Operations Executive-, a British unit that hosted and trained people on foot to fulfill missions of various kinds.
The heroine was captured by the German forces to later suffer all kinds of harassment, torture and interrogation that would never extract anything in clear. A personality to be taken into account for future heroic references that, in fact, has led to fiction from very contrary perspectives. It is necessary to know something of the background of this interesting personality to form a small mental sketch of Violette Summer, the alter-ego of the one described above, who despite not representing exactly the same historical figure does share her personality. It is, as we have been commenting, the high point of an argument mistreated by the demands of the script, which does not accompany a gameplay up to the circumstances.
Remembering the past,
Violette is prostrate in a bed, barely conscious. A syringe from which we soon inferred is a dose of morphine that keeps her awake in a location that we ignore until the final stages of the adventure. Halfway between sick visions and deep reverie, the heroine is transported to a beautiful place of rural German, but not before commenting on what was his life's goal. Little background is offered to know that we are witnessing the story of a spy shower in the arts of sabotage to which various missions are commissioned. Generally you must always place an explosive charge at a certain point to flee using any possible route. The story is giving depth in this aspect with a retrospective tone.
The heroine is not able to avoid the scenes that come to her memory, explaining in the beginning a simple tutorial with which we learn to handle the basic executions of the control system. Regardless of whether we use the Xbox 360 or PC edition, the camera is kept at a fixed point that allows you to rotate the character to contemplate its appearance, dressed in clothing that varies according to the mission we face. Violette combines the flashbacks with the real scenes where a secondary character appears punctually, although again we insist that deepening in this aspect is little less than reducing interest to the final stretch of the argument. Yes it is interesting to emphasize the scarce fluidity of the plot, which as a rule is lost in the missions themselves leaving aside the "real" scenes, so to speak.
A sabotage mission requires stealth. If in the current adventures the mechanics is focused more and more on offering the player the possibility of deciding how he wants to access at the end of each mission, in Velvet Assassin the opposite happens. We start at a certain point to advance in a linear way as we collect collectibles -the only reason to return to enjoy the adventure-, the odd weapon as well as other objects necessary to cross specific scenarios. The gas mask, to give an example, is essential to cross an inscrutable area if we do not have this artifact, which serves as an example to analyze one of the points that have less coherence within the gameplay: the freedom of movement .
Simply access from one point to another of the scenarios while avoiding the unintelligent guards-not to say stupid-guarding every inch of the terrain. Infiltration, as we said, is essential to be able to move forward. Violette is surrounded by a violet halo when it is not possible to detect it before the enemy eyes, although unlike other titles of the genre this does not translate into total invisibility. If a guard is fixed at our position several meters away, it will usually be able to detect us to start firing. Given the lack of vitality of the protagonist, who dies upon receiving a few bullets, it is practically impossible to escape. Also the sound is another element very to take into account, a fact that forces us to walk squatting in most of the scenes of murder.
Repetitive
mechanics The game mechanics is based on calling the attention of the guards, separating them from the rest of the comrades so that they can deliver a deadly stab from the back. When the enemy is within reach of Violette, a reddish halo comes to the scene. In another example of the unfortunate gameplay, it is necessary to use a surgical precision so that the German troops do not detect us in some strange maneuver. This mechanism leads us to the common system of "trial and error", something that also contributes the limited Artificial Intelligence of the guards, who always follow the same surveillance pattern. Unfortunately at this point the only thing that gets is to upset the player after repeating the same scene a dozen times always recovering the game from a distant save point.
It is curious that the product is sold as a mixture between action and infiltration when the first is more a burden than a benefit. We have weapons that can only be used at specific moments, since in any other circumstance the shots automatically alert the entire fleet of guards. The frustration is doubled if we take into account that in most of the enemies they detect us in improbable points, either hidden in the shade or a few centimeters from their position. Curiously enough, at other times they are simply unable to notice the shadow cast by the character, among so many other defects of this nature that we have been able to detect during the game. If we finally get to bet on the back of any of them, an interesting sequence of murder appears on the screen,
There are two interesting points to comment on the gameplay. The first option to use a disguise that does not help much to go unnoticed-again, the enemies detect us at the first exchange-, the second being the inexplicable awkwardness of Violette when it is time to take a gun and start firing. The sight is imprecise, the bullets barely make a dent in the enemies even if they are specifically aimed at his head. In line with the clumsy movements of the protagonist, who is not very graceful when it comes to running, but honestly is not something that surprised. Little by little we emphasize the graphic plan, which except for the video scenes does not offer a show worthy of being highlighted.
However, it is enough, together with the interesting soundtrack, to make us feel in a situation. The setting has been worked correctly, the opposite of enemy designs, cloned together, exactly like most of the locations in which the adventure takes place. Although in general they look a less acceptable aspect, they fall too much in the repetition of the same scenarios in small, short, labyrinthine levels in their majority. The PC edition shows a technical aspect superior to that of Xbox 360 in most of the senses except in the case of explosions and other technical effects, which unfortunately are unable to adapt gracefully to the good work carried out with the setting of the title.
The little technical grace can be seen in greater magnitude before some of the movements of the characters within the game itself. Enemies usually come together to have a conversation just at the time we passed by; sometimes it is better to wait to knock them down separately, others to pass by although it seems inevitable that they discover us. Weapons are only essential in certain situations in which it is impossible to surprise enemies -see the flight from the bunker in the first chapter-; unfortunately the moments of action, as we have been commenting so far, do not deserve separate mention in this strange conglomerate of good intentions and bad execution.
Differences between editions
With the passage of time we get used to the fact that the differences between Xbox 360 and PC are practically nil. There are always exceptions that confirm the rule; Velvet Assassin does not reach much, although it is true that we talk about a title that has been developed with compatible posts in mind. From this we extract that the PC graphics, as long as we have a team capable of moving them with ease, are slightly superior to those of the Microsoft console in terms of text quality, sharpness, and even certain lighting effects. It is not one of those games in which one must fall into obsession, since in neither case do we speak of a title especially skilled in this field.
Minimum requirements
Windows XP / Vista, Processor Pentium 4 to 3 GHz, 512 MB of RAM, 5 Gigabytes of free space in HD, Graphic card with 256 MB (Nvidia GeForce 6800), Sound card compatible with DirectX, DirectX 9.0c. Keyboard and Mouse. DVD reader.
conclusion
It does not stop surprising that a title of these characteristics loses much of its potential for a mise en scene less than lamentable in most of the occasions. It is one of lime and another of sand. If the artistic part moves, surprises and even pleases in most of the adventure, the gameplay is as boring as monotonous, the Artificial Intelligence of the enemies an authentic murga, the evolution of the nefarious story, rushing into the final chapters without reaching the climax that follows from an espionage title. Nor is there a reason that drives us to continue playing if we ignore the interesting setting or the possibility of observing fairly remarkable cinematic scenes. [image | nid = 1128353 | align = | preset = inline] It's a shame, but frankly there's not much else to scratch. The limitations of the game make it impossible to carry out an in-depth analysis that covers a larger field than the one we have dealt with today, although this does not mean that the integrity of the game is underestimated. It is entertaining while it lasts, it has its virtues, but little else. [image | nid = 1129245 | align = | preset = inline] If you are a fan of the genre you will know how to enjoy it in its proper measure, if on the contrary you expect the quintessence of sabotage games, this is not your game. At least it is convenient to take a look and from there clarify if it really is worth or not worth getting a product that arrives in Spain at a reduced price and that at times offers interesting scenes. - The graphic aspect of the game is at an acceptable level, although it fails at times. - The characterization of Violette, Without a doubt the best element of the adventure. - Atmosphere. The scenes that reflect the murders. That particular way of understanding the Second World War.
The best
- Atmosphere The scenes that reflect the murders. That particular way of understanding the Second World War.
- The graphic aspect of the game is at an acceptable level, although it fails at times.
- The characterization of Violette, without doubt the best element of the adventure.
Worst
- The argument hardly comes into play until the last missions of the adventure, which does not offer an excessively long duration.
- Monotonous enemy intelligence, boring.
- Poor game system, too repetitive.
