After storming the beach more times than we can remember, the last thing we want is another cookie cutter first person shooter based on World War II, which is why Gamecock and Replay Studios' Velvet Assassin intrigues us. Yes, it takes place during WWII, and sure, you have to slaughter Nazis, except instead of fighting alongside a squad of gung ho commandos, you go it alone behind enemy lines, where stealth, not machine guns, is the key to success.

Velvet Assassin stars Violette Summer, a female protagonist based on WWII heroine Violette Szabo. Throughout the course of the game's 12 missions, you must infiltrate Nazi strongholds and kill silently, whether that involves sneaking up behind someone and slitting their throat, or doing something especially nasty, such as pull the pin to a grenade attached to their person. However, all of these missions occur in Violette's dreams, as she recalls her murderous exploits from the comfort of a hospital bed. It's an interesting concept, especially since Replay Studios intends to take full advantage of the dream world by enabling Violette to use morphine to her advantage. Taking some allows her to enter Morphine Mode, where she's able to slow down time and thus, get the jump on her adversaries. With that said, you control the amount of morphine, so giving her too much will kill her.

Due to the stealth-based gameplay, it's easy to call Velvet Assassin a Splinter Cell/Metal Gear clone, but the game does separate itself from its competition. For starters, there's more creative freedom, thanks to 50-60 killing moves, the chance to upgrade Violette over the course the game and various environmental interactions, such as lighting pools of gasoline on fire (with someone standing in it) or turning on/off a radio to attract attention. In addition, the game has a dark, almost intimidating presence. You won't wander through drab office buildings. Instead, you'll navigate your way through Nazi torture chambers en route to captured soldiers, not so you can free and escort them to safety, but so you can give them cyanide capsules that they'll use instead of divulging Allied secrets.

Uniqueness aside, it's easy to compare this game with others in its genre. Even Manhunt comes to mind, since you sneak up behind someone, hit a button and watch a killing animation unfold, or use the shadows to hide from your enemies. However, we dig the gritty setting as well as the commitment to model objectives after real WWII missions, so we're looking forward to Velvet Assassin's fall debut.

Related Links

Velvet Assassin Xbox 360 Game Guide

Velvet Assassin PS3 Game Guide

Velvet Assassin PC Game Guide