Over the years, we have seen many stealth action games come and go. Metal Gear Solid thrust us into the world of Solid Snake and his battles against the computer AI, a slew of bosses and the unfortunate gift of accelerated aging. Splinter Cell showed us the missions of Sam Fisher, the night-goggle-wearing hero sneaking through the darkness. These are just a couple of games that mark this genre, and now, a new hero has been added to the family. Her name is Violette Summer, and she is the protagonist of Velvet Assassin. But is this game as smooth as the fabric it based its name on, or does the final product feel a bit more like sandpaper?

You play as Violette Summer, a female MI6 agent on a mission behind enemy lines during World War II. Most of the game, however, is played through Violette’s memories. When the game begins, Violette is seen in a hospital bed, the result of a mission gone wrong. Through these memories, you play through the missions assigned to Violette, such as the destruction of a fuel depot or the assassination of a German colonel. At the risk of giving away too much of the story, let’s just leave it at that.

Let me just begin with the first thing I realized when I started playing this game: It is NOT Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell. It is a game of its own, demanding more sneaking than actual knife or gun play. Unfortunately, Velvet Assassin is doomed to be compared to these games, and because of that, I am going to say I did not enjoy this game at all. I really did tried to, being the stealth game fan that I am, but in the end, I just didn’t enjoy the experience.

The sneaking mechanic isn’t so bad, but if you get caught — and you will be, trust me — you might as well put down the controller and allow the game to take it from there. Once you are caught by any guard, you have two options: running or fighting. If you run, you end up hiding again and eventually end up getting caught and repeating the process or dying. If you try to fight and are armed only with your knife, be ready to start from your last checkpoint. Even if you are armed with any sort of firearm, the gun play is terrible. You can aim directly at an enemies head and miss completely. And then there’s Morphine Mode. Throughout the game, you pick up packs of morphine, which when used, allows you to move around enemies in this weird, bright, slow motion and kill them.

The only true redeeming factor of this game, for me at least, were the graphics. The dark, dank and battle-torn cities and woods allowed for a really cool environmental. But with that comes another problem. Whoever designed the Germans in this game really needs to look at people. Every enemy has an enormous head, and when you kill, arms and legs end up in really weird, wonky positions that make the people look like puppets. Its hard to explain, but trust me, it really takes you out of the experience.

In the end, Velvet Assassin is just not a fun gaming experience. It tries too hard to be like other major names in its genre but ends up failing. It’s a rental at best, but even then it’s a stretch; there are far better games out there that you could spend your time playing. But if you are a real hard-core stealth genre gamer and enjoy a challenge, you might enjoy Velvet Assassin. Just don’t expect it to be like other stealth games you love.