For our impressions, a few fellow GayGamer Castle-mates and I watched Replay Studios reps play through one of the first of 12 missions seen in the game. While the game is planned for a 360 release, we were taken through the mission on their latest PC build. It didn't take long for Replay Studios' home grown game engine to impress us as the game opened to a shot of Violette inside the French hospital. Characters were beautifully detailed and their animations were graceful, but the most remarkable visual aspect had to be the careful and effective use of environment lighting.

The quiet scene begins with Violette lying in bed, recalling one of her recent missions with some helpful reminders by some nearby documents and photos. The camera then pulls into one of the photos and Violette's memories come back to life seamlessly as she begins to narrate her bomb planting mission behind enemy lines. As the player takes control of Violette, gameplay takes place from a traditional third person perspective with gun combat closing in with a "behind the shoulder" camera angle that should make any fan of Resident Evil 4 feel right at home.

When the Replay Studio reps told us that Velvet Assassin was a "Stealth Action" game, they weren't kidding. While the level presented to us was mostly linear, each room allowed the player to handle encounters with a variety of historically themed guns, gadgets and tactics. Just watching Violette take out the first few guards, it was clear that players going out guns blazing would have difficulties where more methodical players would be rewarded. One of the simple stealth techniques shown off in this demo was the ability to look through the keyholes of doors to get a small peak at what's on the other side of the wall. Violette could just barge through a door into a room if she wanted to but this tactic comes in handy when she's trying to pick off enemies one by one without anyone noticing.

And speaking of picking off enemies, Violette's vicious stealth kills are as brutal as they are effective. If Violette is able to sneak behind one of her enemies, she has a variety of techniques to dispose of them. Some of the kills that we witnessed had Violette gracefully silencing an enemy as she stabbed him the liver and another where she ferociously drives her knife into the back of a guard's head. Perhaps the cruelest death we observed was when she simply pulled the pin out of a grenade on an enemy's belt and waited in the darkness for the guard to blow up just a few feet away. We were told that the retail game will include over 50 of these unique kills and are varied depending on Violette's current weapon of choice, what her targets are carrying, and any special environmental surroundings.

The use of light and shadow typically plays in important role in just about every stealth game, but Velvet Assassin presents this in an intuitive way that doesn't rely on nano-machines or complicated radar setups. As Violette moves throughout the world, a soft violet glow outlines her figure while she lingers in the dark and other hidden places. This "sixth sense" design makes it very easy to tell just how well concealed the player is and comes together beautifully with the game engine's superb lighting system.

Like many other spies, Violette has to make do with the weapons and resources that she finds on the spot. Most of these the objects she picks up are action game standards (health packs, guns, ammo, etc.), but one very unique resource that she'll occasionally use in combat is morphine. Since she is recovering from injuries in a hospital while recalling her actions, the medicine can be administered to Violette in moments of extreme stress. When on the verge of being spotted by the enemy, Violette can take a syringe of morphine to slow down time as she rushes a target and takes them out quickly. When in use, the morphine will change the player perception of Violette's memories with the realistic environment melting away to become a misty dream-like landscape. Even her appearance is altered to fit the bizarre scenery. The reps presenting the demo led us to believe that morphine use will be further tied into the story and gameplay, leaving us with even more questions of Violette's current physical and possibly mental state.

The demo concluded as Violette places a bomb in the Axis stronghold and dashes away from the impending explosion. With the flames of the blast right on her heals, she fires at even more foes as she sprints past their fallen bodies. Just as it looks as if she won't make it out alive, Violette opens one last door and suddenly finds she's standing right back in her hospital room. With an abrupt cut, she snaps out of her memories as if she has awaken from a dream and realizes she's back in her bed, recuperating from her injuries.

I'll admit that when the bullet points of the game were presented that I wasn't all that thrilled about it. A few cliché red flags popped up in the game's description; World War II setting, heavy stealth gameplay emphasis, distractingly sexy female protagonist. Each of these elements by themselves have broken games in the past, but somehow Replay Studios and publisher Gamecock have turned these potential gameplay pitfalls into their greatest strengths and most fascinating aspects of the game. Hopefully all this effort isn't ignored by critics and gamers when Velvet Assassin is released this extremely busy October for PC and Xbox 360.