A Stroke of Fate: Operation Valkyrie

Good Premise, mediocre execution. Having not played a point-and-click since Titanic, over 14 years ago, I thought I'd try this as the WW2 spy theme seemed interesting. Sadly, it proved nearly unplayable. Someone experienced with this sort of game may do fine, but I struggled to figure out what I was supposed to do and eventually gave up. You have to do so many boring tasks to get something simple done, as if they tried to prevent the game from being to short, instead of making a better longer game. Example (MINOR SPOILERS): struggle to set up spy camera with correct lens (no instructions given), tripod too low for view out of window (seriously?), go back to office and search for taller tripod, try camera again only to find steam from leaky pipe in nearby building blocking view, find someone to fix pipe...take photo...develop photo (no instructions given), give photos to your boss who does not accept them because you apparently had to take more photos (this was never made clear). The game is full of this, tedious and not enough guidance or help. The voice acting is very mediocre (why get sleepy americans to do german voices?). There were also some problems with screen resolution and loading crashes. All in all a pity, as this game clearly had some potential, with great and historically authentic looking visuals. If you like the subject material and have a lot of experience with these sorts of games, you may like it, otherwise, give this a miss as there are probably much better point-and-click games out there.

Великолепная игра, очень тонко, изящно, изысканно и грамотно обыгрывающая глобальные исторические события, умело оперируя разведывательной и шпионской тематикой с идеально выверенными вкраплениями исторических фактов и колорита, особенностей быта и взглядов тех лет, личных драм и общих ужасов войны, правдоподобно и цельно складывающих уникальную атмосферу игры, которую можно справедливо воспринимать и как энциклопедию того времени. По ходу сюжета не раз подсознательно проводятся параллели с легендарным фильмом "17 мгновений весны", настолько все вокруг ощущается реальным. Увлекательный, бурно и масштабно развивающийся сюжет, который желаешь поскорее раскрыть сам, логичные головоломки, живые герои, жизненные истории, интересные умозаключения в диалогах, заставляющие задуматься. Браво!

This is a good ww2-theemed point and click adventure game. You play an SS officer who is trying to kill Hitler. You go talk to german characters and try to find those that want to kill him and use your authority (and inventory) to carry out your goal of killing him. The visuals are really good and it has ok animations and music. The voice acting is Russian-level bad. A certain secretary namde Victoria is probably the worst voice actress in the history of gaming. I wanted to stab my ears..... Anyway I still like the game and am looking forward for part 2. 8/10

Almost walked out of the house in full Gestapo uniform with shaving cream still on my face! 10/10! But seriously, the artwork in this game is beautiful, and attention to detail is very well thought out! However, gameplay itself is a little on the slow side (I haven't finished the game yet as of this review, I will update if anything changes). I think it would help the player to know a little German history from the WWII era, the narration goes into a lot of detail about specific personalities from that time. Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone who likes adventure/quest games.

I'm so extemly aroused by the main character of Gerhard Meyer in his uniform that I can't properly focus on the game.

Very nice game in general, with an original historical background. You play a SS Standartenfuhrer, who chooses to get involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler, using his authority in the Gestapo. What called my attention is that the character you play -intentionally or not- is not the typical "good guy". He's far from noble, actually. His main reason for being disenchanted with Hitler was that he saw [i]Germans[/i] in the concentration camps (apparently he was cool with it when it was only the Jews). Mild mild spoiler (not really, but just in case: [spoiler]He doesn't care about exposing the conspirators to his superior, saving only who can be useful to him in the future, or about accusing an "innocent" man as communist because he was in his way, even after he stated that his motivation came from seeing Germans in the camps solely for being communists or personal enemies to people in power[/spoiler]. This is unusual, and was very interesting for me during the gameplay. THE GOOD: + Nice visuals, with beautiful artwork in the cut scenes. + Excellent attention to detail, especially with historical elements. + The music isn't overwhelming or annoying; sound effects are cool. + Different dialog options. It doesn't change the main outcome, but you may learn more or less, according to what you choose. + The plot was believable, historically accurate within the context of this fictional little story, and made sense. THE NOT SO GOOD: * Two of the "mini-games" inserted in the game are exclusively about luck, rather than skills, and losing them may block your game, forcing you to use a previously saved game. * The first mini-game was quite poorly explained. * The game has you picking up stuff you don't need at the moment. This is a common trait of most point-and-click games, but it kind of spoils the immersion. * Voice acting was... not that good. Some characters were ok, others less so. * Even though the main plot was somewhat solved, many point were left open in the hopes of part 2. But let's hope! THE HORRIBLE: - The pronunciation of German words was preposterous, especially by certain characters. Every time someone said "Wehrmacht", I felt like someone was scratching a blackboard. Note that I'm not German, and I'm cool with actors pronouncing "Gestapo" instead of "Geshtapo", but some of it was too bad even for me. - The woman who did the voice of "Victoria". That was the worst part of this game, and the worst I ever heard. I heard kids in elementary school reading from history books better than this lady did her lines. PLUS: she pronounced the word "Fuhrer" as "fur-r", and that wasn't the worst part of her "acting". (Another reviewer deemed her probably the worst voice actress in the history of gaming, and I agree) Not mind-blowingly good, but I recommend it. I had a very good time playing it, and I'm looking forward to playing the next one!

A promising premise ruined by an irritating point and click interface and far too many boring tasks to undertake.

Excellent game, especially for history buffs.

A Stroke of Fate: Operation Valkyrie is a typical point-and-click adventure containing dry, emotionless, and uninspiring voice actors. They really should have done the game in German with English subtitles or at least cast actors with German accents. But even then, when you supply actors with no personality, it wouldn't have mattered much. The story takes place after the failed attempt of the original Operation Valkyrie and you play the role of an SS Officer with a secret desire to carry on the mission. Many of the clickable objects provide a mini 1940s German history lesson. It's slightly interesting, but the storytelling is pretty bland making this a boring experience overall.

A nice classic styled adventure game. A few unintuitive things were needed to progress though, had to resort to walkthroughs.