A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, adventure games
dominated the PC market. Companies like Sierra and LucasArts
flourished using the genre that provided gamers with hours of
entertainment. Times have changed in the last decade though. As
technology improved, the adventure genre has slowly faded out of
the picture. Gamers look for more action, excitement and
graphical marvels in their titles, leaving even the best adventure
games, such as Grim Fandango, in the distance. There aren't many
companies these days willing to bank on the genre.
Canadian-based DreamCatcher Games is one of the few remaining
publishers that are dedicated to releasing adventure games for the
PC. Their latest incarnation is Dracula: Resurrection.
Dracula: Resurrection is based on, and carries forth, the story from
the novel, Bram Stoker's Dracula. For those who don't recall or
never read the novel, it ends as Jonathan Harkin, the main
character, rescues and returns his fiancée to London after
defeating Dracula. Dracula: Resurrection begins seven years later
after Jonathan finds a letter written by his wife. She's decided to
return to Transylvania, unable to ignore the call of her blood. As
Jonathan Harkin, you must return to Dracula's castle and once
again rescue Mina from uncertain danger.
When you jump into the world of Dracula: Resurrection, the first
thing you'll notice is the incredible atmosphere portrayed via the
use of jaw dropping visuals, haunting sound and spooky locales.
The game is viewed like any other adventure title, in the third
person. With the use of their Phoenix VR technology, you can
rotate the camera around 360 degrees as you move your mouse
and travel from one locale to another. You begin the game by
traversing Transylvania, making your way through an abandoned
mine and finally reaching the castle of Dracula himself. The
environments for each of these treks are striking in terms of
graphics, although many of the locales are extremely dark, which
can cause nightmares when you're hunting for inventory items or
solving some of the games' puzzles. There are several cut scenes
placed throughout the game, particularly after you solve a puzzle,
and represent one of the highlights of Dracula: Resurrection. The
cut scenes are some of the best I've seen in an adventure game
and are almost worth the price of admission in themselves.
Besides the eye-popping visuals, the sound also plays an important
role in creating a creepy atmosphere. While the voice acting
leaves little to be desired, the eerie music played throughout your
quest makes up it. Toss in some well-placed sound effects and
Dracula: Resurrection just oozes with atmosphere. If Dracula:
Resurrection were a movie, I'd be more than content with the
results at that point, however the game begins to show some faults
when you actually get down to the gameplay.
One of the biggest drawbacks to Dracula: Resurrection, as
mentioned earlier, is the fact that the level of darkness has been
vastly overused. Many a time, I had difficulty actually finding
objects and performing certain actions since I couldn't see certain
portions of the screen. You'll find yourself adjusting your monitor's
brightness in order to get past certain points in the game. You may
also find yourself combing the screen with your mouse in a pixel
hunt for certain objects. It's just that hard to see sometimes. That
fault aside, the overall use of puzzles doesn't quite match the
intensity of the visuals. While many puzzles are rewarding
enough, there are also several repetitive tasks that need to be
completed in order to advance. In some instances, common sense
might tell you that you should be able to complete one task in a
number of ways, but Dracula: Resurrection only allows a single
solution to each puzzle.
In terms of the overall story, I thought Dracula: Resurrection
lacked, well, vampires, let alone Dracula. The game is relatively
void of the blood-sucking creatures and Dracula seems content
with watching the action from the sidelines. When I reached the
end of my quest, I didn't come away with a great feeling of
accomplishment. I wanted more out of this game considering how
good it looked and came across on the screen.
In terms of controls, Dracula: Resurrection is extremely easy to
play with. You control your character, Jonathan, by using your
mouse. Interacting with the environment and your inventory is
done at the click of a mouse as well. Moving from locale to
another is easy enough and the transition is a quick one, making it
less tedious to backtrack when required. Adventure fans will
certainly be familiar with the setup and those less experienced
should have no trouble jumping into the fray.
In the end, the outer shell was visually incredible, but the creamy
centre just wasn't creamy enough. Dracula: Resurrection isn't a
poor adventure game by any means, but it does lack substance
and variety when it really counts. Dracula: Resurrection is a light
meal that looks much better in the picture than it does on your
plate.