Bram Stoker's Dracula

Finally, here's a sprite worthy of Dracula's challenge and a game worthy of Bram Stoker's classic novel.

The control is adequate, but you are subject to far too many unavoidable hits. As you can guess, there are some really grainy clips from the movie shown between the levels. But despite its flaws, this is a great game to pull out around Halloween.

This version has a lot more to sink your teeth into than the NES and Super NES games. It's by no means perfect, but it's tough and fun to play.

Incredible 3-D backgrounds and digitized actors make this game beautiful to look at, but disappointing to play. The full-motion video from Coppola's Dracula movie is muddy and almost unwatchable. However, the gross-looking adversaries are cool to kill.

You've probably played other Dracula's before - as in the movies, it's one of the most belabored stories ever. Overexposure shouldn't keep you from staking out a claim with Sony Imagesoft's latest version. Though it's a long, hard journey, those who survive will be able to say "Fangs for the memories."

I briefly played the SNES version of the game for comparison, and I have to say that, despite its faults, I like this version of Dracula much better. The CG backgrounds interplay well enough to avoid being a gimmick, the challenge is high without being impossible, and it's a pretty sharp-looking title. The rendered backgrounds come at a price though, as this is an unusually limiting platformer. If you're expecting to leap up and around at a respectable pace, you'll be disappointed. If you can handle creeping ahead slowly and perfecting your timing to defeat pattern-based attackers, there are certainly worse ways to spend seven levels.

The sounds are decent, but are by no means atmospheric. And, since this is a Sega CD game, there are grainy cut-scenes from the movie after certain levels. When you have such a wonderfully creepy license to work with, the finished product should have been a lot more fun. This simply feels like every other movie game, where they rush a product out with the obvious goal of mo' money in mind and it suffers tremendously as a result. I would suggest forgetting this conversation ever took place.

The concept is good, but the game needs work. The sound is good and rendered backgrounds are fantastic, but the overall graphics are grainy and choppy. The game plays terrible. Not that much fun.

Despite the potential for a gruesomely good time, you're really sticking your neck out with this monotonous game. Bram Stoker's timeless novel deserves a great treatment, but, unfortunately, this isn't it. The CD game only makes you hungry for a nice stake.

Bram Stoker's Dracula provides a sufficient challenge, but the game is not overly fun. The bosses can be challenging, but you will probably lose most of your health energy by getting snagged on some incredibly annoying spears that pop up at many points throughout the game. There are hidden passages throughout that are marginally enjoyable to explore, and like I said earlier, the graphics are very nice. The music is also very cool. Unfortunately, the game comes up short in terms of pure gameplay.

Final word: The game's box is infinitely more scary, entertaining and well-made than anything this game can deliver. And it's not all that scary or entertaining... or well-made, for that matter.

Don't make your friends thinks you're stupid by buying this game. It's an appalling waste of money when you look at what else is available for the Super NES at the moment.

Grafiken i spelet ska antagligen spegla de gotiskt skräckinjagande miljöerna som finns i filmen, men det enda man lyckats åstadkomma är trista och färglösa bakgrunder. De monster man stöter på är likaledes trista, och animationerna av huvudpersonen är i vissa fall komiska. I ljudväg bjuder spelet på bra intromusik och ett par samplade ljudeffekter av god kvalitet, men annars är det ganska tyst. Egentligen finns det ingenting som befogar ett inköp av det här spelet.

Though it is fun to take shots at a digital likeness of Gary Oldman, this title is so generic and sloppy that you will find yourself frantically scrambling to select "no" when given the option to continue. There are generations of Belmonts weeping at what this game does to the noble profession of vampire hunting.

The scenery is not particularly creepy and the music is way too upbeat. Although there are some cool enemies like skeletons, zombies, and werewolves, you are more likely to be taken down by all those annoying tiny rats that scurry around each level. And there are cheap hits galore! Spears shoot out above or below you, giving you no warning or time to react. Heck, even when you know they're coming they're impossible to avoid. All-in-all, Dracula is very mediocre.

It looks like Bram Stoker's Dracula had some good ideas going into it. Pre-rendered 3D graphics, CD sound, clips from the film, and digitalized actors. But the execution just went terribly wrong. What's more, the ending is about as anti-climactic as you can get. It lasts no more then ten seconds, then the credits roll, and it says "The End." That's it! This is the kind of game that I feel sorry for. I kept seeing used copies sitting on store shelves for next to nothing, and there's a good reason for that. Actually, there are many good reasons, as hopefully you now know. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this disgrace of a game.