Dracula Resurrection Review

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Dracula Resurrection

Review by Orb

Dracula Resurrection is everything done right in a horror-themed adventure game. Originally released for the PC in May of 2000 by Dreamcatcher (in North America), this is the game that proves the old Mac gamer’s adage true: we may not get every port of every game, we just get the best ones. And this one is well worth the wait.

The story of Dracula Resurrection begins where Bram Stoker’s Dracula leaves off. It’s probably not necessary to reiterate the original story, or the real-life “Vlad the Impaler” historical narrative; unless you’ve been living under a rock since, oh, somewhere around 1930, you’ve had it beamed into your head through a series of retellings, rehashings, and elaborations. 

What separates Dracula Resurrection from the pack is that it nicely captures the ambiance of Stoker and maintains the perspective of the characters, using them to immerse the player in an extremely well-designed adventure game, all accomplished while not shortchanging the player in any aspect—puzzles, story, or graphics—a handy trick.

The game is played from the perspective of Jonathan Harker, the hero who had previously found and destroyed Dracula, saving his wife Mina (who had been bitten and was under the spell of Dracula) in the process. The story begins seven years later, in 1904. Mina has once again fallen under the spell of the monster that Jonathan thought he destroyed. Jonathan must once again battle Dracula and save Mina.

The graphics in Dracula Resurrection are absolutely irresistible.  These environments are exactly as a player would want them to be. From the dark snowy town to the eerie, musty castle, literally every single area is a horror aficionado’s delight. Dust hanging in the air is visible. The environments are 3D, and to say that they look pretty real is an understatement. The game boasts full 360-degree panning, and this helps the immersiveness considerably.  The degree of freedom of movement in looking around is wonderful, more so even yet because of the fact that the environments are so well-drawn and fun to be in.

Of particular note is the quality of rendering of the 3D characters in the game—you can literally see the pores in their faces.  And the characters themselves hold up to the original Stoker, with maybe a bit of Dickens thrown in for good measure. The game engine is of an equal caliber to the one recently designed by Presto Studios for Myst III: Exile, and it’s quite easy to favorably compare the two. The cutscenes are of equal caliber to some of the top animated films Hollywood has been turning out recently, such as Shrek.

The only caveat I have is that because this is a French-designed game, fixed up for an English market, the mouths of the characters do not at all match the words coming out of them. This is a very small complaint in the overall scheme of things, and it is not necessarily distracting—it gives the feel of a dubbed foreign film, actually.

The navigation is extremely smooth—there are no lags to speak of in transitions. The game also has a smart cursor, so there is not a lot of wasted time trying to figure out where the game can or cannot go or what can be done next.

The gameplay is linear, but the design is such that this is in no way a hindrance, and the game moves along at a nice clip. It’s much like going though the ultimate amusement park haunted house.  There is no red-herring inventory and no wasted or useless actions to lose momentum on, as the design is very tight and well thought-out.

The game does not use a soundtrack except in cutscenes to heighten the dramatic effect of the story. Rather, it uses a series of unnerving ambient sounds in each location—the sound of things moving around, scraping stones being pushed, creaking wood, rattling chains. In some places, there is the barest hint of what sounds like human voices, a not-quite-discernable spooky sound, the kind of special effect used in the film The Exorcist, which had buried in the soundtrack the droning of hundreds of bees the sound of which was enough to unnerve but not to invite examination.

Puzzles are inventory-based and very logical. As covered earlier, there are no red herring items, and inventory that is no longer needed is discarded rather than building up, making for very streamlined gameplay in that there is no time spent trying too may wrong combinations or items on the environment—the frustration level is very low.

A minor point of complaint is that the game can only be started from the first disk.

I played on an 466 MHz iBook, and I suggest that the Mac player use a Mac with a decent graphics card so as not to not miss any of the treats of the design. But nevertheless, I think playing this on a low-end iMac would not diminish any of the gamer’s enjoyment at all. The system requirements do call for a G3 or better, so to those of you limping along with a still-useful Power PC, this is the call, time to upgrade to stay up with the newest games.

Dracula Resurrection is seriously scary and atmospheric without being horrifying, more of an elegant Vincent Price scare than an 80s slasher movie. Think Goth Disney, and you’ve got the right idea. A must-have for the horror fan. And as far as Mac gamers go, Dreamcatcher, bring on the next one! The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Index+ Publisher: Dreamcatcher Release Date: June 2001 (Mac version); May 2000 (PC version)

Available for: MacintoshPlayStationWindows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Mac:G3 or iMac System 8.5.1 (or later) 64 MB RAM 6 MB 3D Accelerator Video Card 8X CD-ROM drive Open GL Compatible

PC:Windows 95/98 Pentium 166 (200 recommended) 32 MB RAM (64 with Win98) Video card 16-bit sound card 4x CD ROM drive (8x recommended)

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies). 

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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