Drac's back!
The biggest, baddest vampire of them all has featured in a number of games over the years, not least of which are this game's prequels, Dracula and Dracula: The Resurrection. The series is a pretty decent one which combines exploration and Myst-style puzzling to largely decent effect and this final entry proves to be a fairly decent one to go out on. The story here finds a priest traveling to Translyvania to investigate a possible case of sainthood but when he examines the corpse of the doctor in question, he finds more than he bargained for. The marks on her body lead him to believe her death may have been at the hands of old Drac himself, so the priest decides to seek out the truth for himself. This translates into a classic first person point-and-click adventure game, where you explore a variety of creepy environments, grabbing items and solving the numerous inventory-based puzzles which bar your way. If you're into this series or this style of game in general, then you're likely to want to check out this one as it's nice example of the genre. Things get off to a good start, thanks to some nice presentation and strong visuals, which really bring home the brooding atmosphere and subtle undercurrent of fear which pervades the game. There's some excellent design work on display here, and which is backed up by equally impressive sound work. The gameplay itself is familiar, with little in the way of innovation but everything is executed well enough, with challenging puzzles and an intriguing storyline, to ensure this is easily overlooked. Overall, a handsome and enjoyable adventure.
