Dracula Resurrection

                  A review by Peter Clark

The Real Story.

Prince Vlad III was born in 1431 and ruled a territory
corresponding to today's Romania, on the borderline between two
worlds, the Christian world with Hungary and the Moslem world with
Turkey. Vlad III is more famous under his two meaningful
nicknames: Tepes, the Impaler and Dracula. The origin of the
latter is not clear. The Latin, "Draco", gave "Drac" in Romanian,
which means both "dragon" and "devil." Vlad III's father Vlad II,
was himself nicknamed Dracula because he belonged to the Order of
the Dragon founded by Emperor Sigismond of Luxembourg in 1408.

The Game Story.

It is London in 1904, seven years after defeating and destroying
Dracula, Jonathan Harker finds out that his wife, Mina, has fled
to London to go to Transylvania to the Earl's Castle. What if
Dracula were alive and what if Mina was back in his grip?

You find yourself outside the Golden Crown Inn and initially your
quest is to talk to the landlady, Barina and one of the customers,
Micha. You will not find out a lot to start with and the Cemetery
and the Lakeside Hut will have to be investigated. Various objects
are found, one of which is a Dragon Key. This is vital as it is
used many times throughout the game. The hut is guarded by one of
Dracula's henchmen who must be removed before the hut can be
investigated properly. Clues as to the use of the objects found
can be obtained by questioning the occupants of the Inn.

There is quite a lot to be accomplished in and around the Inn
before you can proceed to another area of the game. Across the
bridge would seem a good place to search but wouldn't you know it,
even after removing the guard, the bridge proves too flimsy and
another exit must be found. The local well eventually provides the
necessary escape route into a mine via a tunnel. Blast! You find
that the tunnel is blocked and you must find a way of moving the
rocks. Return to the Lakeside Hut and you are surprised by one of
Dracula's henchmen and find yourself in the mine quicker than you
thought. Here you will have to take rides in a mine cart. This
will involve you finding a way to change the track points so that
different routes can be taken. If you manage to find your way
through the mine you will be taken on an aerial ride in the cart
into Dracula's Castle.

There is problem here in that your arrival has been seen.  In the
castle you will meet Dorko, a right weirdo. She will tell you
about your wife but before she will help further, she needs an
amulet. There's always a catch isn't there? Before you can
complete that task you will have to find the Medal of the Dragon
Brotherhood. This is the key that will unlock the system and she
knows how to make it work. You will have to visit Dracula's
Bedroom and the Library where there are several puzzles that will
keep you guessing for a while before discovering the medal. Later
on you need to return to Dorko and get more information before
searching the castle again for the amulet. After a whole host of
puzzles, you should discover the amulet. Vampires now make an
appearance and need to be disbursed. Now Dorko appears on the
scene and requests the amulet. She will show you to the room where
Mina, your wife, lies limp and helpless. Ahh! Poor thing! Your
final task is to find the way out of the room back into the real
world and watch the closing sequence.

The story might be old but the way that it is presented here gives
it a new twist. I felt that it was odd that there was no final
confrontation with Dracula himself. However, although that is
missing, there is no shortage of puzzles. These are mainly in the
mine and the castle although the Inn and its surroundings have a
fair few. The problems in the mine are mostly with getting the
mine cart to operate and again my criticism is that in places the
scene is so dark that it is difficult to see some items that are
needed. This seems to be a fault of many games where an air of
doom is needed so lets turn down the lights. In the castle it is
one puzzle after another and I felt that they were different
enough from each other to prevent you thinking, "Oh no not another
one of these." Objects abound and as far as I could see, there are
no red herrings. Everything has its use. I didn't feel that this
was a game that I would remember but it is certainly worth
playing. I have now started on the next game in the series,
"Dracula - Last Sanctuary."  Watch this space.

The above game was played on a PC using a Pentium III chip running
at 700Mhz. I had no problems with either running the game or
installing/uninstalling it. I believe that it is still available
in the shops although I bought my copy about a year ago in a sale.











                              - o -