Bram Stoker's Dracula (SMS) Playthrough / Vampires, but unfortunately without teeth :P
3Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993) by Probe Software is a loose adaptation of a film made by Francis Ford Coppola on the spectrum of a platform game. Loose because the game focuses only on the actions of Jonathan Harker, a young lawyer who has been sent to finalise the purchase of an inland estate by the titular antagonist. Once the deal is done, Harker finds himself trapped in a Transylvanian castle, and his task is to escape and catch the unruly Vampire. The game is a typical platformer with a rather unusual level design. Unfortunately, all the levels, both inside and outside the castle, are bizarre and seem to have no order or composition. It seems as if everything was created in a hurry, without any further thought or idea. It's as if someone created something in a hurry and it was approved almost immediately, just to make it work :P . Graphically it looks quite good, it is quite colourful and at the same time dark, which gives it a horror atmosphere. Jonathan's animation, as well as that of some of his opponents, is quite fluid and the sprites are large and detailed. Unfortunately, however, it lacks that something..... to be considered high-end. I don't know, but the design of the castle and the way it looks doesn't look very convincing, with too little detail and flavour. The music for the sega master system is ok, it has such tones of insecurity and honour mixed with mystery. Despite its simplicity, it gets the job done. The controls are surprisingly responsive, as Harker is quite a mobile character. He moves very quickly and his jumps are very high and precise. From start to finish, I didn't get the impression that it was the character control that brought me to my death, but only my own mistakes. Our primary weapon is a knife, with a very short range and a very annoying sound, very inappropriate to the action assigned to it. In addition to this, we can also get a torch, an axe, a stone and two stones. Each of these weapons is a throwable weapon with a limited number of uses, but they are common enough that the knife will not be used much in this game. In addition, the melee weapon is practically a requirement during skirmishes with bosses, which are unlikely to be destroyed by knives. Fortunately, when we run out of weapons during boss fights, they suddenly appear out of nowhere. So no worries, no need to save it :) The game is cruelly average and its weakest link are the fights with bosses, that is Dracula himself and his other forms. They are very static and straightforward to the point that none of the fights will cause any intelligent being any problem. It is apparent here that the developers had no idea how to design engaging skirmishes with the immortal Vampire. In fact, these are probably the dullest and weakest boss fights I've had to deal with in a very long time. It's clear that either laziness or a tight deadline has taken its toll here.
Also noteworthy here is the lack of any plot development. There are no cutscenes or dialogues, just a little information about where you are at the beginning of each level. It's a shame, because a game from the year 93 should have had something like this as standard, and there's nothing to discuss about it. It's a rush job and that's it. In general, the game may be called one of the worst games ..... but I don't think it is. It's just mediocre, and the opportunity to make good use of a globally known licence was sadly missed. Definitely playable but unfortunately not worth recommending.
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"Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio"