Dracula

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"I have to give credit to Imagic for originality for this title. The player plays the role of Dracula, who rises from his coffin at midnight each night and must fulfill a 'victim quota' and return to his coffin before dawn, which is at 6:00am. Dracula must roam around town, biting anyone he sees. If eyes appear in the windows of a house, he can knock on the front door, hoping that someone will answer the door and run around in the street in a frenzied panic. If he returns to his coffin, he will awaken the next night at midnight. The game continues in this manner until he dies.
"There are naturally a few more complications. After fulfilling the quota, a white wolf will appear and chase Dracula down. If the white wolf catches up with Dracula, he will move slower. There are also constables who eventually patrol the streets at night. Constables fire stakes at Dracula that momentarily freeze him in his tracks. They also cannot be bitten like regular victims. Instead, Dracula must turn a victim into a zombie and use the zombie to kill the constable.
"Dracula can change into a bat at will. While he is a bat, he cannot be harmed by the while wolf or constables, but a vulture will appear and try to abduct him. The vulture moves much faster than Dracula, but he can simply change form again to evade the vulture until it flies away. Dracula moves much faster when he is a bat, but his blood supply is consumed at a faster rate. Dracula will die if his blood supply drains away completely, but it is replenished a little every time he claims a victim.
"The play control is awkward because the view is pseudo-isometric. As one can see from the screenshots, the pavement is seen at an angle. Pressing left and right moves Dracula left and right, but pressing up and down moves him at an angle. Since Dracula cannot knock on a door by walking alongside it (he must approach the door), knocking on doors is a bit of a pain. Biting victims is also a chore; victims run around in random directions, and the player uses the bottom left action key to make Dracula bite. The result is that a fair amount of time is wasted as Dracula and his victim run around each other while Dracula bites the air several times before making contact with the victim's neck. To turn a victim into a zombie (to rid of the constables), the player uses the bottom right action key to bite. When the victim is bitten he changes color and is controlled with the disc on the right hand controller. The player must now use both discs to control two characters at a time to avoid the stakes and catch the constable -- very awkward!
"The graphics are average; while the quaint 19th-century town scenery is appropriate, some of the characters are drawn using double-width sprites (the vulture for example) which looks cheap. A readout occasionally appears, which not surprisingly scrolls with the rest of the background. The sound effects are somewhat few and far between, giving the impression not of a real-time interactive horror title, but a wimpy computer game. This is one of those games that I can only tolerate in short doses because it is altogether unenjoyable. Opinions seem to differ for this game, so invest in it only if you feel like it or want to add to your collection." Rating: 2/5 -- Mike Hayes