Van Helsing / Bram Stoker's Dracula / Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (DVD)

Immediately, Dracula tries to distinguish itself by flip-flopping the roles of hero and villain. Instead of a local yokel sent to destroy the titular vampire, you play Drac's daughter, Eve. Eve's been tasked with reassembling her father's body so he may rise again.

Naturally, playing as a vampire is infinitely cooler than being the good guy. Eidos realized this with Legacy of Kain and Majesco got in on the sexy vampire act with Bloodrayne. Eve is a compelling character, in her own right -- even if the visuals blah-ness prevents you from developing any sort of relationship with her. It's just cool that you're a vampire chick going around, busting jugulars while sealing humanity's doom.

You've been turned loose in a castle -- a big one. Like any classic platformer, you must run from left to right, jumping over gaps. There are plenty of enemies in the towering castle, too. Amateur Van Helsing's are everywhere, throwing stakes at you. Now, if you find a cache of stakes, you can return fire.

But a real vampire doesn't puncture the living with sharpened wood -- she does it with her teeth. When you are low on health, approach a human and press the "5" key to lunch on the main vein. (Not that main vein, perv.)

You can also turn into a bat (a power granted by special tokens) and fly around the castle for a limited time -- particularly helpful for crossing large chasms.

Now, Dracula's control kinda leaves something to be desired. Sure the running around is handled fine, but the jumping, well, sucks. It is abnormally float-y, even for a weightless vampire lady. You can use the hover time to cross gaps, but the catch is, the transition from up to over is too iffy.

Visually, Dracula isn't as sexy as Mforma wants its anti-heroine to be. The brick wall castle is so "same-y" everywhere you look. The character sprites are decent-sized, though -- which certainly helps. The bloodsucking animations are cool, too.


Closing Comments
Dracula is a solid, competent platformer for your handset, and Mforma deserves applause (and downloads) for at least trying to do something a little extra than just pumping out a me-too action game. The vampires angle, coupled with the ability to turn into a bat and suck blood, makes for a compelling game. It's no Castlevania, but then again, your phone is no GBA.