Dracula Origin Review

Let’s start off with a little synopsis. You play the role of Professor Van Helsing who is on a quest to kill the infamous Dracula. But this is no mindless killing; he does have a purpose in wanting to do so. Dracula is in search of a certain document (a manuscript to be correct) that will inevitably be able to bring damned souls back to life. But Dracula doesn’t want to bring a “random” damned soul back to life, he wishes to bring back the woman that he loved. He believes that Van Helsing’s friend Mina would be the perfect body to host this retched soul. And now for an evil laugh… Muhahahahahahahahaha.

Anyways, looking at the opening cutscene not knowing what to expect, I felt excited in playing something that I hadn’t heard of but my excitement was immediately crushed by knowing that this was a point and click game: not one of my favourite types. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I’m sure it wasn’t this. I immediately put on my “What bad stuff can I find Hat” and went to work. The lip syncing is absolutely atrocious, the voice acting is atrocious and there was absolutely no direction in which way you should start walking to play the game. But after I got around all these fairly minor issues I put on my reviewing hat and starting doing some real work.

At first glance, I have to say that the game is extremely good to look at. The textures on some of the scenery are fantastic and the player details aren’t that bad either, especially when you only need a small graphics card to play the game on. Once you get into it, the storyline is also something that keeps you attached to the game and I do believe that it is similar to, if not based on an actual book, so you are sure to get a decent novel feel throughout.

As you play as this expensive well dressed man, you find yourself doing near enough the same boring thing every time you walk into a new room, checking about to see if there is anything to pick up, and if so, then you do. Each item you do pick up does actually have a purpose and each and every one is used throughout the game. These can range from a large Casserole Dish to a miniature pyramid. So you can be safe in knowing that what you pick up is indeed worth keeping. The creators make it easy for you to spot the items too with just a simple press of the space button; it scans the screen and highlights actions such as new parts of the room to explore and other various action points. Although I found this out without a manual (after hitting my keyboard in frustration), I got half way through the game without realising this, so I spent ages looking for single items that were almost invisible as they were part of the scenery. For example, I had to find a black net, on top of a gravestone, that was covered in black mould.

The music in the game does fit well, and changes each and every time you change to a different place, but can get awfully annoying and repetitive after a short time. You know I said about the voice acting? It may be bad and all, but it’s bloody hilarious at times. It doesn’t mean to be, but it just is. The way that Van Helsing says “blood” in a typical Dutch accent, just makes me giggle.

As I got further and further into the game, I appreciated it for what it actually was, which is a Puzzle Adventure. I didn’t any longer say that it was a rubbish and boring game, I just saw it for what it was. The puzzles in the game are rather challenging and well thought out with riddles to dazzle the strongest of brains but are sometimes, over challenging. For example, the black net I was on about, had to be draped over some flies which were hovering over a pot to catch them, and then those flies had to be put in a bottle, and thrown at someone to eat. Bearing in mind, that person was a human. I mean who in their right mind would figure that one out without a walkthrough… Cough.

Overall, Dracula Origin, isn’t brilliant, and isn’t a load of tosh; it’s somewhere in between. Although it’s not a game that I would buy for myself, those who are enthralled by mind numbing puzzles and bog standard voice acting should love the game to bits. For the genre it is very good, but there is no difficulty level in the game, so you can’t really keep on playing it; but it will keep you occupied for many hours if you are as hopeless at solving puzzles just like me.