Developer: Planet Interactive Development
Publisher: DreamCatcher Interactive Inc.
Release Date: 2001
Here’s one for the dumb name file. It does star Dracula, and he is a vampire, but I would call him far from crazy. He looks a bit silly in cutscenes, but he is otherwise quite sensible and is trying the save the world. I guess Dracula: Sensible Hero doesn’t have the same ring to it, but I am the truthful sort so that’s what I would’ve called it. At first I thought it was part of a “crazy monster” series and was hoping for Crazy Wolfman and Crazy Frankenstein, but it’s just a one-off by a short lived developer who didn’t do anything notably positive. For a GBC action game, however, you could do a lot worse.
(Does he look crazy to you?)
Dracula: Crazy Vampire is typical of an action platform game in the wake of the 3D revolution. It’s a top-down adventure with large, open-ended levels. Typically Dracula has to find an item or lever to move from one section to another. This is a kid’s game so he doesn’t suck blood. Instead he drains essence from villains. This is good because to properly win the level he has to have more than half of his energy to get other vampires to join him. Also, being in the sun will drain Drac’s energy so you have to find shadows to hide in. This sounds annoying, but it was actually fun and made for a good level of challenge. It was fun plotting out the levels. The enemies don’t respawn which made the sun penalty a much needed challenge.
I am so spoiled by modern games that it’s a little hard for me to play older ones like this. The levels can be very long and confusing, and the only way to save is by getting a password between levels. I am so used to being able to stop playing a game at any moment and come right back to it later. As I said before, the levels themselves are fun, but I think it can still be considered a flaw that they take so long to finish. Any older handheld game could be dicey if they made you play for too long at once. You might be on your way to the store and only have a few minutes. Saves within the levels would’ve been much better, especially since some of them are split up into multiple parts. It’s not the biggest Game Boy offender, but it still bothered me a little.
This is an enjoyable little game however. It doesn’t particularly stand out, but it’s well made and fairly fun. Surprisingly I am ranking it into the green section just below Gopher. Usually when I find a forgotten handheld game it doesn’t end up being worth much, but this one’s worth a playthrough. Just don’t let the goofy title scare you away.
Game Boy Color Quality Percentage: 3/3
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