Review of Microids: Dracula III

I played the previous installments of the Dracula games so I knew what to expect in the gameplay.This is a basic point and click game where you go around having to solve problems to advance the plotline.There is substantially more dialogue in this game to include a choice in your questions and answers though what you choose to say has no effect on the direction of the game.Some of the dialogue can drag on and you get to the point where you just want to move forward.

Like previous games, some of the puzzles are just incredibly frustrating and don't make any sense.Some of these puzzles require long bouts of trial and error.Or you can find an online guide to show you how to get through.

Possibly spoilers below

The plotline starts off pretty strong; you're a priest who served in WWI and you are sent to investigate the possibly canonization of a nurse in a remote Romanian village.As you investigate you find odd occurances and something bigger going on.Eventually, you are put on the path of the Dragon which will lead you to Dracula.

Most of the plotline takes place in this little village and while it's fun to explore, it would have been nice to send you to more locations.You do visit a deserted cave-prison in Turkey and a professor's office in Budapest but aside from that, the game is situated in this little town of Vladoviste.As with previous games in this series, you are very limited in where you can go and what you can do.For instance, you are confined to four main streets in Vladoviste and only two buildings.You can venture out towards a ruined castle or up to a creepy graveyard but here you are limited in what you can do and see.

The plotline could have been thicker; why not send the player to other locations?Why not allow the player to search more areas?And there is almost zero action in this game where as in previous games you had to battle monsters and other villians.

The last part of the game to me was underwhelming.You face off against Dracula in a series of questions and you have to give the correct answer.Here again it's simple trial and error until you get all the answers correct and then it moves to a cut-scene.Not really all that spectacular except for the fate of the player.

The historical background into Dracula and the interwar years was interesting and that's where the game is strong but aside from that, this is likely a game I won't play again.

The scenery was good, the plotline started off strong and sputtered and the puzzles lost their fun early as it became tedious after a short while.

Not a bad game but not one I would likely play again.



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