WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL - Dracula Unleashed
Publisher: Viacom New Media/Sega Developer: ICOM Simulations Release: 1993
It would be easy to dismiss Dracula Unleashed without even learning what it's about – horror-themed full-motion video games on the Sega CD were pretty much guaranteed shit back in the day (Night Trap, Corpse Killer, Bram Stoker's Dracula, etc). But lumping Dracula Unleashed in with the rest of the standard, mediocre FMV titles back in the day is doing it a disservice.
This is the third (and I believe, last) of the FMV titles from ICOM Simulations on the console. The previous two being Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Volumes I and II. All three of these titles have much more in common with classic point-and-click PC adventure games than your average offering from Digital Pictures or Don Bluth. Not surprising considering the developer's pedigree (probably best known by console gamers for stuff like Shadowgate, Uninvited and Deja vu). The use of video here is simply to play out the scenes that happen at each locale as you visit it – no hokey point-in-this-direction-or-you-die game mechanics anywhere to be found.
Dracula Unleashed takes place 10 years after the apparent destruction of Count Dracula. An American, Quincey Morris, is fatally wounded while attempting to kill the Count. In Dracula Unleashed, you play Alexander Morris, currently in London attempting to find out the truth behind your brother's death all those years ago. And hey...people seem to be dying under mysterious circumstances lately, with a lot of unexplained blood loss. Hmmm....
The game play here is pretty basic. You move from one location to another, speaking to the people who reside there or partaking in events that happen there. Each time you visit a location, you're generally treated to a video that shows Alexander interacting with other characters or witnessing some sort of event. It's then up to you take everything you learn and apply it to the overarching mystery and put a stop the madness that seems to have a grip on London.
Time is a very important factor in Dracula Unleashed, as well. Arrive at a locale too early or too late and you miss something or someone very important. Thus you have the ability to move time forward at will, though not to turn back the clock if you're tardy.
Like the Sherlock Holmes games before it, Dracula Unleashed is a very satisfying experience. Yes, the acting is more than a little cheesy at times, but if you can get past that it's a fun game.
Unleashed does suffer from the insta-death thing that both FMV and classic adventure games had in common, though. In this game you can choose to have something “in hand” when you enter an area. In some places, if you're holding the wrong thing, you can walk into what is basically an unavoidable death and have to restart from your last save point. For example: go into the asylum with the blackjack and you'll be able to beat back the crazy inmates when they attack you. Go in without the blackjack and those crazy inmates will end your life and your game. No real warning – it's just something you have to learn.
But Dracula Unleashed does a lot of good things, too. My favourite feature is the automatic note-taking. After witnessing a new scene, you can choose Alexander's notebook and click on the pen icon, Alexander will then proceed to make notes on what just happened, which you can refer back to at any time. Considering manual note-taking was the norm back in the early 90s, this is a very nice feature to have.
Not to mention that folks were getting pretty good at getting the Sega CD to work beyond its assumed limits by this point. For an SCD game, the video in Dracula Unleashed looks very nice, and the window it's seen through is relatively huge.
The ICOM games definitely suffer from being painted with the same brush as the endless tide of crappy FMV games on the Sega CD. It's a shame, because all three of them are totally worth experiencing.