Dracula - The Undead (Atari Lynx)

Dracula - The Undead (Atari Lynx) :

I've never really been one for portable gaming devices...I've always thought that I do enough gaming while I'm indoors, and so like to do other stuff while I'm out and about and be more sociable and look at trees and animals and people and things.... If I had a hand-held, I'd probably never stop playing games....

Because of this, even though I picked up an original Gameboy a few years back, I still tend to play the games via a Super Gameboy on the big TV. Also, I never ever got to experience the joys of playing other handheld systems, like Atari's Lynx! So after discovering this game via emulation, I'm wondering just what other gems I've been missing....

As you start the game, you're greeted with eerie music and a screen featuring the author of Dracula himself, Mr. Bram Stoker! He explains that using the magic of technology he is able to narrate his tale to you through time, and that you'll be able to interact in a way that would be impossible in his day! Which basically means you'll read a lot of text and then get to play a nice little point-n-click type affair for a bit before reading some more....

Once Bram has finished his first little bit of story telling, you find yourself in control of Jonathan Harker, who is staying at Dracula's Castle with a view to doing some business with the old count. Using a slightly odd interface that takes a little bit of getting used to, you can wander the rooms and interact with various doors, cupboards and objects in order to advance the story...

Some doors and objects can be tricky to see, mainly because of the graphical limitations of the system. It took me quite a while to discover a door at the back of the antechamber where I started for instance, as I couldn't make it out by looking at the screen and only discovered it when I saw "door" pop up as I walked past...

But you'll soon get used to hunting around everywhere and trying every command available to find things and work stuff out, and it becomes a little easier to play. And then you'll find your way to the Dining Room, where you'll meet our old pal Dracula himself!

                                       
                                     

It can still be a bit tricky to work out what you have to do sometimes, and I'll admit I had to cheat a couple of times and look at a walk-through to progress... but I reckon if you were a bit more patient than me you would probably discover what to do by yourself eventually anyway....

But yeah, I still haven't finished it...and I would have had to start again anyway, as I discovered that when you find your notebook, you have to keep using it every now and again to take notes...or when you get to the end of the game, you'll get a bad ending and need to play again for a good one!

It is a good little game though, and has lots of nice cut-scenes and sound effects that help add to the classic horror atmosphere! But I suppose it won't be for everyone, as the puzzles can frustrate and there is a lot of text in the game, although if you like such stuff and want a nice little spooky treat,  you could do a lot worse than this! Oh.. and it sticks close to the book! It even has the Dracula crawling down the wall bit in it!!