Bram Stoker's Dracula

Sega's intentions were of the very best when they released their CD add-on to the world. While the majority of the games released were of the "FMV-press-a-button ... NOW!" variety, there were a few side-scrolling adventures to be had. Bram Stoker's Dracula has quite a nice look going for it, but it fails in terms of gameplay and apparently the fun-factor was sold separately.

It's a time-tested fact by now that games based on movies are not very good. By the same token, movies based on games are generally worse. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but this game is not one of them. The plot follows the movie, basically, and if you don't know the story of Dracula by now I don't know what to tell you. The look of this game is quite nice, with colorful, digitized characters that resemble the look of games like Mortal Kombat. The scenery is also fairly pleasing, and the cameras swoop occasionally to show you the foreboding castle and solemn woods.

When you get to the actual gameplay, however, you may want to look the other way if your aim is to enjoy this one. You have the basic punch, kick, and jump moves in your Keanu arsenal, and none of which are done very well. The majority of the time spent playing this involves punching and kicking bats, skeletons, and the other obligatory creepy monster regiments. Since the controls are so stiff and seemingly un-responsive you will suffer a multitude of cheap hits and failed jumps. Perhaps if the Keanu Reeves character would have employed a little Matrix action instead of the three tired moves served up this would have been more fun. He probably would have been able to at least make the damn jumps most of the time!

The sounds are decent, but are by no means atmospheric. And, since this is a Sega CD game, there are grainy cut-scenes from the movie after certain levels. When you have such a wonderfully creepy license to work with, the finished product should have been a lot more fun. This simply feels like every other movie game, where they rush a product out with the obvious goal of mo' money in mind and it suffers tremendously as a result. I would suggest forgetting this conversation ever took place.