iDracula [Video] [Update - New levels coming!]

Posted on February 19th, 2009. Written by Arron.

Highly anticipated from the outset, Chillingo have today released iDracula for iPhone and iPod touch. Designed and developed by More Games Entertainment, iDracula is a survival shooter which sees you having to fend off various Transylvanian monsters, in order to survive for the longest time physically possible.

We spent no time picking up the game, and I’ve been putting it through it’s paces ..

[Update 24.02.09 @ 16.24pm] – iPhone developer @Chillingo posted the below screenshot of an upcoming level of iDracula on the message boards over at Touch Arcade.

The shot depicts a future level being added to iDracula very shortly, and with it a new in-game element situated below the pause button.

Original Post:

Overview
You are a hunter. Vampire hunter. Well, not quite. In fact you are the one being hunted. You are trying to survive against the hordes of Vampires, Werewolves, Witches and finally face Dracula himself. The game is a survival shooter. Can you survive the night?

Gameplay
Entering the game (and not as obvious as it could be) you have the option to input your player name (top center). Tapping the field will bring up the keyboard for input. Once your done picking your handle, iDracula [App Store] can then be played in one of these two modes; Survival or Rush.

In survival mode you will be given a small weapon to start off with. A hand gun. With this gun your aim is to survive the longest amount of time, without dying. Sounds easy, right? – The longer you manage to survive the harder your enemies become to defeat. If that wasn’t enough to contend with, your gun also has a limited amount of bullets.

Rush mode however is significantly harder than Survival mode in a number of ways. The game will throw you into the pit with a machine gun which has an unlimited amount of bullets. Your aim? Kill as many of the creatures as possible, survive for the longest amount of time possible, and try to achieve the highest score possible. The longer you survive, the more levels you will progress through.

Throughout iDracula you will have to find pick-ups, one of those being ammo of which we’ll get into a bit later. Enemies are admittedly slow to appear at first (especially in ‘Survival’ mode), but as levels progress you’ll find that enemies will gain more agility and speed, bringing another level of interest to iDracula’s overall gameplay.

See it in Action:

‘Absolute’ by The Fray. â„— 2009 Sony Music Entertainment.

Playing Screen
The first thing you’ll notice about iDracula, is it’s control system. The game works on a similar system to ngmoco’s Dropship [App Store] in which you have two control areas, one which controls the directions that the character moves in, and the second fires the current weapon selected. After reviewing countless apps which use this control method, I can safely say it’s a method I both like and I think works well for the touch platform. It’s a control method I think more developers could take note of.

Describing the playing screen; In the top right hand corner you’ll find your radar. This will warn you of incoming attacks, and will give you a better perspective of where monsters are hiding. Below this is your perks panel. Once lit up, this houses pickups you have already collected during gameplay, and will also allow you to select the one you wish to use during the game. Bottom center you’ll find your weapon inventory. To select a different weapon, just scroll across (either left or right). Top center is a gauge that displays the amount of life you have left, and below this is the current score you have managed to rack up. If you need to pause the game at any time, just hit the pause button top left.

Pickups / Perks
Throughout iDracula there are various pickups your character will collect which will help you survive longer. These include; ammo, health and weapons. Each of these are symbolised in a different way, will increase your chances of completing a level. Once you’ve collected these pickups, you can select which one you wish to use in game by navigating to your ‘Perks’ panel (see above).

Visuals
As with all titles published by Chillingo, the visuals of iDracula are pretty much spot on. The amount of graphic detail which goes into games like this makes for great enthralling gameplay. As you can probably see from our gameplay video, framerate is pretty much perfect and visual animation of monsters and main game characters are very smooth.

Price
Released today and currently on sale for 59p / $0.99, at this type of price I look at iDracula as a steal. What current 59p App Store title has visuals and gameplay which are this polished and addicting? Be quick though, Chillingo says iDracula is set to return to it’s normal retail price of £1.79 / $2.99 soon.

Overall
iDracula is going to be an absolute hit with the App Store crowd. You can just guarantee it. The combination of it’s great visuals, racing backing track, realistic sound effects, and in-game control methods make iDracula an overall pleasure to play. Addictive? You’ll definitely be coming back for more from this title.

Current Status: Highly Recommended

Reviewed at: v1.0
Reviewed on Firmware: 2.2.1
Download size: 9.4MB
Released on: 19th February 2009
Retails for: 59p / $0.99 [On Sale - Usually £1.79 / $2.99]

Compatible with: iPod touch Gen 1 & 2 / iPhone Classic / iPhone 3G