Dracula 2:The Last Sanctuary (Mac)

Rating:
Summary: surprisingly good
Review: hey! a new game for mac! better buy it! well, despite desperation and low expectations, i have just finished this and really enjoyed it. i did not do the original, "resurrection". this is a long game of moderate to hard difficulty. once, near the beginning, i cheated, but found out the problem was not from missing things, but from using the inventory improperly.

the graphics and images were first rate: sharp, clear, detailed, and not grainy. there was complete panning at all points. the atmosphere was definitely spooky, enhanced by the sound effects. although there were dark corners, no objects were missed due to shadows. very stable game; no freezes or crashes. because all the credits have french names, i would conclude that the game is from france and the lip synching was for french. also, carfax (draculas house) seems to be in a paris suburb rather than in london. interesting note: in the psychiatrists office, there was a picture of not freud, but charcot, the father of neurology, who was french. also, those bare vampirettes could come out of old paintings.

with respect to gameplay, some have complained that this was a pixel hunt; not really. the highlighted areas were large and in logical places. most of the roadblocks i encountered concerned using a specific device. read the books carefully, and never forget to try the vampire glasses! one thing that was slightly annoying was that in the sanctuary, when you got killed, there was only a "game over" screen, no shreding or toasting as promised in the book. there are a few true puzzles in this game (one was going down a staircase in the sanctuary). most of the play is finding the right objects and applying them correctly. a novel aspect was the use of timed puzzles. the new frame has a time bar; if it runs out, you die. sometimes, you die over and over while you figure out what to do next.

so, with respect to graphics and atmosphere, this is first rate. it is hard enough to keep you interested but not so hard that you are discouraged. although its not riven, it will be a good addition to ones collection of "adventure" puzzle games.

Rating:
Summary: good game
Review: This is a good game.The hardest thing about this game is finding the hot spots in the cursers and the fact that many rooms are dark.