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    • iDracula Review -Updated

    Written By: Nacho Andrade
    February 20, 2009

    iDracula ($.99 for a limited time)

    Now this wont be long. I can barely pull myself away from playing iDracula long enough to write this review so I will make it quick. iDracula is one of the funnest games I have played on the iPhone. Those of you who listen to the podcast know that I have a page where I keep my favorite games. iDracula made it to the list immediately.

    The graphics on the game are awesome. The menu is beautiful, and the in game graphics are rich and detailed. The animation is smooth and very polished.

    196662_2The sound track is really cool, and although it doesn’t let you listen to your own music, the in game sound is more than adequate. In fact the song’s beat matches up with the firing of your weapons making it sound like part of the music.

    The gameplay is a blast. It’s so much fun to go in and blast baddies. The difficulty escalates well and the monsters that come are varied and scary. The controls are tight and you can just as easily play this game for 4 minutes or 4 hours.

    In my opinion iDracula is one of the best games to come to the App Store. $.99 is an amazing deal for this game, however, even if you don’t buy it now at $2.99 it’s definetly worth the price.

    Game Rating:
    4pt5-stars
    The only reason I’m not giving iDracula 5 stars is because it’s missing online leader boards and more levels and gameplay modes, but even without these things it’s still a very fun game.

    ***Update***

    So after playing the game over the weekend I have discovered more features, and now love this game even more. I also have some ideas for that the developers can do to add even more to this amazing game.

    196662_4First lets get into the details. So you play a dude who has it out for Dracula. You find yourself in this plaza where you start getting mobbed by baddies. It starts out slow with only one type of enemy, but soon enough the enemies numbers build up, and each level you get a new kind of enemy. Every 3 levels your get to face Dracula.

    In survival mode, your goal is to stay alive (duh). When a monster touches you they make a noise and you lose health. So you need to run around them while also shooting them dead. Luckily after you kill them helpful items fall out of their innards for your use. The items are weapons, ammo, or health. For weapons you start out with a pistol and can move up from there to shotgun, crossbow, grenade launcher, chain gun, and a BFG.

    As you kill enemies you will also see a little icon light up in the upper right hand side of your screen (the one that looks like an arm flexing). Tap this when it’s glowing to “Pick a Perk”. The game will randomly give you 4 options to upgrade. These include faster speed, faster reload, stronger attack, bigger pockets, and more. Use these as they come up and make sure to try all of the options to see how they work.

    img_00012Every 3 levels you get to kill Dracula. I find the best way to kill him is with the crossbow or BFG. In fact I have never been able to kill him with the other weapons, so when you see Dracula a key part of the game is switching to crossbow, then switching back after he is dead. This brinks out one minor weakness in the game. Switching weapons is more difficult than it should be. Instead of having to slide to different weapons you should be able to tap one side or the other to toggle the next weapon up or down.

    When you kill Dracula you collect an omen. The game will keep track of the total omens you’ve collected and will update your rank based on how many you have. I’m not sure if this gives you any benefit in game, or if this is just a type of achievement.

    196662The highest level I’ve made it to is 7, but I’ve got about 30 omens right now. Every time I have 5 minutes free I will whip out the game and play. It takes a little while to load, but if you have to leave in the middle of a round your state is saved. It’s like they built the game for a portable platform.

    In the comments you can see the they are promising more features:

    You’ll be pleased to know that iDracula is getting a substantial update in a week.
    http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=5434&page=23

    Dev is jaguard, publisher is Chillango in that thread.

    Basically there’s an update coming in a week that’s going to add Wave Attack mode, an unknown mode with a different perk system, 2 more levels, and perhaps a couple more weapons or perks or enemies (they haven’t decided). It’s free.

    They are also considering making a premium version that will have a fully fledged storyline, bosses, RPG leveling in addition to the perks etc but they are waiting to see if this game sells well first. It’s 99 cents now but will raise to a regular price of 2.99 soon.

    This and Shooter puts a lot of 4.99 games to shame, much less 99c games.

    Even though this is still an amazing game I can think of a few things that would be awesome to see:

    • Online Multiplayer
    • Multiple Charachters with different abilities (one has more strength, less speed)
    • Better weapon switching
    • Ability to play your own music
    • Online Leaderboards
    • Diffent levels (just differnt backrounds maybe some new enemies)
    • Level Ups (after a certain stage you are always faster or stronger or whatever)

    These are not critizims, just suggestions. The game is so fun, it’s easy to imagine what can be done with iDracula.

    In closing I am even more convinced that iDracula is one of the best games on the iPhone now. Even though a lot can be added there is enough in there that this game has become an instant classic. Good job, Moregames entertainment, I can’t wait to see where the game goes from here.

    In case your still not convinced, check out the video:

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    • Harpua

      It would be nice if you could level up your character, maybe upgrade armor & weapons.. The game looks awesome but gets really hard really fast!!

    • Nacho

      After playing a few rounds you start to learn techniques that let you play a lot longer. I’m not to worried about upgrades to armor, but you get many upgraded weapons to keep the game interesting.

    • BadYeti

      The feat upgrades are cool, and sort of like a level-up system.

      You can make your guy move faster, have more hitpoints, shoot faster, shoot three crossbow bolts at once, telepathically drag items toward yourself, push critters away from you when you hit them, etc.

    • Harpua

      I apparently need to invest more time because I haven’t gotten any of those upgrades yet! The best weapon I’ve seen so far is the grenade launcher thing… & how do you kill Dracula or whatever the guy is that throws the green poo globs!?!

    • BadYeti

      For what it’s worth, you don’t pick up the feat upgrades. You click the feat upgrade icon once it says you’ve earned one.

      I’m not sure what determines when you earn one. Maybe you get one for every couple minutes you survive or for every certain number of points that you earn.

      I just shoot Dracula enough times and he eventually dies. Usually I use either the crossbow or grenade launcher.

    • http://Iphonegamesnetwork.com Nacho

      I use the crossbow on Dracula. He goes down fast with that.

    • Jay

      thanks nach. i think this will become one of my favorites too

    • Jay

      oops i meant Nacho… Sorry

      ps what was nacho a nickname for?

    • http://Iphonegamesnetwork.com Nacho

      Nacho is the nickname for Ignacio. Like the nickname for Robert is Bob.

    • Jay

      yep, and i learned that from ur podcast. Wow ipgn, now ur podcast is educational too.

    • Arta

      You’ll be pleased to know that iDracula is getting a substantial update in a week.
      You’ll be pleased to know that iDracula is getting a substantial update in a week.
      http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=5434&page=23

      Dev is jaguard, publisher is Chillango in that thread.

      Basically there’s an update coming in a week that’s going to add Wave Attack mode, an unknown mode with a different perk system, 2 more levels, and perhaps a couple more weapons or perks or enemies (they haven’t decided). It’s free.

      They are also considering making a premium version that will have a fully fledged storyline, bosses, RPG leveling in addition to the perks etc but they are waiting to see if this game sells well first. It’s 99 cents now but will raise to a regular price of 2.99 soon.

      This and Shooter puts a lot of 4.99 games to shame, much less 99c games.

    • Legend.inc

      Hmmmm… I may get this while it’s still 99 cents.

    • Jay

      u should

    • Henrin

      The perks come when you hit a certain number of points (3k, 6k, 12k, 24k,, etc) which is why it is so important to get the point master perk as quickly and as often as possible.
      I’ve gotten 53 omens and haven’t noticed much of a difference other than the fact that it seems to be getting harder. Earlier today I went for 7 minutes in which my highest weapon drop was the crossbow (talk about effin stress). All I have to say about that is I hope to god that this is just a streak of bad luck because I’ll be in a nasty-review-writing mood if I get 100 omens and my reward=too hard to play.

    • http://uhuh Larry

      Well i bought this game and it is awesome! I love the graphics although i agree that we need our own music. Also, i think that monsters should die in different positions (even as few as 3), to make it more real instead of having bodies piling up that all look the same. Other than that, more weapons and this would be perfect!

    • DeeCee

      Fun game. Gets repetitive.

      But “funnest”? Nacho, change to “most fun”… and enjoy iDracula. Looking forward to the updates.

    • Wolfhound

      dude really?
      quickly tap the home button twice to play your own music

    • Jeff B

      Yeah the double-tap on the home button definately works to get your own music on (of course you’ll lose the game sound effects then).

      I don’t know if anyone reported this yet, but I found an exploit that allows you to choose any perk you want when you get a new perk… if you don’t like the choices, just hit your home button and head back into the game you’ll have new choices to pick from.

    • http://www.iphonegamesnetwork.com Nacho

      I had no idea about that exploit. That is awesome! level 10, here I come!!

    • Legend.inc

      hey guys I bought the game and it’s Awesome. But I think it’s worth 3 3 and a half stars. Maybe the update will add a lot of good things to it.

    • BadYeti

      Nice review. I like your comment about the awkwardness of switching weapons while surrounded by baddies. That’s so true.

      By the way, what do you mean when you say that Dracula appears every three “levels” and that you’ve only made it to “level” seven? I don’t recall the game ever mentioning that I’d progressed to the “next level”, nor have I ever seen a level indicator on the screen anywhere. Have I never made it past the first level, by chance?

    • Nacho

      Another poster corrected me saying that you get perks as you get points, not levels. I can only tell what level I am on by the type of bad guys, or the appearance of Dracula. Also on your highscore it says what level you got to.

    • SurfinGator

      The perks are frustrating are the biggest complaint. It makes high score the game luck if you play it straight up. Hitting home to get new perk choices sucks. Want a high score? Collect these perks in order:
      Score Master, Telekinesis, Bonus Finder,Sniper/Reloader, Armor/Extra Health, the two Panics, and then leave token up for when u are smacked .. for a kill all or total health. That should get u above 10 million.
      RPG and Chain Gun will kill Dracula, you just hit him a lot. Uranium bullets help.
      if u r crashing try MemoryInfo app, clears ur memory to 40mb. Go Gators …

    • SurfinGator

      i would play the game straight up … but the token choices are a total joke 75% of the time. suicide/bandage/panic on first perk choice or shotgunmaster/Fast on the seventh. Better choices would be nice for each point total. Why even have Suicide or Fast … the one that takes 80% of your health for the rest of the game??? I can kill myself well enough….

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