Dracula: Undead Awakening

System: DSiWare
Developer: MoreGames Entertainment
Publisher: Chillingo
Genre: Shooter/Arcade
Players: 1
Points: 500

Dracula: Undead Awakening is a fairly realistic simulation of life itself, as it's going to end in death no matter what. Sure, you can make a desperate attempt to prolong your time by shooting Dracula in the crotch with a chain gun as he blows thick strands of dangerous lightning-mucus from his flared nostrils, but eventually - you're going to die.

An overhead multi-directional shooter, the game plays much like Robotron: 2084 or Smash TV (but without the lucrative Super VCR bonus) in that you're constantly being surrounded by enemies. Here, the goal is to simply survive as long as possible against the never-ending onslaught. When the main character perishes, you'll be ranked on your overall time and kill score. There's no story, no level progression; it's just a very simple yet extremely entertaining time waster.

There are three levels to choose from, each with their own set of enemies. It's an easy game to get the hang of; the D-Pad (or the face buttons for lefties) moves the main character around, while the stylus is used to aim in any direction. Your weapon automatically fires as long as the stylus is held down, so it's just a case of sweeping it around the touch screen. Quick and precise.


Things start out nice and slow, with the occasional enemy shambling towards you, but it doesn't take long for more and more to appear at once. It's like you've stuffed a cake down your pants or something. The longer you survive, the faster and tougher they become. The main character starts off with a pissy little handgun, but like any good game, corpses can turn into items. Bottles of potion to restore health, more ammo, limited power-ups that allow you to run faster or stop time and entirely new weapons. Shotguns, grenade launchers, crossbows, buzzsaws, chain guns, flamethrowers – oh my!

It's an overwhelming challenge (what with the skeletons that approach you from behind, stick there, and mysteriously drain health just like the enemies from Kung Fu), although a 'perk' system can help even the odds ever so slightly. After lasting a certain amount of time, you'll be rewarded with the choice of one special power-up from a list. The list changes every time you earn a perk just to keep things fresh. They can include reducing the amount of damage you take to making your weapons more powerful. There's even a 30 second invincibly perk, but then you instantly drop dead. That one's handy if you know you're screwed and want to go out with a bang.

Lord Dracula himself shows up every now and then. He's a cinch if you've got the crossbow, but otherwise... yeeeaah. Defeating him (he never actually dies, it's just a party trick) goes towards upgrading your rank. Be prepared to have the game call you a 'noob'. I had to turn away so the DSi couldn't see my tears. Dracula: Undead Awakening has four modes to play, but they're all pretty much the same thing. There's Survival, then SUPER Survival (which throws even more items into the mix). Rush is a bit different, as you're allowed to pick a single weapon with unlimited ammo. No further items, weapons or upgrades. This mode has the most amount of enemies to deal with; it's pretty nerve-wracking! Lastly, Wave mode is a slower-paced game, giving the player a breather in between each 'wave' of enemies.


The title originally started out on the iPhone last year as iDracula, since then it's been updated a bunch of times, and now ported to PSP Minis, WiiWare and DSiWare. All versions have exactly the same content, but obviously this one has been crushed down a bit for the DSi's lower screen resolution. It still looks okay, but most importantly – it runs without a hitch. Despite the massive amount of sprites swamping the joint, there's never any slowdown. The audio has made the transition quite well, packing a crisp, rocking soundtrack and plenty of weird noises when things die.

But again, like Flight Control, there's not much reason to double dip if you've already got the iPhone (or PSP Minis) version. Still, it's a great to see more variety on DSiWare. Or Skiwear, as OpenOffice's spell check suggested.


Score: 8/10 - "Good buy"
Dracula: Undead Awakening has huge replay value. It's a frantic, mindless arcade-style game for quick bursts of play, which suits the DSiWare service perfectly.

Review by Lance McGill (Infernal Monkey)